| about us |  |
events | |
members | |
resources | |
sponsors | |
home |
Event Archives |
||||||
|
Wondering what you've been missing? View a description some of our past events below. November 14, 2006SEO and SEM Tips, Techniques, and ResourcesSpeaker: Abby Krumel An overview of search engine optimization and search engine marketing, the scope of this presentation will be “a mile wide and an inch deep”
Abby Krumel is a professional bookkeeper and perennial student who has been active in volunteer organizations since age 15. Currently the Treasurer of Sonoma County Web Developers, Abby enjoys working in groups to further their goals. A student of web design since 2000, Abby recognizes that successful websites are more than just a pretty face. Abby will be speaking to us about how to turn websites into marketing tools that help businesses reach their customers. October 11, 2006Ruby on Rails and AJAX... an Overview of Two Web TechnologiesSpeaker: Les Nightingill - stillpoint of the turning world A high-level overview that will give you a feel for what's under the hood of these emerging web technologies, including their capabilities and strengths and weaknesses. Les' presentation should be of interest to all flavors of web developer, from graphics & design specialists who want to see what can be accomplished using this powerful client-server communication mechanism, to programmers who are looking for a jump-start in working with Ruby, Rails and AJAX. Les Nightingill is a silicon valley escapee. After 25 years in various engineering and management positions, none of them web-related, he now designs websites mainly as a volunteer, and programs PHP, Javascript, SQL, and even a little Ruby. August 8, 2006Legal Issues affecting Web DevelopersSpeaker: Jonathan S. Storper, Partner Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos & Rudy, LLP hansonbridgett Jonathan will introduce these topics, and then tailor the discussion to the interests of attendees. Topics will include:
Jonathan S. Storper has over 19 years of experience counseling corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and nonprofit entities in connection with business and intellectual property transactions, corporate finance, including initial public offerings, and general corporate law. Jonathan often is called upon to provide business as well as legal advice based on his years of experience and expertise. He regularly advises clients regarding complex general corporate matters, contracts and licenses, joint development agreements, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, e-commerce, and technology related matters. Jonathan is licensed to practice law in the State of California and is admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the District of Columbia. July 11, 2006Image Revolution: Flash 8 and the BitmapData ObjectSpeaker: Marc Tanenbaum 
Flash 8 rolled off the assembly lines last September with a raft of new features aimed at “improving expressiveness”. This was a build aimed at artists, and kudos to MacroDobe for remembering the important role artists play in the Flash community. But some of these expressiveness features are targeted not at artists per se, so much as at developers who work with artists. Such a feature is Actionscript's new BitmapData Object. This highly-powerful but poorly-documented feature fairly well blows the lid off of Flash image handling as we've known it. Imagine being able to implement highly complex Photoshop-like filters on-the-fly. Imagine being able to capture webcam photos back to your server (with nothing but basic tools like PHP and MySQL). Imagine image-warping, Doom-type 3D engines, picture analysis, FlashVR, motion detection and more. All thanks to the death-defying acrobatics of this amazing little object. We'll spend the evening walking through some of the more useful aspects of the BitmapData Object, look at exciting modifications some enthusiastic developers have made to it, and show you a few of the ways we've employed this tool - including several of the techniques mentioned above. Marc Tanenbaum is Staff Programmer at Red Hill Studios, a Larkspur-based educational multimedia firm. He specializes in Actionscript development, and is currently Lead Programmer on several Red Hill projects, including FF56!, an educational adventure game about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He has taught Actionscript through his Actionscript Salon series and was until recently an officer with the North Bay Multimedia Association. examples and Flash source files June 6, 2006eMarketing: Advertising, Search Engines, Email CampaignsSpeaker: James Foreman 
If you want to tap the full potential of your website no time is better than now. The Internet of 2006 has the tools, and proven technology, to deliver the business to your inbox. The success of your website though will be determined through the decisions you make and the website tools you use. Making the best decisions within the type of business you run and implementing them are two separate phases of the process. James Foreman will present to both business owners and web developers alike how to make those decisions and implement them for online success. Any type of website can fulfill its full potential, so all are welcome for this important presentation. Topics will include:
