http://flickr.com/photos/marcusjb/2813736862/

Striking aBalance

Finding middle ground inFront–End Development

Hi. I’m Nathan Smith, a designer andfront-end developer @ Viewzi.com

Viewzi 101 – Intro Video(Learn more about Viewzi: www.viewzi.tv or www.viewzi.com)

http://viewzi.tv/?dl=viewzi101

Who am I, really?

* A few classes left, finishing up online.

– Expectant father! :)

– Master of Divinity*

– Published author

– Started Godbit.com

– Created 960.gs

– ENTJ Personality

Designers vs.Developers

?

http://flickr.com/photos/iamaaronmartin/2858991878/

Stereotypical perceptions

http://nbc.com/chuck/

In reality, more collaborative

http://flickr.com/photos/tbisaacs/2849275119/

But still quite competitive!

http://flickr.com/photos/tbisaacs/2871685626/

Steve BrewerDeveloper

Travis IsaacsDesigner

Front-End Developers are like midfielders, balancing in between offense and defense.

We ensure that designers get the glory, and the server-side guys can stick to what they do best.

“Inverse, Multi-Headed Hydra”

In the world of web-development, there are many “dragons” sharing the same public facade: ASP.NET, ColdFusion, Java, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Python, etc. To render in a browser, all data has to pass through HTML.

Front-end isn’t a bad place to be. :)

http://santi.elfwood.com/hydra.jpg.html

Life used to be so much simpler. But nowadays...

(Best Viewed In)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/avalonstar/2822957764/

Gotta catch ‘em all! o_O;New Challenger!

We really needInteroperability

In order to keeppace with change:

Web Standards = 3 legged stool:

• HTML• CSS• JavaScript

Accessibility falls flat if any of these three are done incorrectly.

AaronScheidiesWorld ClassTriathlete

Aaron recently received his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from University of Washington.

He is a world record holder amongst Olympic distance triathletes.

Aaron was born with a

juvenile form of macular

degeneration called

Stargardt’s disease. His vision is 20/400 vision,

while people with full

sight see 20/20.

Aaron is pictured here setting a world record

with Ben Collins. They

rode a tandem bicycle,

ran and swam tethered.

He finished in 01:58:08 at Dallas, TX on 10/14/07.

Retro-Fitted Accessibility

FAIL

“Far from being something that is added to a site, accessibility is something we need to e n s u re i s n ’ t re m ove d . F ro m t h a t perspective, the phrase ‘making a site accessible’ isn’t accurate...”

“Accessibility is not a plug-in. It’s not something that can be bolted onto a site after the fact. So here’s what I’m proposing: From now on, instead of talking about making a site accessible, I’m going to talk about keeping a site accessible. Join me.”

Jeremy Keith – JS Expert

http://flickr.com/photos/kimli/2671627954/

http://flickr.com/photos/edtarwinski/226266619/

http://boston.com/bigpicture/2008/07/antiterrorism_exercises_in_chi.html

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Wolverine_vs._Hulk

We are PassionateAbout our Work

Photoshop vs. Fireworks

Mockups vs. Prototyping

Ruby on Rails vs. Django

Frameworks vs. Custom

Flash vs. Web Standards

Mac vs. PC - MS vs. Apple

Release Date for HTML5?

Jeff Croft vs. Everybody...

As the CS3 product cycle was wrapping up, Adobe's user interface designers started showing their ideas for subsequent releases... I think my initial reaction can be boiled down to three letters: WTF? "Are you telling me," I asked, "that we're going to put a huge, battleship-gray box into the background on the Mac, as it is on Windows? Why would we do that?"

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/06/future_photoshop_ui.html

JavaScript is discussed intensely:

JavaScript is discussed intensely:

(I happen to agree)

jQuery Yahoo! User Interface Library

jQuery YUI

Ninjas master a variety of tools

Use a framework as an extension of yourself, not just as a crutch.

(not just one)

http://imdb.com/title/tt1046173/

Macro vs. Micro Semantics

http://flickr.com/photos/leoffreitas/332360959/ http://flickr.com/photos/kennysarmy/2493464978/

– HTML / XHTML– ID, class names– Microformats– Machine code

– Correct tags– Accessibility– Attribute usage– Search Engines

http://flickr.com/photos/97607362@N00/1102286373/

Why Use a VersionControl System?

– Provides fall-back point

– Prevents over-writing

– Helps w. accountability

– Track change history

– Any operating system

– Schedule server tasks

– ♥ Project management

last codecommit

http://flickr.com/photos/acidflask/128102331/

Design by Commi!eeaka Village Stew

Several years ago in Yakima, Washington there was a church split over whether to use organ music in worship.

Ironically, those who left to start a new church now have a far more extravagant organ than the original congregation ever did.

They remain divided.http://flickr.com/photos/ultrahi/102732191/

Mark Boulton: Designing by Community?

Text

“Designing by community I feel is different.

There are a lot of people in the Drupal

community. Many hundreds with a strong

voice. Providing very early releases—in

fact, opening up the process completely—

draws reaction. Within that reaction, if

there is enough of it, we can identify

trends. And I think trends in feedback is

the key to Designing by Community.”

