The following Edge of the Web workshops are HALF DAY workshops to be held on Friday the 7th of November. Session 1 are 8.30am to 12.30pm and Session 2 are 1.30pm to 5.30pm.

Derek Featherstone

Session 1 - Real World Accessibility for Ajax and Web Apps

Your reputation—and the reputation of your agency or company—depends on bulletproof, functionally elegant web apps that will work now and in the future. Using your application shouldn’t frustrate users; their experience, regardless of who they are, should be effortless.

Want a truly usable, accessible web app? Learn from a world-class teacher how to harness Ajax, break out of your usual development routines, and build intelligently, using the technologies you really need.

We won’t just be covering the basics or theoretical situations. We’ll be examining original research conducted by Derek’s company and real-life test cases. You’ll see assistive technologies and prototypes of new techniques in action. During this intensive workshop we’ll even put a selection of existing web apps through their paces — zeroing in on how well they meet the needs of people with a variety of disabilities.
[read more about Derek Featherstone]

Donna Spencer

Session 1 - Information architecture: Just the essentials

Information architecture may seem mysterious and tricky, but with knowledge of the essential elements, this aspect of your web project can be much easier. This half-day workshop will cover the essential aspects of IA. No filler, no fluff, just pure IA:

• How classification and categorisation work in our brain, and why it matters
• How to identify potential organisation methods for your content
• When organisation schemes such as geography, task, audience and subject work best (and tricks to make them work)
• How to design an organisation scheme that works for your users
• The best navigation approach for your content

This won’t be a dry, theoretical workshop. We’ll talk, play some games and practice techniques. You’ll go away with a better understanding of the essentials of information architecture, techniques to use on your > next project and a comprehensive list of resources for follow-up reading.
[read more about Donna Spencer]

Kai Koenig

Session 2 - Adobe AIR Bootcamp 101

Ok - you’ve heard lots about this new way of deploying web applications to the desktop and your fellow developers peers talk about a thing called AIR for a few weeks now?

It might be time to have a closer look into what Adobe AIR really is. Attend this workshop to learn AIR from the basics. We’re going to have a look into the architecture of the AIR runtime and will then build our first application. Moving on from the “HelloWorld”, we’re going to discover topics like the SQL API in AIR that enables your application to store data locally, the File and Network APIs and the various deployment options. Security of AIR applications will be a topic as well as bringing together the Flash/Flex side of developing for AIR with HTML/JS/AJAX.

This will be a hands-on workshop, Make sure you bring you laptop to make most of the code examples and walkthroughs. The workshop is pretty much technology-agnostic besides AIR itself, i.e. we’ll cover both AIR for Flex developers and for HTML/JS developers.
[read more about Kai Koenig]

Cameron Adams

Session 2 - Frontiers of JavaScript

Cameron Adams will share his love of playful code and explore the latest developments in the field of JavaScript and interface design. Bring your own laptop and at the end of it all you’ll be playing with the code like a master as well!

This workshop is designed for those with a strong grasp on the basics of JavaScript. You should already have a working knowledge of:

• Modifying the DOM
• The browser event model
• Making basic Ajax calls

By the end of the workshop you will:

• Have a knowledge of the pros and cons of different libraries such as Prototype, jQuery and Dojo
• Be able to work with real-time data formats such as XML and JSON
• Create mashups using APIs
• Work with browser-native vector graphics (SVG/VML & Canvas)
• Pick up advanced code tips
• Understand why coding JavaScript is so darn fun!

The workshop will be mostly practical (on your own laptop) where you will be able to apply some of the skills you have picked up throughout the session, with tips and immediate assistance from your host.
[read more about Cameron Adams]