So here lies the second day summary of the @media conference, which was jam packed full of geeky stuff.

Dan Cederholm - Bulletproof Web Design

Anyone that has purchased any of Dan Cederholm’s books will know how he communicates the topics of using web standards, css and xhtml in a clear and concise way. So it was no surprise to me that the talk he gave was the same.

He stated a process that should be carried out for bulletproof design:

• Disable styles
• Turn off images
• Validate the markup and stylesheets
• Dig Dug text test (ddtt)

I am often not thorough enough in checking pages with regards to disabling images or checking the way text sizes can change a layout (which is where he coined the phrase “Dig Dug Text Test”), so it was most handy to have Dan go through the different techniques to futureproof pages that we create.

For a copy of his presentation, select the link below:

http://www.simplebits.com/publications/speak/atmedia/bpwd-atmedia2006.pdf

Robin Christopherson - Beyond a Code Audit

I have to say that despite the appalling support for WIFI in this particular talk (and at no fault of Robin’s at all!), I thoroughly enjoyed this topic, just for the pure fact that Robin is an entertaining character that you can have nothing but admiration for with his vast knowledge on the topic of accessibility and usability, his great sense of humour, and the example videos and website analysis he gave for the 10minutes that he had to actually access live sites.

I’ve heard time and time again that making a site accessible is so much more than checking off the list of requirements that are specified in the w3 guidelines, but Robin really couldn’t have explained it any better than the way he manouvered his way through sites with the screen readers that he regularly uses.

A very entertaining and informative talk despite the technical mishaps.

A copy of his presentation can be found below:

http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/content/oneoffs/media2006.htm

Cameron Moll - Mobile Web Design

I’m quite glad that the talk itself was not to techy as I’ve had a complete overload at work on the Mobile Web Iniative over the last week. So it was nice to get a more business focussed overview of the topic.

Its funny to think that just as the browsers for the web are ironing out the inconsistencies that existed before, mobile web is far from being anything but inconsistent. I didn’t even know that Opera Mini even existed prior to this talk, but then I just use the browser that comes on my Sony Ericsson k750.

Choosing the correct content and context of this content was highlighted as a vital focus, as well as testing on different handsets.  It almost feels like the early days of the internet.  Funny how things come back at you over and over again.

Rachel Andrew, Roger Johansson, Dave Shea - Strategic CSS Management

I’ve attended a workshop with Dave Shea before and was excited to hear him talk again. I was even more looking forward to Roger Johansson (who’s blog I read), and Rachel Andrew adding to this panel, as its interesting to hear how different people organise their ways of working with CSS.

If anything, the session reassured me of the way that I currently work; knowing that I do do things the same as others, and I’m not making errors all the time.

The human factor was a key part for me…why? Version control and working with others than don’t necessarily work the same as you is a problem that I currently encounter at work. Comments and creating standards is the answer to this, and as two of the designers were with me in this talk, I’m sure we’ll be adding Rachel, Dave and Roger’s thoughts into our day to day workload from now on.

Tantek Çelik - Microformats Evolving the Web

Tantek Çelik is one of those names that once you come across it, you hear it over and over again.

I was pretty excited to be sitting in on his talk, but unfortunately I have to admit that everything he said pretty much went over my head. I guess the concept of microformats is just a bit beyond me at present, so I have some work to do to become a bit more clued up on it.

For those interested, his presentation is available below:

http://tantek.com/presentations/2006/06/microformats-evolution/

Molly Holzschlag, Jon Hicks, Jeremy Keith, Eric Meyer & Tantek Çelik - Hot Topics

A fun open discussion about the web, football, and favourite animals!?!

Was good to see some of the top names of the event all sitting together to answer questions given by us plebs in the audience.

I often find that when you work in a small team in a company, your passion and excitement over web related topics is overshadowed by the business rules, the office politics, the general day to day workload. To attend such an event where people of like minds can talk over things in a way that is like a bunch of women having lunch and talking about the latest gossip, or a group of guys chatting about the latest footie results…its refreshing, its reassuring, and its really encouraging to know that without these groups of people, the web would certainly not be where it is today.

So to those that attended, gave talks, organised…it was fun, and you know the best bit of all…there are a whole bunch of other geeky girls out there that look just as non-conventionally geeky as I do!!! HURRAH!!!!