James Foreman is the co-owner of Feather River Productions, originally named SubtleFx and located in Sonoma County, but now based in Waitsfield Vermont. James has extensive knowledge as an SEO and Website Designer/Developer, working and creating for over 10 years, and has had the opportunity of starting many businesses and designing numerous websites for a variety of businesses throughout the U.S. April 11, 2006Web 2.0: Opportunities to Make it Big While Keeping it SmallSpeaker: Tony Stubblebine
Tony Stubblebine is Director of Engineering for Odeo.com, a podcasting company. He's also the author of Regular Expression Pocket Reference by O'Reilly Media, a consultant specializing in Web 2.0 development, and former Lead Engineer for O'Reilly's Online Division. In his spare time Tony writes a blog, stubbleblog.com, builds Ruby on Rails applications, and plays with Ajax. Tony also likes to ride bikes and watch movies. March 14th, 2006Taking The Leap Into CSS
Developing an efficient work methodology This is a roll-up-your-sleeves session that will get into the tricky details you need to understand to become a CSS web developer. Greg Sterne and Abby Krumel will address the practical application of CSS through demonstrations, examples and useful tips. Greg is a writer, photographer, trainer, student of web design and organic gardener. He started out in life as a gluepot and x-acto knife graphic artist and now enjoys commuting to his pixel mine each morning in his PJs. On the topic of Tables vs CSS-based design, Greg says, "We are in the midst of a paradigm shift towards greater use of quality standards across the board as the world becomes one economy. Web designers who today embrace web standards as a basis for design decisions, will have a larger competitive advantage as browsers become more compliant." February 14th, 200610 Reasons to Learn and Use Web StandardsSpeakers: With Jeri Hastava, Principal Leap of Faith Web Design and Brent Wrinkle, Principal Webflavors Design, SCWD webmaster Inspired by their attendance at the recent WOW Web Design and Project Management Workshop, Jeri Hastava Leap of Faith Web Design and Brent Wrinkle Webflavors Design , SCWD webmaster will introduce you to 10 good reason why as Web developers, if you're not already, you should consider learning and using Web standards.The evening will also include a display of relevant books for you to browse during the break, and a brief introduction to WOW, the World Organization of Webmasters. Bring your questions--as well as concerns--about Web standards so we can
facilitate an enthusiastic discussion on the theory as well as the practical
issues of web standards. October 12, 2004SONOMA COUNTY WEB DEVELOPERS PRESENTS A PANEL DISCUSSIONTHE STATE OF WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT Managing Your Web Presence: Speaker: Thomas Luehrsen, Founder and Principal, Elmwood Studios Media Production Biography- Media producer, Thomas Luehrsen, has more than 15 years experience in video
production, and a unique combination of expertise in both interactive multimedia and
traditional film and television. Luehrsen is an acknowledged expert, author, and lecturer on
interactive multimedia design and digital video, particularly Web video. Through his production company, Elmwood Studios, Luehrsen has produced, edited, and
compressed hundreds of digital videos for multimedia projects and Web sites. Clients
include: PeopleSoft, Inc., Macromedia, Inc., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, NBCi/C-Net,
DIRECTV, Ripple Effects Software, Bluelight.com, Mondo Mundo, the San Francisco Fine Arts
Museums, and Cinenet (Cinema Network). Luehrsen is considered a pioneer in the field of interactive multimedia. He was the first
full-time producer of interactive media at the Voyager Company, best known for its acclaimed
Criterion Collection series of DVDs and laserdiscs. His CD ROM production, Exploring the
Lost Maya, is an interactive documentary showing the majesty of ancient Maya civilization.
Other award-winning projects include I Photograph to Remember, a CD ROM which redefined the
use of the personal computer as a medium of expression. Rolling Stone magazine called it "a
universal work." Both CD ROMs were rated in the top ten CD ROMs of the year by PC World and
Macworld magazines. Luehrsen is the author of Creating Web Video (Peachpit Press), a comprehensive primer on Web
video. The book offers conceptual information and step-by-step instructions to guide readers
through the process of shooting, editing and encoding video for the Web. Luehrsen teaches
digital video and multimedia classes at the San Francisco State University Multimedia
Studies Program, the University of California at Berkeley Extension, the San Francisco State
University Cinema Department, and the Bay Area Video Coalition. Speaker: Marc Tanenbaum, Principal, SF Multimedia As part of his presentation, Marc will show off a Flash blogging tool,
a content management tool for database-driven websites
(loosely modeled on Macromedia's Contribute software), and a website which
draws the same database information to drive both Flash and HTML versions. Marc believes strongly in the 'multi' side of the multimedia equation.
