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Archive for the ‘Localhost’ Category

Spring Localhost

Posted on: February 5th, 2013 by joel

The Spring Localhost event is pretty much on top of us now. Sell out event so we’ll certainly be cosy in there. Don’t forget, if you can’t make it, lemme know as there’s a waiting list a billion miles long.

Don’t forget also that the venue is the City Campus which is slap bang in the middle of Newport…NOT the campus in Caerleon!

If you’re a Foursquarer, then this list of Newport stuff (including the venue) may help you.

Registration is from 18:15 sharp as we need to get you seated promptly if we’re going to squeeze everything in to the 2 hours.

We’re aiming to end by 20:30 at which point we’ll head to a boozer.

The uni should put Port80/Localhost signs up but, if not, the staff will point you in the right direction. Or twit me.

Oh, don’t forget, it’s sold out. If your names not down….well, you know the score.

What’s with the clipboard?

My trusty old clipboard died so I’ve got a sturdier new one. And what I’d like is to start covering up with web conference, tech related stickers; I’ve got some from NACONF but if you have anything related/legal you want to stick on there, bring it along on Thr or send it to my office address.

All stickers gratefully received and you’ll get a shout out.

See you Thursday :)

Joel

Spring Localhost 2013

Posted on: January 3rd, 2013 by joel

Happy new year everyone! I hope Santa visited you; a cherished present I had was a poster from Atari signed by Mr Nolan Bushnell himself – nice :)

Anyway, it’s 2013 so it’s time for me to start thinking of all things Port80. The speakers for the big May event (& the tickets) will be announced shortly but first I just want to get the Spring* Localhost launched which is coming up fast on Thursday the 7th of February (evening event: 18:30 to 20:30)

(*I realise that calling February ‘Spring’ is a stretch but bear with me…)

Tickets available on Eventbrite for a pathetic £4!

Spring Localhost Speakers

I’ll get to the speakers in a mo but first I’ll apologise for not having their talk titles in here; I’ll get those sorted as soon as the emails land until then you’ll just have to let your imagination run riot as to what these crazy horses will say/do; it will obviously be web related…well, apart from Zach…he really is crazy!

Update: all done!

Emma Boulton

“Getting to know your audience doesn’t need to be difficult”

Good web designers and developers appreciate the importance of understanding the audience they are designing or building a website or app for but of course there isn’t always budget or time available to undertake in depth user research on every project. Emma shares her hints, tips and practical advice for including user research in any size of project.

Emma Boulton spends her days juggling the demands of her two small businesses and two small children. At work she’s a strange combination of company director, UX researcher, and commissioning editor. At home she just tries to make it through to bedtime without too much chaos. In a calmer, previous life, she spent far too long working for the BBC in their audience research department.

Zach Inglis

“Design, for Everyone!”

Whether you have an interest in learning design, or working with designers, it’s a handy skill to know. Zach carries on his fight of making design accessible for everyone.

Zach is a designer/developer c-c-combo and has worked at some of the top companies in his field despite having no formal training. He runs his tiny agency, Superhero Studios in Cardiff and building his startup Crit.io.

Carey Hiles

“Whine, Lose or Draw: Spec Work Sucks!”

Whine, lose or draw, spec work sucks but if you do it right, it can form a genuine learning and development programme. Carey will talk about applying agile techniques to the process of pitching for business and make sure you win even when you lose.

Carey is the Development Manager at Box UK. In a role that straddles the guts of software development and board-level strategic decision-making, Carey has a much deeper understanding of the nuts and bolts of software than many other web specialists, with a particular interest in large system design, scalability and commoditization of web technology

Money, money

Don’t stone me but sadly the Localhost events will have to be charged for; they will move from ‘free‘ to ‘minimal charge’ for the following reasons:

  1. The university charge me for use of the room; so far I’ve paid for this (aw bless!)
  2. Some people book tickets, the event sells out & then just don’t show up = unfair on folks who wanted to come

However, this isn’t a money-grabbing affair, this is just to cover bare bones room cost cost and help keep bums on seats. The cost per ticket will be:

£4 only!

…yes, that’s £4. Four whole pounds. Four of your British currency slabs.

>> Book your ticket via eventbrite <<

What are you waiting for?

Joel

Port80 Localhost Winter 2012

Posted on: December 14th, 2012 by joel

Well, the final Port80 event of 2012 drew to close in November and it was nice to see so many people brave the darkening nights and dropping temperature to  listen to some web related talks. Funny to think there was NO Port80 concept 12 months ago…

James Scrimshire spoke about Agile project management.

I prattled on about hosting (I cannot find my slides! They weren’t exactly a thing of beauty but still!)

Laura Sanders spoke about her blog and the whole area of content generation.

