I’m happy to announce that well-known Flash and Flex author Joey Lott will be speaking at our September 23, 2008 meeting. Joey is traveling across the country, from east coast to west coast, on his way to Adobe MAX in San Francisco and we’re his first stop.
Thanks to the local Adobe user groups, FlashFocused and Detroit Area Adobe User Group for joining us in sponsoring this special event. Joey will be selling autographed books. Thanks to O’Reilly, we’ll have some books to give away too!
Abstract
Want to know how to use your existing Flex and/or Flash skills to build applications for the desktop using Adobe AIR? In this presentation we’ll look at what AIR is and is not, and we’ll look at the key features of AIR. We’ll go beyond the standard marketing presentation for AIR and instead focus on what is possible using AIR and what it takes to get up and running using AIR.
Joey Lott Biography
Joey Lott is one of the founders of The Morphic Group, a Flex and Flash application development company. Joey has also authored or co-authored numerous books on Flex and Flash and related technologies including Programming Flex 3, ActionScript 3 Cookbook, Adobe AIR in Action, and Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns. Joey has spoken at many industry conferences such as Adobe MAX, Flash on the Beach, Flashforward, and FITC.
When: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: Canton Public Library, 1200 S. Canton Center Road, Canton, Michigan 48188 (map). Phone: 734-397-0999. We’re meeting in the Community Room. Free parking is available next to the library.
Disclosure: This program is neither sponsored, nor endorsed by the Canton Public Library.
Hope you can join us!
Comments (1)
The Wayne State University Marketing and Communications office is looking for a talented full time web designer to work in a fast paced team on high profile university web sites. This position will be a key member making design decisions and direction.
Preferred qualifications:
- Solid understanding of working with-and designing for-web applications.
- Able to prototype in Photoshop and other dynamic prototyping tools.
- Experience working on large-scale higher eduction websites.
- BA/BS or above in Graphic Design, Information Design, or other visual arts; strong technical background a plus.
- 3+ years experience designing web-based products for a consumer-oriented website.
- Ability to act as a leader in communicating conceptual ideas and design rationales, all within a user-centered design process.
- Able to work and communicate effectively in a cross-functional product development team, and present ideas and designs effectively.
- Self-motivated to prioritize and manage work load, and meet critical project milestones and deadlines.
- An effective problem solver who comes up with creative solutions and considers many alternative solutions to each problem.
- Fluent in HTML/CSS, or full knowledge of associated capabilities/limitations.
- Know or have an understanding of Flash/Actionscript and its capabilities/limitations.
Salary is $33,538-$40,245 plus benefit package, including tuition, health insurance and retirement benefits. For more information on how to apply and the full job description check http://jobs.wayne.edu/ and search for posting #035628.
No applications via email. The only way to apply is at http://jobs.wayne.edu/.
What makes “Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond” by Aarron Walter so interesting to me is the simple, easy-to-implement advice. In fact, I updated the Refresh Detroit WordPress setup with several recommendations from the book.
Aarron covers a wide range of areas in the book, including user experience, markup, search engine optimization, and site promotion, that some people may find distracting.
However, I liked the mix of technical advice, delving into server-side settings and development and WordPress tweaking, and the more practical tips on creating content and setting up mailing lists. As Aarron points out in the first chapter, developing a findable website is the result of many aspects in web development which help your target audience find the information they seek.
It may seem a small detail, but an added bonus of the book is how the book is laid out and formatted, improving readability:
- the book lays flat with wide width pages
- the line spacing is generous, and
- the excellent use of text color in main content, chapter and section headings
As the sole employee of a web development company, I wear several hats as marketer, information architect, designer, coder, developer and search engine optimization analyst. Aarron’s book is a great resource for improving website findability by improving the user experience.
- Title: Building Findable Websites, first edition
- Author: Aarron Walter
- Publisher: New Riders Press
- ISBN: 0321526287
- Date: 2008
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 240
- Cover Price: USD: $39.99
Book Review: The Windows Vista Book
August 23, 2008
I admit it, I’m one of the many XP users who didn’t jump to Vista when it was first announced. Stories of the interface, problems with printer compatibility, etc. made me not want to even think about changing operating systems. As a longtime PC user, having made the transition from DOS to the first Windows release years ago; I wasn’t looking forward to yet another big change in how I do my work.
Reading The Windows Vista Book gave me reason to finally make the switch to Vista. The book has 10 short chapters, easy-to-understand explanations of individual features, and a full-color screen shot highlighting the feature on each page.
It’s obvious the editor/author/publisher took care to make it simple to scan the book chapters. Each chapter has a different colored 1/2 inch border at the top of the page with the chapter title which makes it a breeze to distinguish chapters.