He couples expert Flash/Actionscript coding skills with abilities in design,
writing, film-making, photography and editing. Through sfmultimedia, his
independent website firm, he's developed dozens of websites, presentations
and games, and played key creative roles in several short-subject films. As much as he enjoys creating, Marc is equally eager to teach and share
his expertise with others. He began doing this while still learning Flash:
before the end of his first semester, he became de facto teaching assistant,
helping his fellow students understand the ways of Actionscript. Since then,
he has taught Actionscript to hundreds of students through the classroom,
the web forum he moderates, and through private tutelage. With NBMA for three years, Marc worked first as Web SIG leader, and later
as head of the Actionscript Salon (working the two simultaneously for almost
a year). Through the Salon, Marc charts the sometimes treacherous waters of
Actionscript by delving into it one aspect at a time, drawing parallels
between these aspects whenever possible. Speaker: Jamie Spooner, President
Planeteria Web Design, Inc. Web developers and designers are routinely called upon to be
marketing consultants. Knowing more about building a brand
online will also help you refine the role of marketing as a
competency within your own company. Before starting Planeteria, Jamie worked at Microsoft for 7
years as a Design Program Manager. Her accomplishments there
include the design of the Windows Media Player interface,
the design of Microsoft.com's second home page, the design
of the Windows 98 site launch (over 1000 Web pages), and
several marketing presentation designs for Bill Gates.
Previously, Jamie held positions at two Boston advertising
firms and was fortunate to gain a great deal of experience
in marketing and branding with clients such as American
Express, Digital Equipment Corporation and The Boston
Symphony. She also taught design for one year in
Switzerland. Jamie is a graduate of Smith College. Jamie is President of the Sonoma Business Networking
International chapter (BNI), a Marketing Consultant with the
Redwood Empire Small Business Development Center in Santa
Rosa, a member of the Santa Rosa Chamber Marketing
Committee, Communications Director for the Connections women
in business networking group, and Secretary for the Smith
College Class of 1987. Speaker: Brian Petro, Principal,
Bright
Productions Website Design A popular speaker, Brian will use examples
from past Bright Productions website development
projects to demonstrate how to avoid some of
the lessons he learned the hard way. Brian Petro founded Bright Productions Website Design (bpwebdesign.com)
in 1995 to capitalize on the expanding commercial
possibilities of the Internet. With his special
interests in sales and promotion, he conceived
Bright Productions as a more effective, marketing-focused alternative
to companies that only considered the technical aspects of Web development.
During the past nine years, Brian has built a solid reputation for
helping his clients develop and implement powerful, integrated online
strategies. Experienced in a broad spectrum of Internet technologies
and systems, Brian has collaborated with such
diverse companies as Chevron, Redwood Merchant
Services (National Bank of the Redwoods), Dey,
LP (Merck), and DMG World Media. Brian earned
his Bachelor of Science from the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas, in 1992. An accomplished public
speaker and writer, Brian has participated in
numerous public forums and panels regarding
Web development and curricula for teaching its required skills. He
frequently donates his expertise to local charitable organizations
on pro bono projects. Brian was a founding member of the Sonoma County
Web Developers Special Interest Group.
Speaker: Douglas Bowman, Founder and Principal,
Stopdesign
This session will not serve as an introduction to CSS. Many
books and online resources are available for learning the basics.
Rather, this session serves to empower, by providing real-world
examples of beautiful interfaces, and by reviewing practical
tips and advanced techniques that anyone can begin using immediately
to build better-looking sites. We’ll examine how and
why these techniques work, so we can envision more applications
and uses relevant to other projects. Use CSS to control overall layout, create a more flexible
design,and simplify the markup we used to create with tables. Set up a style sheet to allow the entire layout or structure
of a page to change simply by applying a different <body> class
or ID. Technique that uses pure text, simple markup, and 2 background
images which “slide” back and forth to create the
illusion of expanding images. Push the technique to create rounded-corner boxes and solve
other design challenges, like styling liquid layouts. Douglas Bowman is an influential designer whose highly publicized
and hugely successful redesigns of sites like Wired News (wired.com)
and Adaptive Path (adaptivepath.com)
have pushed him to the forefront of standards-compliant web
design. Bowman’s consulting firm, Stopdesign (stopdesign.com),
proves daily by example that beautiful, easily maintainable
interface designs can exist alongside simple, standards-compliant
code. Prior to founding Stopdesign, Bowman led the creation and
implementation of design process and standards for an international
network of high-traffic sites within Terra Lycos. As Design
Director for Wired Digital, he designed and oversaw numerous
trend-setting, industry-leading sites under the Wired umbrella.
