Webuquerque hosted its second event last Wednesday, "A CSS Survey: From Syntax to Rounded Corners."
Once again, we had a great turnout with about 20 attendees.
This time around, Webuquerque co-managers, Emily Lewis (that's me!) and Jason Nakai presented. Here's what you missed if you weren't able to join us.
Recap
I kicked off the presentation with a discussion of the basics:
- Terminology
- Syntax
- Concepts of the cascade, including importance, specificity and source order
- Basic and advance selectors
- Best practices
Jason followed, talking about his experience working with legacy CSS … that is, CSS inherited from an existing site by a previous web designer/developer.
In his case, best practices weren't used, so he offered tips and suggestions for taking that legacy CSS and transitioning to best practices:
- Markup and style review
- Useful tools to make the job easier (including Dust-Me Selectors and Firebug)
- Easing the transition from
table-based layout to CSS-based layout
I then concluded the presentation, demonstrating several simple (and fun … at least to me) techniques to enhance the web visual experience with CSS2 and CSS3:
- Rounded corners
- Text shadow
- RGBa opacity
- Outline offset
- Generated content
The presentation covered an extremely wide range of CSS information (hence the "Survey" title).
As this is our first year, Jason and I weren't entirely sure what, specifically, our audience wanted and/or what their level of experience was. As such, we felt a broad stroke of CSS information was the best bet to give everyone at least something of interest.
We hope we accomplished this. And if we didn't, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We love feedback, constructive criticism and even complaints.
Webuquerque is for the community, so speak up!
Almost Like You Were There
The presentation "deck" was actually an S5, which is available for your perusal.
Personally, I'm a big fan of S5, as it makes the content searchable and — especially for a presentation on CSS — demonstrates the "power" of CSS.
But after having to deal with how the TVs at Uptown "distort" web sites (and, therefore, CSS-based slide shows that use percentages for font-size), I'm reconsidering this option for my future Webuquerque presentations.
But I digress …
We also have the video ready on Viddler for your enjoyment:
And then, of course, we have a few pictures of the event (much thanks to Mark Casias for filling in as photographer, since I was presenting):
Coming in April
Our next presentation is Interaction Design and Agile Development on Wednesday, April 1, 2009, beginning at 6:30 pm at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill.
Local interaction design specialist, Kevin Silver, will talk about how to integrate interaction design into the agile process, as well how upfront design fits in, if at all. Kevin will also discuss how interaction design can help overcome a few perceived deficiencies with agile so you can stay on schedule and on budget.
Mark Your Calendar
Don't miss out on Kevin's presentation. Sign up for reminders from your preferred social network:
2009 Presentation Schedule
While you are at it, mark your calendar with our entire 2009 schedule:
- May 6
- Topic: Web Standards & Accessibility With Dreamweaver
- Presenters: Virginia DeBolt & Emily Lewis
- June 3
- Topic: Web Workflows in Adobe CS4
- Presenter: Jason Nakai
- July 1
- Topic: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Presenter: Chris Kenworthy
- August 5
- Topic: Development Frameworks & Libraries
- Presenter: Mark Casias
- September 2
- Topic: Podcasting & Vodcasting
- Presenter: Vincent Ascoli
- October 7
- Topic: Microformats
- Presenter: Emily Lewis
- November 4
- Topic: Web marketing
- Presenter: Reid Givens
- December 8
- NMAUG holiday party (time & location TBA)
Add 2009 Webuquerque schedule to Google Calendar
Please note, these topics and presenters are subject to change.
Be Our Friend
Webuquerque is active on a number of social networks, which we use to keep you up–to–date about our activities and other local web-related events. Be our friend (or follower, as the case may be):
Once Again, a Big Ole Thanks!
Jason and I are overwhelmed with the turnout and response we are getting with Webuquerque, and we owe it all to the community. Thank you to everyone who showed up at our last and previous events. We look forward to seeing familiar and new faces at our future presentations.
And don't forget to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
See you in April!
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