Aarron Walter

On February 26th, 2007, Robert Hoekman Jr., author of Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design, spoke to my User Centered Interface Design class at The Art Institute of Atlanta via Skype. The topic of our conversation was Robert’s current work as an Interaction Designer and Usability Specialist, and his task-centric design approach that, instead of focusing on nebulous personas, focus on how tasks are performed. Once a task is fully understood, the knowledge can be extrapolated to any demographic.

Robert’s lecture was recorded and is released here along with the slides for your listening and learning pleasure.

Robert Hoekman Jr. Lecture | Robert Hoekman Jr. Slides

Designer, business owner, and Art Institute of Atlanta alumnus Jen Gordon spoke to my User-Centered Interface Design class Wednesday February 14 about her design process, and what it is like to run a small web design company. Jen’s a smart designer, and she shared a number of her secrets for working with clients, finding design inspiration, trusting her instincts, and researching projects. You can listen to her lecture in this podcast: Jen Gordon Guest Lecture Podcast.

I’m ceaselessly amazed at the volumes of free podcasts one can get featuring top industry experts explaining all of the most critical topics of the web industry with eloquence and detail. Many major web conferences have begun providing podcasts and downloadable presentation slide decks to the general public. You just need to know where to find them. If you read the blogs of your favorite designers and developers, you’re likely to stumble across links to conference podcasts and slides. Aside from conferences, you can also find a host of other podcasts exploring all aspects of web design and development. Below I’ve assembled an extensive list of podcasts I have found exceptionally valuable, and can help you build your own listening library.

Conferences

• @Media Conference: many great speakers talking about important topics. Available in audio or video format
• d.Construct Conference: Put on by Clear:Left, great speakers like Jeremy Keith and Jeffrey Veen. Podcast
• South By Southwest Conference: Perhaps the most significant conference in our industry, their podcast features some interesting speakers. Podcast
• Web Direction South: This conference took place in Sydney, Australia and featured Jeremy Keith, Andy Clarke, and Thomas Vander Wal. Many of the presentation slide decks are available to download in addition to the podcasts. Podcast.
• Webmaster Jam Sessions: Cameron Moll’s “Essential Web Skills” is a must listen. Also featuring Eric Meyer, and Andy Budd among others. Podcast
• Web Essentials: Though the conference podcasts have gone MIA, Jeff Veen’s presentations are still available. The presentations are entitled “Beyond Usability: Designing the Complete User Experience” and “Designing for Web 2.0“
• The Future of Web Apps: Put on annually by Carson Workshops, this short conference explores the world of web application development, which has become one of the hottest topics on the web in the past two years. Speakers include Kevin Rose, Mike Arrington, David Hanimeier Hanson, Shaun Inman, and Tantek ?áelick among others. Summit 1 Podcast | Summit 1 Presentations | Summit 2 Podcasts | Summit 2 Presentations

Web Design and Development

• Boag World: Professionally produced by Paul Boag, covering a wide array of topics for the novice to mid-level designer as well as budding developers. Podcast
• Web 2.0 Show: Though a bit on the “Wayne’s World” side of production and professionalism, this podcast features an amazing line up of interviews with every major player in the industry. Podcast
• Vitamin: Produced by Carson Workshops, good interviews, great topics. Podcast
• The Practical Web Design Podcast: Also produced by Paul Boag of Boag World, this podcast is an extension of the print magazine of the same name. Though the magazine will no longer be printed, the podcast will live on. Podcast
• Web Standards With Imagination: Created by Yahoo! developer and JavaScript guru Dustin Diaz. He publishes both a podcast and a screencast
• Audible Ajax: With exceptionally knowledgeable hosts from Ajaxian.com and professional production values, this podcast, though infrequent, is a great way to become acquainted with Ajax and Dom scripting issues. Podcast
• AIGA Podcast: Though infrequent in releases, the AIGA podcast features interviews with some great designers. Podcast
• Pro PHP Podcast: Not for the faint of heart, this podcast is for knowledgeable developers but has a lot of detailed information about PHP development. Podcast
• The UI Design Podcast: Podcasts from a University of Michigan course on UI Design. Podcast
• Web Standards Group Podcast: Podcasts of meetings of this highly influential organization advocating Web Standards. Podcast
• Web Axe: One of the few podcasts focusing solely on Accessibility, this podcast offers advice on accessibility techniques as well as interviews with experts in the field. Podcast
• JavaScript Workshop: Not a podcast, but they’ve created a list of some of their favorite JavaScript podcasts that are filled with great speakers