As a member of the Web
Standards Project, Bowman helps spread the gospel through
examples, articles, and tutorials covering design, web standards,
and the confluence of the two. He believes the
presence of design should simplify and facilitate our everyday
life.
Speaker: Brian Kreck, Kreck
Design Solutions
There are several different ways to
engage in e-commerce depending upon
the needs of the business and the budget
available. The goal is to make it as
easy as possible for the consumer to
place the order and to ensure there
is a solution for every comfort level.
In this presentation, you will learn
how to choose the right shopping cart
solution for your customer, and how
to implement that software on your
site:
Where D o I Start?
What is a Shopping Cart? Security Shipping Issues Payment Issues Choosing a shopping cart Brian Kreck is President
of Kreck
Design Solutions. He was born into
an entrepreneurial family that has
owned its own businesses for many generations.
His experience with computers began
when his father purchased a Radio Shack
TRS-80 Model 1 in 1979 for use in the
family winery. After high school, Brian
attended the University of California
at Davis specializing in computers,
wine, and business.
Brian founded his first computer company
in the summer of 1995 to train UC faculty
and students on the use of personal computers
and the Internet. He graduated from the
University of California, Davis in 1997
and immediately joined the family business
fulfilling duties in marketing, sales
and management. The experience in both
industries gave Brian the intimate experience
necessary to profitably integrate technology
with modern business to achieve administrative
and marketing goals.
In early 2001, the company was restructured
to focus on the most successful component:
web site design. Appropriately, the
company was renamed Kreck Design Solutions.
The list of design related services
have continued to grow to encompass
many areas but in every case the core
foundation of providing economic solutions
remains.
The offices for Kreck Design Solutions
are located on First Street in Santa
Rosa, California and open Monday through
Friday, 9 AM to 5:00 PM. We offer complimentary
consultations and would be honored
to be considered for your next design
project. Speaker: Anne Marie Smith, President of InfoPros With over 17 years in the technical communication field, Anne Marie's
expertise is in the areas of usability, user interface design, information
architecture, and content development for hypertext systems. Anne Marie leads
the InfoPros team of analysts and developers in the creation of effective,
user-focused Web sites that elicit a positive user experience. Anne Marie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from California State
University, Chico and earned minors in Computer Science and Technical Writing.
She is a frequent speaker at in the areas of online information usability,
Information Architecture, and Web-based training. In addition, Smith is an
instructor for the California State University, Sacramento, Regional and
Continuing Education Program and the University of California, Davis, Extension
Program. One of the remnants of the dot-com boom and bust is the concept
that, given that the Internet was made possible by hundreds of
hard-working technologists who weren't paid much by dot-com standards,
the lucky software programmers who benefit from it should "give
back" to their community. In addition to the minor fame that ensues
from producing and giving away software for free, a lot of programmers
genuinely feel rewarded by contributing their labor towards software
applications that are distributed for free on the Web. In this
spirit, thousands of software applications and services are given
away for free on the Internet, many of them specific to web developers.
Stephen Fraga of AcademyX will look at some of the free services
on the web, and install and demonstrate some of the best web-related
free software applications for Windows, including:
Software:
Services:
Attendees will receive a CD-ROM
with most of the software listed
above!
Come early to take advantage of networking opportunities and
refreshments. Robert Dougherty, master illustrator and designer, presented design tips and solutions for the web showcasing features of the new Adobe Creative Suite:
A look at recent redesign and development initiatives at The Press Democrat,
where the online department deploys usability testing, research, surveys and
persona building to help structure and shape the newspaper's large information
sites. The team's work with persona building was featured in a July 2003
article in Online magazine. As The Press Democrat's online manager, Catherine Thorpe heads the newspaper's
family of Web sites, including pressdemocrat.com, northbay.com, and
savorwinecountry.com. She started her career at The Press Democrat in 1999 as an
online news producer, and before that worked as a reporter and project editor at
the Sonoma Index-Tribune. She first learned HTML at technical publisher O'Reilly
& Associates, where she was editorial assistant to founder Tim O'Reilly.
