Minified Metro, Sticky Event Handling and great new encounters – that was ParisWeb 2007
Minification is the process to remove all unnecessary whitepace (spaces, tabs, linebreaks) from a piece of code to make it weigh less when downloaded. During a strike in Paris this is exactly what happens to the public transport system:
I’ve spent the last three days at Paris Web – a three day conference about web standards and accessibility held in Paris, France. Just to sum it up: although travelling through the city to reach the two different locations was more of a nightmare that I’d ever imagined, the conference itself was an amazing experience and I am happy to have been a part of it.
Paris Web shows the hallmarks of a conference that is organized by people who are simply passionate about bringing the good ideas of standardization and accessibility to the people and not to line their pockets.
The two day conference pass held in an IBM building with a state-of-the-art auditorium (I am still geeking out about the remote control and having a monitor in the stage to see my slides) and a more than adequate supply of coffee and beverages was 100 Euro for two days. The workshops, sadly enough (because of the strike) held in a school on the other side of town set back attendees for only 10 Euros!
These prices meant that you were able to reach the folk you normally can’t as they are not able to afford the ticket for much pricier conferences. Pending me, the low price did not mean you didn’t get a line-up of impressive speakers and great presentations. The list of speakers read like a who-is-who of the francophone web scene and included people from WaSP, the W3C, IBM and members of the prototype team.
My presentation at the conference “Successful teams use web standards”
My own presentation was deliberately kept non-technical and explained the benefits of following a standard when you develop web sites:
My workshop on Unobtrusive JavaScript
I based the workshop on my seven principles of unobtrusive JavaScript and tried to apply them by enhancing a table of contents pointing to several content areas in a document. There will be a blow-by-blow description of the enhancement when I get time.
The room was not ideal for doing a workshop as it was a classroom crammed with computers and 19 inch CRT monitors which meant that you couldn’t see much of the people you are teaching something.
I’ve promised the group that by the end of the session the JavaScript savvy ones will have realized that a lot of time they code too much and that the JavaScript afraid participants will know how to work and communicate with JS developers (yes, that is possible).
Making the best of the room and following a whim I explained event handling and event delegation using real people:
The first row were the links in the table of contents, behind the list items, then a UL to the left and Stephanie Booth on the left was the window object (I did not treat her as an object, do not start these rumours!). The lady sitting up front was the event listener and the sticky note in the hand of one of the links was the event object e. It is tricky to explain, I guess you had to be there.
I am currently still cleaning up the workshop files and will put them up on my server as soon as they are done. You will find them at http://icant.co.uk/articles/parisweb2007/files.zip later on today.
Will the show go on?
I’ve heard rumours that this would be the last Paris web, and I’d consider that a shame, as it is a conference that reached where it very much needs to and there are too many people to thank and mention. It was a great experience and it should go on.
There are lots of photos of the conference on flickr and the organizers told me that all the sessions will be available as creative commons videos on dailymotion later on.
Photos by
Raphael Goetter and Christophe Porteneuve
Tags: conferences, france, paris, parisweb, parisweb2007, webstandards
November 18th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
This thing was great.
I’m not too worried about the rumours though (just a bit). I’m quitting as real life is taking its toll (a lovely girlfriend and two lovely kids mean a lovely-awful load of time), but the others are adamant about going on, fortunately.
I’ll love being in the crowd next year and enjoy the conferences.
Oh, and you were amazing too, Chris. And don’t be modest about this “I did them on the Eurostar”, we all know how long it is to find the right illustrations for slides.
I never laughed so much at a conference as I did during your talk (as many people in the audience will confirm).
November 18th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
This was my first Paris Web, as member of the organisation and as visitor (although I did not have the time to see all I wanted). These 3 days were unforgettable for me, as I met so valuable people, as experts in their domain and as indivuals too.
Chris, I really enjoyed your conference. It means a lot for us, french developers, when the Tech Communicator, who describes me his job as “checking the quality of code and making sure of the hapiness of developers” (!!!), talks to us about good practices and standards. There is so much to do in France…
And that’s why I want to make possible a Paris Web 2008. Let’s go !
November 18th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Hi Chris
November 18th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
was there at the conference and the workshop and i confirm what Stéphane says. It was hilarious simple and clever at the same time . You’ve got a gift :) You (and the other speakers) gave me some new perspectives and a renewed motivation. thanks !
November 19th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Chris,
Your slide deck looks really fun and informative! Sorry for failing to see you in Paris.
–Tristan
November 19th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
There is no rumours, just Stephane who’s leaving (unfortunately…)
Your conference was very good, simple, funny and useful!
And your workshop too, you make me buy your book!
Thanks a lot, it was a real pleasure to ear you, I hope we’ll see next year for Paris Web 2008 ;)
PS: Sorry for the strike and the French stupidity…
November 19th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Hi Chris!
Thanks for attending and for comments on your blog. Words are missing… i’m still out there talking with people trying to enhance the web in the right way.
See you !
November 19th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Hi, Chris, you made a great presentation at Paris-Web. The topic was very interesting and the slides were very funny (You represent yourself as Obelix?).
I’ll be glad to attend one of your next conference.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
As a teacher, I was eager to listen to you teaching such “magic” things as the object litteral (from my students’ point of view!). I have noticed a few tricks I’m going to add to my own lectures :-)
Thank you very much to you and the other speakers. This was a great, great conference (despite the traditional french way of welcoming tourists in fall ;-)), and I will try to come back next year…
November 19th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Your presentation on Friday was at the same time hilarious and packed with good advice, thanks a lot for coming to Paris Web!
Sadly, I had to leave on saturday afternoon (yeah, train strikes …) and couldn’t assist your workshop but your unusual use of “people as course material” seems a very good idea too!
Kudos to the Paris Web staff: it seems they carefully planned everything and did a great job before and during the event, to say the least.
November 21st, 2007 at 5:29 am
Like everyone said, you delivered a great show and it was great to meet you in Paris. Hope we’ll have other opportunities to hook up in the future! Paris-Web rocked.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Chris, your presentation was punchy, funny, insightful, simply brilliant. Too bad I missed the workshop. Thanks for joining us despite the strikes!
November 26th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Regarding all the comments, I think it’s official : you now have a fan club in France !
When experts like you don’t take themselves too seriously and share so valuable knowledge and experience, I guess you can say that is the only way to lead the web to his full potential.
You’re like browsers : you rock Chris !