An Event Apart Seattle runs from 8:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. and features seven sessions per day. There’s a lot to cover, so the event starts promptly each morning. Registration opens at 7:00 a.m. Doors open at 8:00 a.m.
Monday, May 4
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8:30am–9:30am
A Site Redesign, Part 1
Jeffrey Zeldman, Author, Designing With Web Standards, 2nd Ed.
When and why should you redesign? How can you change the way a site looks, while preserving the way its brand feels? How can “listening to your content” help you retool a design to more effectively (and more excitingly) meet your users’ needs? To uncover these lessons and more, Zeldman will review the thinking behind his recent redesign of a site you know well.
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9:45am–10:45am
A Site Redesign, Part 2
Eric Meyer, Author, CSS: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Ed.
Master of the CSS universe Eric Meyer, who coded the site Zeldman redesigned, will reveal the semantic experience behind the user experience, and the code tricks that make difficult multiple columns and overlapping content work smoothly and easily across browsers and platforms.
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11:00am–12:00pm
Comps vs. Code: Couples’ Therapy
Ethan Marcotte, Co-author, Web Standards Creativity
High-end design. Standards-compliant code. Doesn’t exactly sound like a match made in heaven, does it? We’ll look at high-profile brands, and discuss the intersection of quality code with top-notch art direction. Developers will learn strategies to achieve that extra level of “bulletproofing” in their templates; designers will pick up tips on how to better convey creative requirements to coders.
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12:15pm–1:15pm
Web Form Design in Action
Luke Wroblewski, Author, Web Form Design
Building on topics in his top-selling book, Luke will illustrate how to apply design best practices to redesign crucial web forms. He’ll also outline how gradual engagement approaches to form design can create compelling new user experiences for a wide variety of web applications and services.
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1:15pm–2:30pm: LUNCH
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2:30pm–3:30pm
Whuffie-Rich Design
Tara Hunt, Author, The Whuffie Factor
What makes for a website or product that people love so much they want to tell everyone about it? It’s the same principle that grows word of mouth everywhere: social capital, or as Cory Doctorow calls it, “Whuffie.” Learn to create amazing customer experiences that raise Whuffie, studying examples from beloved products and websites to understand how to integrate these lessons into what you design.
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3:45pm–4:45pm
Content First
Kristina Halvorson, Founder and President, Brain Traffic
11th hour copy. Fix-it-later launches. Our users deserve more than the last-minute content we often get stuck with. And you have the power to change the game. Learn how to introduce (and sell) content strategy into your web design process.
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5:00pm–6:00pm
Magic and Mental Models: Using Illusion to Simplify Designs
Jared Spool, Founding Principal, User Interface Engineering
Studying the world of magical illusions can make us better digital designers. Explore illusions built into designs by Microsoft, Flickr, Netflix, iTunes, and Facebook. Learn how illusions performed by professional magicians follow the same design principles as your computer's file system, and how designers can create mental models to eliminate perceived complexity.
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7:00pm–?pm
Opening Night Party
Sponsored by (mt) Media Temple
Watch this space for details!
Tuesday, May 5
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8:30am–9:30am
The Survey, Year Two, Part 1
Jeffrey Zeldman, Author, Designing With Web Standards, 2nd Ed.
Web design is practically the only business in the global economy that is still going at least somewhat strong. Yet, as in years past, not much is known about web designers and developers except what we find out for ourselves. Slice, dice, and digest the data from the second A List Apart survey for people who make websites.
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9:45am–10:45am
The Survey, Year Two, Part 2
Eric Meyer, Author, CSS: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Ed.
But enough about what The Web Design Survey findings teach us. More to the point, how did we create all those hot-looking charts and graphs using nothing more than semantic XHTML, clever CSS, and the occasional line of JavaScript? CSS Jedi Master Meyer reveals the methods behind the marvelousness—methods you can use on your own charts, graphs, and other business graphics (that also happen to be accessible as markup to any person or browsing device).
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11:00am–12:00pm
The Wisdom of Communities
Derek Powazek, Author, Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places
The web’s greatest gift is that it gives everyone a voice, but how you design and manage community features will determine if you get a chorus or a cacophony. Get practical tips and tricks for how to create positive participation on your site.
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12:15pm–1:15pm
Findability Bliss Through Web Standards
Aarron Walter, Author, Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond
Connecting with your audience is objective number one for any website. Findability—the discipline of helping users discover the content they seek—not only helps businesses get their message out, but it improves the user experience, too. The secret to attaining findability bliss, both with search engines and beyond, lies in the wisdom of web standards.
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1:15pm–2:30pm: LUNCH
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2:30pm–3:30pm
Designing Virtual Realism
Dan Rubin, Co-author, Web Standards Creativity
The real world is rarely flat and devoid of texture, yet our virtual designs often do little to mirror what lies beyond the monitor. Tasteful use of lighting, shadows, gradients, and more traditional arts such as photography, oil, water color, pencil and charcoal can help us mimic the world around us. Learn to use and create realistic textures and media, and make your designs leap off the screen.
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3:45pm–4:45pm
On-the-Spot Usability Reviews
Robert Hoekman, Jr., Author, Designing the Obvious
Get ready for slam-bang action as Robert performs on-the-spot usability reviews of sites submitted by our live audience on the fly. It’s a ton of fun, with loads of audience participation—and you leave with great ideas on how to improve your own site.
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5:00pm–6:00pm
Implementing Design: Bulletproof A–Z
Dan Cederholm, Author, Bulletproof Web Design
As the browser landscape changes, so does our approach to implementing flexible design. Learn 26 ways to help your interfaces become more adaptable, worry-free, and bulletproof.
The Venue
Gorgeously situated at Pier 66 on the downtown Seattle waterfront, Bell Harbor provides stunning views of the city, and across Elliott Bay to Mt Rainier, plus easy walking proximity to the shops and restaurants of world-famous Pike Street Market. Oh, and did we mention that the facility brags wonderfully comfortable seating, world-class Wi-Fi, and fine catering to keep your tummy happy while you feed your brain with design and code?