A small but enthusiastic group attended our informal Web Developers Forum on October 14th. It was a worthwhile evening of "free consulting" from our talented members and guests. We covered a lot of topics including shopping carts, Flash, DHTML, and web-based newsletters.
Web sites often have no UI, or they have a UI unlike any their visitors have seen before, requiring a learning curve to navigate their sites.
Learn how to take UI elements from traditional applications and recreate them using DHTML. A discussion of what does and doesn't work, and how to take advantage of the latest browsers without losing functionality in older ones took place in this meeting.
Building any business takes planning, organization and good business acumen. This months presentation gave information on what tools you have locally or will need to utilize or develop in order to build a strong foundation for your web business.
The SCWD reviewed web development tips from professional peers from database security to cheap and easy icon design.
Presenters demonstrated how you can put our tips into practice for your next project.
Craig Scull and Kristen Brennan are User Research and Usability Specialists with SBI and Company in San Francisco. Their primary responsibilities involve overseeing and conducting qualitative and quantitative research with users to inform product development and enhancements.
They discussed and reviewed user experience factors driving web search success—namely web site search features for an organization (as opposed to web-wide search engines). Jeff Johnson President and Principal Consultant at UI Wizards, Inc., dicussed his latest publication Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes and How to Avoid them.
His vast experience in the field of Human-Computer Interaction since 1978 and Ph.D. degrees from Yale and Stanford Universities made this event an enriching experience. Mr. Johnson has worked as a user-interface designer and implementer, engineer manager, usability tester, and researcher at Cromemco, Xerox, US West, Hewlett-Packard Labs, and Sun Microsystems. A panel of prestigious professionals will discuss different aspects of the various web technologies being used. These include: Our panelists included: Two seasoned web development professionals from Razorfish cover the whys and hows of intranet design and implementation. By showing examples and best pratices we will provide a practical overview of intranets for various types of businesses. Topics covered will include: Anca Mosoiu As a Functional Team Lead and Project Manager, Anca Mosoiu ensures that the business requirements of Razorfish clients are translated into scalable, integrated technical architectures and user-centric interfaces. As an Information Architect at Razorfish, Joe Michiels provides clients with user-centered solutions. Clients that Joe has worked for include Cisco, Genentech, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Join the Sonoma County Web Developers and Brian Petro of Bright Productions Website Design for an informal evening discussing how to be successful in the web design business. The web has changed quite a bit over the years and the companies that integrate knowledge, talent and good business sense will do very well in the long run. Prepare to learn, dialogue and ask questions. As time allows, topics will include: Watch and learn how to use the new dynamic data features of Dreamweaver MX. In this presentation we will create a simple application to get records from a database, display the results, go to a detail page, edit the records and create new ones. |
home
"Coined barely a year ago, the term 'Web 2.0' quickly turned
from a container for good ideas, to buzzword quicksand. One of
my favorite themes in Web 2.0 is the ability to make big gains
from small investments. Harness the value of your users. Join
smaller pieces through web services. Market yourself with a
blog. The personal investment to integrate one of these ideas
into your site is often less than a day." - Tony
Last month we presented why all sites should be developed with Web standards. In this session we leave the theoretical
behind and jump into addressing the practical issues involved in moving to CSS-only designs. We will cover:
An information-packed session on what are web standards and why you should
use them. The presentation will cover a brief history of Web standards,
their importance in Web development as well as browser support issues. An
abundance of book suggestions and Web resources will be shared. There will
be plenty of time to address audience questions.
Project management is one of the trickiest aspects of running
a Web development company. It requires knowledge
of all of the technical aspects of a project,
PLUS very solid people skills. This presentation
will cover practical tools
to help guide the management of technical
aspects of Web development, and the
relationships that are an integral part of
each project. 
Building
designs with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is no longer a fringe activity
practiced by standards evangelists and early-adopting web geeks.
Creative pioneers everywhere are bringing CSS to the mainstream.
Its popularity explosion brings a new wave of possibilities for web
design. It provides greater design control, allows more flexibility,
and enables sites to become attractive, accessible, and faster loading,
all at the same time.
Communicating
online successfully so that your message is read and understood requires
applying specific online information principles and using effective, proven
techniques. In this presentation, you will learn the knowledge and techniques
necessary to write effectively for online readers. Specifically, you'll learn
how to:
Anne
Marie Smith is President of
about us | archives |
be a volunteer | benefits |
board members
contact us | directions
| directory | events
| home | how to join
members | mission
statement | resources |
sponsors