Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

Bruce Lawson – Native multimedia with HTML5

Photo of Bruce LawsonWe’ll look at the pros and the cons of HTML5 multimedia and see how to write simple controls with JavaScript. Most excitingly, we’ll also look at how HTML5 builds in support for subtitles and captions for multimedia accessibility. And you might pick up a Turkish dancing tip on the way.

Hannah Donovan – Designing without the browser

Photo of Hannah DonovanDonovan argues the processes for the future lie in our more material-​​based graphic designer pasts, and our cousin disciplines of industrial design and architecture. After a decade of honing our newfangled browser-​​based skills, learn how to dust off and sharpen the tools of our roots.

Daniel Burka – Designing the first fifteen minutes

Photo of Daniel BurkaThe first fifteen minutes of your product are the most important and they’re so often squandered. But! We’re starting to figure out what works and what does not. There’s no longer any excuse to give your visitors a poor initial experience. Learn how great user interfaces entice people right out of the gate, then help newcomers get people over the threshold.

Dave Balmer – Rockstar graphics with HTML5

Photo of Dave BalmerIn this session Dave will cover high-​​performance presentation and animation using HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3 and Canvas. Examples will include mobile-​​friendly techniques you can use today for creating game effects and “flashy” user experiences across a range of browsers and devices.

Dave Orchard – Offline Web Apps with HTML5

Photo of Dave OrchardThere’s an old expression, that there are only 2 hard problems in computing: naming, cache invalidation and off-by-one errors. Building offline web apps is all about those hard problems. We’ll spend the bulk of our time on these hard problems, which is probably more useful than api description and sample code.

Chris Wilson – Keynote: The Convergence of All Things

Photo of Chris WilsonThis keynote will focus on the unique potential offered to web developers — the ability to use the web platform to build compelling applications that reach across different devices, scenarios and environments. In discussing the approaches necessary to deliver great experiences across all these spaces, we will also uncover unique opportunities in a platform that reaches from mobile phones to the biggest display screen in your house.

Robby Ingebretsen – Get your game on: HTML5 for game building

Photo of Robby IngebretsenYou’ve seen a lot of demos, but is HTML5 really ready for primetime? We made an HTML5-based pool game with the explicit goal of creating an experience that defies your expectations for what a browser can do. In this session we’ll take you through the challenges and triumphs of working with this new technology. For the experienced HTML5 dev, we’ll share tips and tricks. For the rest of us, it will be a great primer on the exciting potential that HTML5 brings to the web.

Ross Boucher – Quality Control: Testing and debugging your apps

Photo of Ross BoucherDevelopers have long been able to use an array of debugging, profiling and other testing tools to ensure application quality and performance. More recently, web developers have started to rely on increasingly sophisticated tools to help test their web sites and applications. But particularly in the mobile space, when developing sophisticated applications with web technologies, testing presents significant challenges.

Juliette Melton – Mobile User Experience Research

Photo of Juliette MeltonIn this talk, Juliette Melton will guide you through how to use some great existing research methods in a mobile context, how to incorporate some new (and fun!) methods into your arsenal, and propose next generation tools and services to make mobile user experience research even better.

Dan Saffer – Top Ten Things To Tackle Touchscreens

Photo of Dan SafferThe average size of an adult human’s finger pad is 10-14mm. The average size of a cursor or stylus tip is 1-2mm. That fact alone means that designing native touchscreen apps is an entirely different thing than designing web, desktop, or even traditional mobile apps. This talk outlines the most important concepts, guidelines, and practices to keep in mind when designing with fingers and hands in mind. We’ll cover interaction zones (where it’s easiest for fingers to reach), touch targets (size and distance apart), kinesiology (how fingers can bend, move, and stretch), and signaling (how users can become aware of gestures).

Rachel Hinman – Mobile Prototyping Essentials

Photo of Rachel HinmanWe’ve heard it all before… prototype, prototype, prototype. It’s a standard step in almost any design process — but often the first step skipped in time and budget constrained projects. While prototyping is considered a standard step in any UX design process, it is an *essential* part of the mobile UX process. This talk will outline why prototyping is essential to part of the mobile UX process and how prolific prototyping is a necessary step for designers keen to grow the ruthless editing skills necessary to craft successful mobile experiences.

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Phil Whitehouse General Manager, DT Sydney