Leadership &Team Dynamics

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion

Stephen P. AndersonWhy I’m Not a Manager

“When you have the right people on your team, what qualifies as management is really a b o u t c r e a t i n g a platform from which eve ryone can t rack themselves. That, and f iguring out how to challenge folks so that they are delivering their best. This assumes a lot of trust and faith in their abilities, and not in your ability to hand-hold.”

http://tinyurl.com/not-a-manager

“He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.”

— John C. Maxwell 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

http://flickr.com/photos/rantes/91307782/

http://imdb.com/title/tt0268978/

JohnMaynardKeynesFather ofModernEconomics

– Extraverted / Introverted

– Sensing / iNtuitive

– Thinking / Feeling

– Perceiving / Judging

Myers-Briggs Personalities

http://humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htmhttp://wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator

ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ

ISTP ISFP INFP INTP

ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP

ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

INT

RO

VE

RT

EX

TR

AV

ER

T

SENSING INTUITIVE

JUD

GIN

GJU

DG

ING

PE

RC

EIV

ING

THINKING THINKINGFEELING

ENTJs have a natural tendency to marshall and direct.

This may be expressed with the charm and finesse of a

world leader or with the insensitivity of a cult leader.

The ENTJ requires little encouragement to make a plan. One ENTJ put it this way... "I make these little

plans that really don't have any importance to anyone

else, and then feel compelled to carry them out."

While "compelled" may not describe ENTJs as a group,

nevertheless the bent to plan creatively and to make those plans reality is a common theme for NJ types.

http://typelogic.com/entj.html

ENTJ - “I’m really sorry you have to die.”

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles

I think of the ideal web team as operating much like the Ninja Turtles. Each one is dangerous in his own right, but together under the right leadership become more than the sum of their parts.

“At least half of the team members should be senior-l e v e l i n t h e i r a r e a o f expertise. The functions of a web team can be categorized into five specialist groups: Design, Client-Side, Server-Side, Content, and Support.”

— Cody Lindleyhttp://tinyurl.com/team-effort

http://veer.com/products/detail.aspx?image=ISP2009547

We All Want to UseElegant Techniques

– CSS Drop Shadows

– PNGs + Alpha Channels

– Ems instead of Px fonts

– sIFR Text Replacement

– JavaScript Animations

– Drawing on <canvas>

– Elastic page layouts

(because we love the praise from peers)

http://tinyurl.com/slide-tackle

Can’t Be Afraidto Slide Tackle

VIEWZI._launchUrl = function(urlStr, plugin) { if (plugin === 'flash' && new_window === true) { if (YAHOO.env.ua.opera) { return; } else if (YAHOO.env.ua.gecko || YAHOO.env.ua.ie) { window.open(urlStr); } else { var new_a = document.createElement('a'); new_a.href = urlStr; new_a.style.position = 'absolute'; new_a.style.overflow = 'hidden'; new_a.style.visibility = 'hidden'; new_a.style.display = 'block'; new_a.style.width = '0'; new_a.style.height = '0'; new_a.style.fontSize = '0'; new_a.target = '_blank'; new_a.innerHTML = '';

document.body.appendChild(new_a);

var fake_click = document.createEvent('MouseEvents'); fake_click.initMouseEvent('click', true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, false, false, false, false, 0, null);

new_a.dispatchEvent(fake_click); new_a.parentNode.removeChild(new_a); } return true; }};

http://tinyurl.com/assembly-line

Paradigm Shift: Agile Workflow

Automate processes, but in moderation

http://flickr.com/photos/polvero/2656367141/

A moment before firing, two members of the gun crew ceased all activity and came to attention for a three-second interval extending throughout the discharge of the gun. He summoned up an old colonel of arti l lery, showed him the pictures, and pointed out the strange behavior… “Ah,” he said when the performance was over, “I have it. They are holding the horses.”

p. 124 of Social Changeby Robert Nisbet

http://flickr.com/photos/gilliamhome/291509949/

Apple’s Me.com

http://960.gs/

“Embrace Constraints”– Mark Kraemer

All modern monitors support at

least 1024×768 pixel resolution.

960 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,

8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32,

40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160,

192, 240, 320 and 480.

css

The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline

web development by providing commonly used

dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels.

There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns,

which can be used separately or in tandem.

The basis of the grid is ideally suited to rapid

prototyping, but it would work equally well

for workflow in a production environment.

There are printable sketch sheets, Photoshop

and Fireworks templates, and a CSS framework

that contain identical column measurements.

Inspiration: Khoi Vinh

Inspiration: Cameron Moll

Inspiration: Olav Bjørkøy

Inspiration: Brandon Schauer

The 12 column grid is divided into portions

that are 60 pixels wide, whereas the 16

column grid consists 40 pixel increments.

Each column has 10 pixels of margin to either

side, which stack to create gutters that are

20 pixels wide between each of the columns.

<div class="container_12"> <div class="grid_7 prefix_1"> <div class="grid_2 alpha"> ... </div> <div class="grid_3"> ... </div> <div class="grid_2 omega"> ... </div> </div> <div class="grid_3 suffix_1"> ... </div></div>

12 column grid measurements

16 column grid measurements

Look Ma! WJS uses 960.gs :)

•Strive to write elegant code.

•Slide-tackle when necessary.

•Choose the right framework.

•Know thy personality type.

•Train an “inverted-T” skill-set.

•Be passionate + pragmatic.

Summation of Presentation

sonspring.comtwitter.com/nathansmith

That’s a wrap. Keep in touch!