The SquizLog

Reflecting on Web Directions South 08

A good conference prompts one to think. Web Directions South 08, held in Sydney recently, definitely challenged my neural circuits.

Amongst the presentations that inspired me were Dmitri Baranovskiy's Start using web vector graphics today, the talk by Tim Lucas and Pete Ottery about Developing for the iPhone and Mark Pesce's closing keynote entitled This, that, and the other thing.

However, it was actually three talks in the realm of web design that set me thinking the most. As one of those types referred to by some as a "back-end developer" I am acutely aware of the gulf between my skills and those of professional web designers when it comes to making a site pleasing to the eye. I have spent many hours trying to improve the aesthetics of my sites only to give up in frustration. Thankfully I collaborate with an excellent designer for commercial projects.

Jeff Croft, Jina Bolton and Jeff Veen were the presenters who captured my attention at WDS08 in a way that is prompting me into action.

In his talk about Elegant Web Typography, Jeff Croft presented many useful tips including an unselfish recommendation to read the standard reference on typography, Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style. One particular recommendation that I'll be exploring is the Typogrify tool from Christian Metts, which has been ported to Rails.

Jina Bolton focussed mainly on CSS3 as she spoke about Creating Sexy Stylesheets. Whilst I found this interesting I was still left underwhelmed by the prospect of investing much time in CSS3 due to the lack of browser support. However, it was Jina's ability to apply her artistic flair to web design that left me pondering the potential to improve my skills in that area.

Jeff Veen's Designing our way through data talk didn't fit neatly into the category of web design. It was a thought-provoking analysis of how data can be presented effectively in visual form. He included a history lesson on the effectiveness of John Snow's spot map in demonstrating that contaminated water was the cause of London's cholera outbreak in 1854 as part of his challenge to us to think of more effective ways of visually presenting data on the web. His talk left me with a keen desire to continue reading Edward R. Tufte's Envisioning Information.

So I'm setting myself a challenge. Having recently purchased The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird and The Art and Science of CSS by Cameron Adams, Jina Bolton, David Johnson, Steve Smith and Jonathan Snook, I'm going to redesign both this site and the site I set up to market my freelance work. Beauty to behold they will be. Some time before WDS09!

Posted to Internet, Software Development, Web Design by Keith Pitty