Many, many thanks to James & Laura for their hard work which paid off with some great, engaging talks.

So, that’s it for 2012 folks! Dates for your 2013 diary are:

7th Feb 2013 – Spring Localhost

10th May 2013 – Port80 2013 (the big one!) Ticktets on sale in Jan

Speakers for both events are confirmed and will be announced shortly.

Have a Merry Christmas everybody & a happy new year!

Joel

p.s. if you’re around Zooport tonight, there will be a few of us in The Murenger around 19:30

Some Photos…

James Scrimshire

James Scrimshire

Photo 29-11-2012 20 17 41

Laura Sanders

Tweetsville

Port80 Localhost: Winter 2012

Posted on: September 27th, 2012 by joel

The next localhost event will be held on the 29th of November here in sunny old Newport.

Tickets are free but, like last time, space is limited.

The venue is the University of Wales Newport (City Campus) room C25. We’ll kick off slightly later this time at 18:30 and finish at 20:30.

So, what are we blabbering on about this time?

1. Agile in the real world

James Scrimshire - Scrum Master (wow!) – Hurricane Four

James ScrimshawJoel: For those who don’t know (and please excuse my cack handed explanation here), agile is an approach to running projects which is less about trying to know and specify everything up front – where along the way discovery is expected if not encouraged. I’m particularly interested in hearing James speak incase I can pick up any nuggets which can help me with running Jojet’s projects.

Bio: James Scrimshire runs Hurricane Four where he coaches businesses, organisations and individuals about being agile. He’s a regular speaker at agile conferences both in the UK & internationally. His free time is mostly spent dreaming up more ways to use Zombies as a coaching tool. You can find him on twitter @Scrimmers

2. Hosting for the faint of heart

Joel Hughes - Web Strategy gun slinger – Jojet

Yours truly will be talking about the pros and cons of website hosting, the different types of hosting, handling clients etc. It’s actually not as dull as it sounds. The aim of the talk is to go through my experiences of hosting clients websites and also to see what can be learnt from the audience.

Bio: What is there to say? I have a 2:1 degree in computing from the 90′s (remember them?) , I’ve worked on IBM Mainframe computers (old skool!). Been employed by AMEX (Brighton rocks) and British Airways (loved watching Concorde take off). Been down’n'dirty  in the web for donkey’s years. I run Jojet,  a petite web strategy studio producing websites, web applications, training etc.

3. The Recipe for Blog Success 

Laura Sanders – UX designer for Sequence

There will be a brief intro to my blog, an overview of what good content is, what I’ve found works for content on my blog, and some general tips for creating good content for blogs and personal sites.

Bio: Laura runs 1796 Foods, a blog where she aims to eat 1796 of the world’s must-try foods. So far she has racked up 3 years, 800 and something foods, and 40000 followers, and is nominated for the Wales Blog Award this year. After a few assorted jobs, she started properly working in the web industry in April this year as a UX Designer at Sequence in Cardiff. It involves lots of lists, stationery, and cakes which keeps her very happy, though she would like it even better if there were more dinosaurs.

So, what are you waiting for?

Port80 Summer Localhost – closing ceremony

Posted on: September 3rd, 2012 by joel

Many thanks to everyone who came along to the first of the free “localhost” events.

Thanks also to the superb speakers; Ollie Wells, Ben Reid & Rob Mills (links here).

Thanks also to Rich for helping out on registration.

Here is Ollie Wells of Sequence showing off one of their latest websites….ok, maybe not ;)

Also, you’ve got to take a look at these superb sketch notes which Kevin Mears made:

Port80 Summer Localhost sketch notes

If you have any photos etc of the event then please let me know.

Show Notes

Here are some links and resources:

…have I missed anything?

The Next event

The Autumn Localhost will happen on the evening of the 29th of November so set your diary for that (tickets not on Eventbrite yet).

If you would like to speak at an upcoming event , or would like to hear about a certain web related topic etc; then please shout out.

Joel

p.s. and thanks for all the lovely feedback :) e.g.

Port80 Localhost – Summer – next week

Posted on: August 23rd, 2012 by joel

So, the first port80 localhost event has snuck up on us and is due to land next Wednesday (the 29th of Aug) around 18:00 here in Newport.

All the free tickets are sold out (unless I can shake a few loose from people who cannae attend anymore).

This event is sold out! Please bring your eventbrite details with you as this will be needed for registration.

(more…)

Summer Localhost – the lineup

Posted on: July 26th, 2012 by joel

We’ve got the first, free localhost event coming up on the 29th of Aug and I have to say that I’m really excited about the speakers & topics.

The event will be at the University of Newport, City Campus (same as main #Port80), is 2hrs max from 18:00-20:00 and then we’ll probably head over to Ye Olde Murenger to carry on the festivities.

