Tag Archives: Web

5 things I learned today

In no particular order…

  • Virginia Agricultural Show (Cavan) is 68 years old, has over 400 judging classes and €50,000 prize money up for grabs
  • Damien has a chocolate allergy but can handle the lower cocoa value stuff
  • You can do the local lotto for many GAA clubs in Ireland online at locallotto.ie
  • Microsoft will support IE6 until 2014
  • Gmail has been putting a lot of genuine emails into the Spam folder lately and it is rather annoying

Sucked into a time-warp

Doing some researching and reading for work today I stumbled on some very old school websites in need of a facelift to say the least. Particularly surprised by the government ones. Retro has an ugly side.

  • Copyright Association of Ireland (featuring some broken links)
  • Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment (many pages date-stamped as last udpated in February 2004 and you can review the website here apparently)
  • Digiprove – never heard of them and I’m not sure what exactly is on offer but it’s another for the web design time machine circa the 90′s
  • And while I’m at it, I’d just like to say for once and for all, why can’t Jakob practice a little more of what he preaches? Yellow and blue backgrounds? Really? Usability faux pas? I think so. Call me, we’ll sort it out.

Now where did I leave my infomration super-highway ticket?

Princess Bride night, Dublin Fringe Festival 09 and awards season

So tonight is Princess Bride night – watch and chat about the movie at Screencheck at Spy from 7 with yummy cupcakes, wine and cocktails on the cheap. Nom. The liveblog is all set to go here and if you’re partaking in the discussion via Twitter the hashtag is #asyouwish

I popped in briefly to the launch of the Dublin Fringe Festival 09 last evening – my was it a lively event! Still sifting through the packed programme of events to see what I might get to see but first impressions are awesome. Check the site for all the info you need and keep an eye on culch.ie for extra nuggets.

Autumn is creeping upon us ever gradually and with it comes the usual flux of awards events for the design world. While it’s a little quieter this year with the IIA Net Visionaries moved to the month of May as of this year, there’s still plenty opportunity to try your hand at getting something tasty for over the fireplace. The IDI Awards and Irish Web Awards are accepting nominations till the end of the month. The Golden unmentionables are taking place also and still charging ridiculous amounts for seats at the awards ceremony (€300 per head) and a saucy €150 per nomination. Stick with either of the previous I think.

How NOT to use a mailing list #103453535

When this brute landed in my inbox earlier, I was lost for words:

learningireland

Now the static image is garish enough but imagine the red and yellow dots flashing and images within those changing in rotation also. Not pretty. And certainly the most spammy spam to slip into my inbox in a long time.

What I can’t work out is what the email has to do with Learning Ireland, which is a website concerned with night courses and further education, not an online stationary shop.

I’ve emailed them to see what the heck is going on and who sent this out on their behalf.

Upcoming design conferences & workshops

Designer's toolbeltThere seemed to be a lot of different design/development conferences, workshops and events type things popping up in my email and rss reader with the last while.

I thought I’d put some order on them & see what’s going on at home and abroad that might be worth checking out.

FOWD Tour

Tagline: We’re hitting four UK cities in September 2009 to bring you FREE web design tutorials, an afternoon of great talks from some of the UK’s best known web designers and speed networking. Don’t miss out.

Location: Belfast (also Bristol, Glasgow and Leeds). When: 02 Sept. Cost: £59. [see you there!]

dconstruct

Tagline: dConstruct 09 brings together leading thinkers from the fields of ubiquitous computing, interface design, gaming and mobile to explore the challenges of designing for tomorrow.

Location: Brighton, UK. When: 04 Sept. Cost: £115.

idea 2009

Tagline: IDEA2009 brings together the world’s foremost thinkers and practitioners: sharing the big ideas that inspire, along with practical solutions for the ways people’s lives and systems are converging to affect society.

Location: Toronto. When: 15-16 September. Cost: $250 – $550.

FOWA London

Tagline: We have a fantastic line up from some of the industry’s leading professionals. You’ll be hearing from: Mozilla, Twitter, TechCrunch, Facebook, digg, Merb, jQuery, 280North, Virgin and more.

Location: London. When: 30 Sept – 02 Oct. Cost: £385.25 – £569.25.

Adobe Max

Tagline: We are in a software revolution fueled by social computing, client and cloud, and the spread of rich media across screens and devices. For four unforgettable days this October, MAX 2009 will bring together thousands of designers, developers, and decision-makers to shape the future. Join us.

Location: Los Angeles. When: 04 Oct – 07 Oct. Cost: $100 – $1,795.

There’s a range of events being organised as part of Design Week around Ireland in November, including Offset 2009 – a full blog post about that is in the works but do check out the Design Week site for info.