Slides from the 2011 Scandinavian Web Developers Conference

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Today I went to the Scandinavian Web Developers Conference, a 1 day, 1 track conference in Stockholm, Sweden and I thought I’d share with you the slides from the different sessions.

There was 9 speakers, each giving a presentation and at the moment of writing I have the links to 6 of the slides but I will update this post as I get access to the rest and here they are.

I will also do a more detailed post on the conference as a whole, but right now I am having some post-conference beer and should probably get back to discussing web browsers, bugs and feature detection with the people at my table. ;)

Annonskonsulterna – Historien om bluffakturor, bedrägeri och förtäckta hot

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Inom SEO-branschen är det inte helt ovanligt med fusk, bluffer och ibland även bedrägeri, men jag har aldrig läst om något så utstuderat som det Annonskonsulterna håller på med. Annonskonsulterna kontaktar privatpersoner och företag per telefon, uppger sig för att arbeta åt Google och kräver sedan betalt för att personens eller företagets webbplats ska synas i SERPen (sökresultaten).

Läs om blufföretaget Annonskonsulterna och deras “affärsmetoder” hos Nabil El Alaoui Sossey.

Läs om Annonskonsulterna och lyssna på ljudfilen från ett av deras “säljsamtal” hos Svensk Företagsförening.

Det skulle vara väldigt uppskattat om Du ville hjälpa till att sprida denna information vidare.

When Johnny Cash went to church

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Almost five years after he did his famous show at Folsom Prison, on October 3rd 1972, Johnny Cash played at the Österåker correctional institution north of Stockholm, Sweden. Just like the gig at Folsom was turned into a record (one of Mr. Cash’s best, if you ask me) this concert was released on record as well (At Österåker, 1973).

What I guess most people don’t know is that the day before he played at Österåker, he performed at “Kungliga Tennishallen” (The Royal Tennis Hall) and after that show, Mr. Cash attended a sermon at the Pentecostal church “Filadelfiakyrkan” in Stockholm city. Mr. Cash had been invited by pastor Lewi Pethrus who at the time had connections with a Pentecostal church in Nashville.

What I’m certain even fewer people know of is that at this sermon there was a group of people from the parish who played psalms and hymns. And in this group there was a young man, just out of his teens, who played the contrabass.

When Johnny Cash was about to go on stage, a person from his crew asks this young man if he would be so kind as to accompany Mr. Cash on his bass while he performs the old psalm “How Great Thou Art” before he went on to speak to the parish about himself, the substance abuse that nearly ended his life, and when he found his way.

This very special appearance by the legend Johnny Cash had the church packed with people. Something like this had never been heard of in the Christian community in Stockholm at the time and for those who where there, I am sure it was an experience to remember. Especially for the young man on the bass.

That young man was my dad.

SVK (Comic Book Review)

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I would like to start by saying that this review might be a little short on details and specifics. That’s because I’d really like to avoid giving away too much since I believe this comic book deserves to be experienced and appreciated without too many spoilers. But I will try my best to gain your interest anyway.

SVK is, as noted above, a comic book (I would like to call it a graphic novel but it’s not paperback or long enough to qualify for that definition) collaboration between writer Warren Ellis, illustrator/designer Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker and London based design studio BERG. It also has a foreword by William Gibson. Yes, THAT William Gibson, the godfather of cyberpunk.

SVK - The comic magazine by Warren Ellis, Matt Brooker and London based design studio BERGIt is the story about “security consultant” Thomas Woodwind and his latest assignment, taking place in future London, or at least it’s the foundation and scenery for the story.

Thomas takes on an assignment where he is asked to locate and return a prototype of a product that one of the lead developers had on his person at the time of him disappearing. The client in question is a key figure (CEO, president, owner, it’s not clear) at the company that developed the product, Mr. Marley, whom with Thomas has a past.

Without giving to much away I will just say that the core essence of SVK is not the high-tech, comic noir of this detective story but rather the questions on morals, big brother-type surveillance society and dystopia that you as a reader will be faced with, in true Orwell/Kafka spirit, the more you get into the adventure.

One of the most interesting aspects of SVK is that you do not only get the comic book/magazine which is in itself very nicely illustrated, but you also get a credit card sized UV light. The interesting thing about this is that it will come quite handy during your read. It’s actually a necessity for the story to live up to it’s full potential.

It’s an exciting take on the production of a comic book and for me personally it was one of the best things I’ve seen when it comes to comics and graphic novels. It’s not just a gimmick, it really brings the story to life and it’s such a perfect fit for this story in particular.

SVK also contains some extra material and two articles. One by Paul Gravett, the director of the Comica Festival in London and one very interesting article by Jamais Cascio that is not only a great read but which also connects well with the story in the comic itself.

I can only recommend, strongly I might add, SVK to anyone who reads and likes comics and graphic novels in general, and to everyone who likes dark, provocative and dystopian stories in particular.

You can order your copy of SVK over at BERG London.

SVK
Author: Warren Ellis and Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker

Adaptive Web Design (Book Review)

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Adaptive Web Design by Aaron Gustafson

Just the other day I was reading a post on mobile-first responsive web design by Brad Frost (a great read by the way, go check it out) and found it very good. In fact I found it so good that I decided to buy Aaron Gustafsons book, ‘Adaptive Web Design: Crafting Rich Experiences with Progressive Enhancement‘ which the author had recommended.

I chose to get the paperback+eBook bundle and I finished it in two evenings. This doesn’t mean that the book is a light read, it just says something about how well Aaron manages to get his thoughts on paper.

Adaptive Web Design

If you’ve worked with web design for more than a short while you have most likely heard the term progressive enhancement, but how well do you know it, and how much does it influence your work?

Aaron  has suceded in explaining the reason for using progressive enhancement, the basics of the various techniques, breaking it down chapter by chapter and also ending it with a checklist for all your progressive enhancement needs. All in a book that not only covers the theory (or philosophy if you so will) behind it but which also contains plenty of practical examples of how, and more importantly why, to implement the techniques.

Adaptive Web Design consists of six chapters where progressive enhancement with markup (HTML), CSS, JavaScript and Accessibility takes up one chapter each. The first chapter talks about the what, why and how of progressive enhancement and the last gives us the checklist and information about the book, author etc.

The book itself is a perfect metaphor for progressive enhancement in the way it’s laid out, adding more and more advanced features and styles to it and where you, at the end, are ready to boost a wide knowledge on the topic. Sure, you can stop reading after two chapters and still be a better designer/developer than you where when you started but why would you? You’re not the equivalent of a low-tech ancient browser that don’t support the latest features, are you?

I can only wish more, a lot more, web designers and developers get their hands on Adaptive Web Design because I consider it a must have tool in any serious designers/developers toolbox. The more people read it, the less sites breaking when the user has JavaScript turned off and the less non-semantic markup and more accessible content will we see.

In short, this book will help us make a better, more future proof and more accessible web.

Adaptive Web Design
Author: Aaron Gustafson
ISBN-13: 978-0-9835895-0-1