Want that tip on Security? Go the chapter with the purple bordered pages. How do I split clips for a movie? Go to the light green bordered pages.
I liked The Windows Vista Book since it provided a quick overview of the most helpful and exciting features in Vista, without taking up a lot of my time. The book begins with a summary of the 10 coolest features in Vista, which will get anyone moving away from XP.
The Vista photo managing features explained in Chapter 7, Getting the Most out of Your Photos, were a lifesaver for our family at a recent reunion. With a couple hundred photos shot the night before, I quickly organized, edited, and displayed a slideshow to the family the next morning.
A nice touch - tips are included throughout the chapters, at the bottom of pages, set off by a blue background box.
My only negative comment on The Windows Vista Book - the content on each page was one big paragraph, some paragraphs with more than 15 lines. It would have been an easier read to break some of the longer paragraphs into shorter paragraphs.
- Title: The Windows Vista Book, first edition
- Author: Matt Kloskowski and Kleber Stephenson
- Publisher: Peachpit Press
- ISBN: 0321509749
- Date: 2008
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 240
- Cover Price: USD: $19.99
Website Design Contest
August 20, 2008
Last week I met with Rosemary Bauer, founder of the Michigan Council for Women in Technology Foundation. This fall MCWTF is sponsoring their high school girls website contest; a great opportunity for young women to use their website planning, design and development skills.
MCWTF is looking for volunteer judges for the first round of judging the websites as well as an instructor to teach a usability seminar on Saturday, October 4, 2008.
For the contest, teams are composed of 1-2 high school girls, with a maximum of 80 teams competing in the contest. Teams must design their websites based on the theme “My Dream Career and How I Plan to Get There”.
Contest Judges
MCWT is looking for first round judges with knowledge of the technical aspects of web design.
- Websites will be reviewed on line from a secure site.
- Judging will take about 6-8 hours of time total using a rubric to score sites
- Judging will take place from October 22, 2008 to November 8, 2008
Usability Instructor
The usability seminar is one time only, October 4, 2008, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, at Lawrence Tech University in Southfield, Michigan. MCWT has the presentation from last year which could be modified or leveraged by the instructor. Around 20 girls are expected to attend the seminar, all high school students.
For more information about the contest, visit the Michigan Council for Women in Technology website or use their website contact form.
We will have another casual meet up where people can discuss anything from twitter, front end development, backend development, web services, web pages, etc.
It will be Wednesday, August 27th, at 6:30pm till whenever, held at the Ann Arbor Brewing Company in downtown Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor Brewing Company
114 E Washington St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 213-1393
Get directions
Please comment if you plan on attending so that we may reserve a big enough table.
Adobe AIR Cookbook Cook-off Contest
August 19, 2008
Think you can solve common Adobe AIR related coding problems? Then you qualify for the Adobe AIR Cookbook Cook-off contest sponsored by O’Reilly Media to celebrate the upcoming publication of the Adobe AIR Cookbook
During this contest, we invite you to submit your best solutions to common AIR coding challenges for a chance to win some great prizes.
Who
RIA developers who are legal residents only of the United States
What
Solution to a common Adobe AIR related coding problem
Where
When
Entries accepted between August 11 and September 26, 2008
Why
To have a chance at winning one of four great prizes—as well as helping others in the community build better AIR apps
Four winners will be chosen during the contest period. They will be awarded one of the following prizes:
Grand prize
One pass to the Adobe MAX 2008 conference in San Francisco, California (November 16–19) valued at US$1,695 and also US$500 in O’Reilly Media books
Second prize
Every English-language Adobe Developer Library (ADL) book published by O’Reilly Media prior to September 1, 2008
Third prize
Five O’Reilly Media books of the winner’s choice
Community choice award
US$350 in O’Reilly Media books to the winner of the top-rated recipe during the contest period. For details on how to
enter the contest, visit the AIR Cook-off website
Entries will be judged by a committee of experts from the RIA developer community and Adobe based on user experience, implementation, creativity, relevance, and (for lack of a better word) “AIR-ness.” Winners will be notified by e-mail or letter by October 15, 2008.
For more details on the terms and conditions of the contest, please
visit the AIR Cookbook Cook-off Rules and Regulations page on InsideRIA.
Contract UI Developer Position
August 9, 2008
Open UI Developer position (6+ months contract) in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area. The ideal individual will be a front-end developer with UI design background and with the following skills:
- Web 2.0 experience
- HTML and XHTML
- XML/XSL/XSLT
- CSS (framework)
- Java Script (at least one of major frameworks)
- AJAX
- Accessibility/ADA
- Table-less HTML
If interested, please contact Arun Sriram at: asrirami [AT] gmail NOSPAM [ DOT] com.
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