Recently I’ve been talking a bit with my students about the role of accessibility in their internships/jobs in the web world, and many have said that their employers don’t see a lot of value in it for their site. I found that a bit surprising as so many evangelists have been actively promoting the benefits (a broader audience, search engine optimization, increased support for PDAs/phone display, usability conveniences for all) and ease of writing accessible code. As a teacher of Interactive Design, I have some power to change this thinking by teaching my students the value of accessibility and how to build it into their projects. Below is a bit of an accessibility round up of a few useful tools, articles, sites, and informative podcasts about the topic that may help inform/convince you about the importance of accessibility.

• Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, a great book from the Friends of Ed with a host of authors who are authoritative on the subject of accessibility. This book has everything you need to know to get started on accessible web design.
• Zeldman on Accessibility: Zeldman does a great job of presenting and counter arguing the major complaints you’ll hear when you bring up the topic of accessibility with you boss. My favorite quote from this presentation: “Google is the biggest blind user on the web”
• Accessify.com tools and wizards for building accessible forms, tables, popup windows, and more. These tools are awesome!!
• Ajax and Screen Readers: When Can it Work? Although web standards are being rapidly adopted by modern browsers today, many screen reader manufacturers have yet to jump on the band wagon. Subsequently, there are no solid solutions for how linearized pages in a screen reader can inform a user when the page has been updated by Ajax. If the reader has passed the area where Ajax will post a response, the browser will never notify the reader of the new content. James Edwards exposes the real issues with Ajax and accessibility in this article.
• Patrick H. Lauke of the Web Standards Project interviewed on Web Axe podcast. Lauke is a brilliant guy who is championing the cause to get screen reader manufacturers on board with web standards. He has some great observations in this podcast including how Flash can actually fill some accessibility needs! You may also want to check out the main Web Axe site and podcast.
• Paul Boag of Boagworld.com has a number of podcasts on the topic of accessibility: Understanding Accessibility Guidelines, Pragmatic Accessibility, Web Accessibility
• It’s no surprise that A List Apart has a host of wonderful articles that explore the big picture and intimate details of accessible web design
• Adobe has a resource center with articles, templates, and other stuff to help you develop accessible content using Flash, Dreamweaver and the rest of their software.
• Dive Into Accessibility is a wonderful site with clear explanations of what accessibility is, what it can do for you and your users, and how to build accessible content.
• Now that you are on board with accessibility, how the hell do you “sell” it to your clients or boss?
• Validate your pages against accessibility guidelines at Bobby Watchfire or Cynthia Says. You can validate against WCAG or Section 508 receiving a priority 1, 2, or 3 seal of approval.
• Joe Clark, a member of the Web Standards Project, is one of the top evangelists of web accessibility, and his site has some great information on the subject. You may also be interested in what he has to say about the WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

Cameron Moll gave a great presentation to the Webmaster Jam Session in September in Dallas, Texas entitled Nine Skills That Separate Good and Great Designers. His presentation is filled with great observations about how to think of design as problem solving rather than making attractive things, and is great for budding web desginers. His examples illustrating each of his points find connections both within and outside of the web world, but always creatively support his key ideas. A podcast and PDF of his presentation are available for download. I advise following along in the presentation as you listen to the podcast as the images are important to the talk.

The Webmaster Jam Session conference had a number of speakers worth listening to including Andy Budd, and Eric Meyer. Podcasts of all talks can be downloaded, but the production quality is spotty on some.