@media Blog

The recent @media Ajax conference went down a storm with general feedback, similarly to last year, being overwhelmingly positive.

The audio recordings of the presentations from the first day are now online and ready for your downloading pleasure via the schedule page.

Presentations come from Brendan Eich (Mozilla), Richard Rutter (Clear Left), Christian Heilmann (Yahoo), Michael Mahemoff (Osmosoft), Dion Almaer (Google), and Jake Archibald (BBC).

The second round of downloads, from the second day of the conference, will be made available in the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

All chicken and egg ingredients used at @media Ajax will be free range.

We have just finalised the menus for the event, but before we did we enquired as to whether the ingredients used by the caterers were free range. In fact, we said If either the chickens or eggs are not free range, [we] would like to pull out everything that contains those ingredients.

The response was, frankly, brilliant: …for your event, Chef is happy to buy in free-range eggs and there will be an extra cost per person to order in free-range chicken. We agreed to the latter, which was a mere 5% additional cost for a day’s catering.

I urge other event organisers, or anyone in charge of buying food in general (even as an individual), to do the same: Protest against non-free range ingredients, refuse to buy them where possible, and, and maybe this is the harder part, pay a little more for better quality, “fairer” food. The more organisations (and individuals) that do this the more likely it is that catering companies and food suppliers will move towards using free range as a standard rather than a “luxury” exception.

@media Ajax is almost upon us. Tickets are still available, but be warned: ticket prices go up as of tomorrow! Register now to take advantage of Standard Tickets.

The schedule is complete, including new additions Yehuda Katz (jQuery), Christophe Porteneuve (Prototype), and Jake Archibald (BBC), and the final touches are being made to what is shaping up to be another great conference.

In the cunning guise of “@media 2009,” @media will return to London’s Southbank Centre on 11th-12th June.

Yes, it’s a long way off, but we thought you might like to know! This one’s going to be a particularly special one, with some great speakers already lined up.

As usual, more details will be revealed, and registrations will open, in January.

You know the drill: The early bird catches the worm. The worm, in this case, is a tastily discounted ticket to @media Ajax, taking place, in case you didn’t know, in London on the 15th and 16th September. And today is the last day to catch it. So if you haven’t already, register now - you know it makes sense!

The conference is coming together swimmingly, with a few more great speakers added recently, and a few more in the pipeline. We’ve sent the plumbers in go get them out.

We’re excited, but then we would be - we’re very excitable. If you’re one of those enthusiastic Ajax and JavaScript loving pro-types, there’s plenty in there for you to be excited about, too.

@media Ajax returns to London on the 15th and 16th of September after a hugely successful event last year.

Sessions will once more come from some of the leading figures in modern web application development, including Dean Edwards, Brendan Eich, Michael Mahemoff, and Joe Walker, covering topics including Comet, accessibility enhancements, Google Gears, managing complexity, and much more.

Last year’s @media Ajax sold out, and we expect this one will do the same. Register soon to avoid disappointment, as they say!

The audio recordings of the sessions from @media 2008 are now online and can be downloaded from the conference site’s Schedule page.

Much like listening to a recording of a concert, it’s not quite the same as being there, but, hey, James Brown’s best album was probably Live at the Apollo. There’s a valid point in there somewhere.

Some of the sessions didn’t make it (technical glitches, copyright issues, what have you), but most are there. You will also find some links to accompanying slides. Again, not all are available (it’s up to the individual speakers), but we have added the ones we know about and will add more if and when they pop up.

“Underpants Over My Trousers” presentation from @media 2008:

Comic books have long been an inspiration to artists, designers, and filmmakers. But what lessons are there to be learned by those web designers who dare to look into this muscle-bound, four-color world for inspiration? In this session, learn how Andy applied his passion for comics to, of all things, his design for a Puerto Rican newspaper website by studying his design inspiration, creative concepts, and how he implemented his designs using superhero CSS.

Slides unavailable.

Audio

“Professional Front-End Engineering” presentation from @media 2008:

In 2001, most web developers simply pushed pixels. The Web was pieced together by print designers and back-end engineers - almost no one was deeply focused on the front-end. Today, in 2008, as front-end engineers we author complex and efficient software and bend reluctant browsers to our will. And we are broadly recognised and respected as a first-order engineering specialisation.

In this talk the lead front-end engineer at the web’s largest web site will define the characteristics and important practices of our discipline. The key challenges we still face will be discussed and 13 tactical tips from the front lines that you can put into practice today will be offered.

Slides

Audio

“The Why and Which of JavaScript Libraries” presentation from @media 2008:

The ubiquity of JavaScript libraries in modern JavaScript development is undeniable, but why is this the case? In this session you’ll be presented with an extensive overview on the importance of JavaScript libraries, and how they can effect your development, followed by a whirlwind tour of the most popular libraries and what they can offer you.

Slides

Audio