February 2010 Meetup
The end of February is fast approaching which means it’s almost time for the next Refresh Columbia meetup. This month we’re bringing back lighting talks with 5 speakers presenting for 15 minutes each on a wide variety of web-centric topics:
The Lineup:
Every Designer’s Nightmare: Fear of the Blank Page
Jennifer McSwain (@jenmac24)
Jennifer will talk about finding inspiration to keep your work fresh, innovative and satisfying.
Sign Up Form Design
Gene Crawford (@genecrawford)
Gene will cover some basics behind the sign up form: psychology, patterns & design review.
What the @font-face
Jay Barry (@petridisc)
Jay gives us practical steps for using @font-face today.
YQL: Query the Web
Justin Shearer (@justinsane98)
Justin will give us a quick walk through of how to grab RSS feeds and other types of data for display on your site without using any server-side code.
The Care and Feeding of a Developer
Jason Johnson (@jason_johnson)
Jason will show us how to keep your developers challenged, focused and happy.
Featured Book:
Thanks to the user group partnerships advertised in the sidebar, we’ll be giving away a free book each month. This month we’ll be giving away a copy of Microformats Made Simple by Emily Lewis. We’ll choose a random attendee from the sign-in sheet, so be sure to show up and sign-in for a chance to win.
When: February 24th, 2010 at 6pm
Where: USC Swearingen Faculty Lounge – 301 Main Street (map)
Topic: Lightning Talks!
RSVP: On Facebook
January 2010 Meetup
Well here we are in 2010. No teleportation devices or flying cars yet, but there’s a lot of new stuff going on in the world of web design. Advances in HTML5, CSS3 and @font-face are quickly making their way into browsers and therefore into our work flow. We look forward to covering some of these developments in the coming months, but none of those changes mean anything without design.
The Beautiful Web
Jason Beaird (@jasongraphix)
The key to designing beautiful, effective websites is learning to think like a designer. In this talk, Jason will explain how principles and theory can only take our designs so far. We’ll look at landmark designs from both on and off the web, digging up inspiration and discovering the secrets to being better designers.
New Location:
We’ll be trying out a new venue for this month’s meeting: The Faculty Lounge at USC’s Swearingen Engineering Center which is located at 301 Main Street in Columbia. Unlike the directions to most rooms in Swearingen, these are quite simple. If you come in through the glass doors on the Main Street side of the building, the Faculty Lounge will be the first door on your right.
Featured Book:
Thanks to the user group partnerships advertised in the sidebar, we’ll be giving away a free book each month. This month we’ll be giving away a copy of Designing Web Interfaces by Bill Scott & Theresa Neil. We’ll choose a random attendee from the sign-in sheet between the first and second talk (Only 1 talk this month, thanks for catching this Levi) Be sure to show up for a chance to win.
When: January 27th, 2009 at 6pm
Where: USC Swearingen Faculty Lounge – 301 Main Street (map)
Topic: The Beautiful Web
RSVP: On Facebook
Columbia Code Camp
The Columbia Enterprise Developers Group is hosting Columbia’s first MSDN Code Camp on January 30th, 2010. MSDN Code Camps are community events where developers and enthusiasts come to learn from and network with their peers. The Columbia Code Camp will feature many speakers including Microsoft MVPs, book authors, and local talent. Visit http://columbiacodecamp.com for more information.
When: January 30th, 2010
Where: USC Swearingen Bldg – 301 Main Street, Columbia, SC (map)
Cost: Free!
The 2009 Survey
In the graphic design field, many people depend on the yearly AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries to see where they stand among other graphic arts professionals. The A List Apart’s Survey for people who make websites provides a similar service for the web industry. Sure, AIGA includes some web jobs, but the ALA Survey is by web makers, for web makers. I highly recommend that anyone who makes anything for the web go take the survey – right now. It’s completely anonymous and the more people who participate, the more accurate their State of the Web report will be.
http://alistapart.com/articles/survey2009
Game Night Tomorrow
Just wanted to post a quick reminder that our holiday game night party is tomorrow in the back room at Delaney’s. We’ve checked out the venue and have figured out the logistics for running both 4 player Mario Kart AND 4 player Rock Band at the same time. (Thanks to Cyberwoven for letting us borrow a projector!)
If you haven’t RSVPd via the Facebook Event page, please do that so we have an idea how many people to expect. Happy Holidays!
When: December 8th, 2009 at 6pm
Where: Delaney’s Five Points (map)
Topic: Holiday Game Night
RSVP: On Facebook