Tickets can be snaffled up at eventbrite (warning: they are like rocking horse poop)

Ok, let’s take a look at who’ll be treading the boards..

1: ‘Content; it’s not just for Christmas’

Ollie Wells - Interaction Development Manager - Sequence

We as designers and developers have a responsibility to our clients to educate them in how to maintain a fidelity of design through the use of content. I will go through some examples of how content can ruin a great design, and some key tips and pointers to pass onto clients to get them thinking in the right way about the content they are adding to their own sites and applications.

Ollie runs a team of front end ninjas at Sequence in Cardiff. He’s responsible for coming up with the best way for users to interact with content on websites and in web applications for Sequence’s clients. With a mixed bag of skills under his belt, Ollie’s main passion lies in always making something to the best quality it can be.

Ollie lives with his lovely wife near Bridgend. When he’s not saving the World (Wide Web) , he likes mountain biking, snowboarding, playing guitar and meeting people for a beer. Just not at the same time. Although he probably could. If he wanted to.

2: ‘Make your coding Sublime’

Benjamin Reid - Aardman Digital

I’ll be giving a whirlwind tour of the up and coming editor, Sublime Text. Whether you’re new to coding, or a hardened vet’, this great editor has something for everyone. I guarantee to show you some tips which will shave away your development time and how to make those menial tasks disappear. So, an editor that essentially gives your longer to live; cool eh?

I’m a web developer from Bristol, UK. Proudly part of the @aardmandigital team. Also a keen guitarist & photographer.

3: ‘Content First FTW’

Rob ‘Bertie’ Mills – Bluegg

Rob will talk about how Bluegg have banished lorum ipsum and adopted a content first approach for web projects. He’ll discuss how they implemented this, getting clients on board and the impact it has had on projects.

Rob is Studio Manager at Bluegg, a journalism graduate and author of A Practical Guide to Designing the Invisible from Five Simple Steps. Having worked at Mark Boulton Design and Carsonified previously, Rob has extensive experience of project management and running a design studio. He has written for .Net, Think Vitamin, Smashing Magazine and 24ways. He will write for coffee and Monster Munch but never for raisins or yoghurt with bits in

The Final Countdown

So that’s the line up folks, cool huh?

The good news is that tickets are free.

The bad news is that there are very few left! If you want come, I’d book now.

Joel

Localhost Aug Event: Update

Posted on: July 14th, 2012 by joel

Next up on the Port80 event diary is the first localhost event – these are the small scale, free, evening based affairs.

If you want to come along then best pull your finger out as 16 tickets have gone so far and the room at Newport Uni can only hold about 25 tops.

(more…)

First Localhost event: 29th Aug 2012

Posted on: July 3rd, 2012 by joel

Hi all, I’m pleased to finally get a date for the first localhost event. If you remember these are free, evening events just to have a bit of a meet up and to discuss a few things web related.

Wednesday 29th Aug 18:00-20:00 (perhaps an ale after ;)

Apologies for the delay with this but I’ve had the devil’s own job finding a nice place in central Newport with WIFI etc. The university is a wonderful building but it’s slightly tricky to book.

It’ll kick off at 18:00 and be finished by 20:00 (I would have preferred 9 but the building closes early during term time).

We’ve got a nice room at the Uni (no, not the same lecture hall that Port80 was in), just a small tutorial room with a projector etc.

(free) tickets can be found on Eventbrite 

Oh, and if you’d like to:

  • suggest a topic for discussion
  • talk about someting
  • or have any other ideas

Then please shout out

Joel

Localhost events

Posted on: April 1st, 2012 by joel

The main Port80 event for this year, once far off, is now rapidly turning into a much bigger blip on the radar. However I’m already looking beyond that event and into what might fill in the gaps between the main yearly conference. Say hello to “port80 Localhost events”.

The Localhost events are completely different to the main port80 event in a few ways:
- they will (probably) be monthly
- they will be in the early evening
- they will be (probably only) one topic/speaker
- they will be free
- they’ll last about an 1hr or so
- they will be small in size

These events will be probably be held at one of the university’s smaller rooms as the audience size here will be much smaller 8 – 15+ people. This will also help put such topics etc onto the radar of students etc.

The sort of topics will be vast & varied; depends on what suggestions come up but here’s a couple:
- Node.js demo
- Arduino/Rasperberry PI: what’s the fuss?
- design workflow in a responsive world
- mobile apps to help freelancers
- creating a low entry products for clients
- marketing via social media
- branding: a crash course for freelancers
…and more

You get the idea.

As I say, the events will not last for hours so that’ll give us time to have a drink & a catch up after. Good for the community spirit :)

I’ll be on the look out for for:
- topics
- speakers

If you’re interested, please shout out.

Joel

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