July Canberra WIPA/WSG meeting July 22, 2008

When: Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Time: 2.30 pm - 4.50 pm
Where: NLA Theatre, lower ground floor, National Library of Australia, Parkes Place, Parkes, ACT 2600 http://www.nla.gov.au/library/locationmap.html
Cost: Free
RSVP: Become a WSG member and RSVP at http://webstandardsgroup.org/meetings/index.cfm?event_id=155 (essential for catering and to be eligible for door prizes)


First presentation: Jessica Enders, Formulate Information Design
Topic 1: The secrets of successful online forms

Hello. My name is Jessica Enders and I run the Canberra based firm, Formulate Information Design (http://formulate.com.au).

As far as I know, I'm one of only two people in the world who try to keep a copy of every form they encounter. This probably seems like a clear symptom of madness - after all, most people think of forms as loathsome, or boring ... or both! But, delve a little deeper, and you find out that forms are actually a wonderful mix of such fascinating disciplines as psychology, graphic design, linguistics and computer science.

This is why designing a good form is much harder than most people think. It's like the story for web sites: anyone can knock one out, but it takes skill to design one that does what it's supposed to, with minimal pain for both the owning organisation and the end user.

In my talk I'm going to be sharing with you a couple of really powerful - yet really accessible - models for good form design. And if you think "that's not for me, I don't have anything to do with forms", I'd say you probably do. Login and registration, online applications, search - they all ask people to enter some information, so that a service or product can be delivered. That means they're all forms.

So if you're keen to learn the secrets of a successful form, and are open to the idea that someone with a mathematics, computer science and statistics background can actually give a half decent presentation, then be sure to come along.

Second presentation: Alexi Paschalidis (Oxide Interactive) and Tim Siers (Royal Australian Navy)
Topic 2: Redevelopment of the Royal Australian Navy web site

Alexi Paschalidis has been creating web sites for over ten years - developing a passion for Standards-based development and advocating the importance of the end-user. He is a partner in Oxide Interactive and considers himself lucky to be spending his days swimming in the various streams of design. Previously, Alexi managed the Royal Australian Navy's web site for three years - his final contribution was to plan and design the coming version.

Tim Siers is the current Web Manager for the Royal Australian Navy's web site. His interest in the internet grew after reading "Web Pages for Dummies" at primary school, and now ranges from simple design to problem solving issues with online solutions. Tim worked for a Canberra based e-learning company for three years, before graduating with a degree in multimedia production from the University of Canberra in 2006. Tim joined Alexi at the Navy in 2007 and has worked to improve the quality and frequency of content while taking over the development of the new web site in 2008.

Tim and Alexi will be speaking about the current redevelopment of the Royal Australian Navy web site. They will discuss the interface enhancements and techniques for efficient maintenance. In particular, how these needs were met by the implementation of a wiki as a content management solution - as well as the many unexpected benefits.

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Our sponsors
The July Canberra WIPA/WSG meeting is proudly sponsored by Oxide Interactive and Web Directions South 2008.

Oxide Interactive is a web site planning, usability and web technology provider. They take pride in planning and developing usable, beautiful and accessible Standards-based web sites - as well as implementing open-source content management solutions. For more about Oxide Interactive visit http://www.oxideinteractive.com.au

Web Directions South 2008, Sydney, September 23-26. Over 30 sessions across three tracks and two days, plus another two days of workshops, covering off front and back end design and development, mobile design and development, information architecture, user experience and interaction design, social media and networks, accessibility, Ajax and Javascript, semantic web, HTML 5, web application security, marketing and advertising online and so much more.

With speakers including Jeffrey Veen (Adaptive Path and Google), Derek Featherstone (accessibility), Daniel Burka (interaction design), Douglas Crockford (Ajax security), Jeff Croft (typography), Ruth Ellison (accessible design), Hurol Inan (web analytics) plus many others with more still to come.

Canberra WSG members can take $50 off the ticket price with the discount code WDS08-WSG. This means just $800 for two massive days if you get that registration in before the early bird cut-off of July 19.

Workshops - September 23+24 - $450
Conference - September 25+26 - $850 Early Bird before July 19
Full program http://www.south08.webdirections.org

Official Website: http://webstandardsgroup.org/meetings/index.cfm?event_id=155