20
Aug
Skillswap Goes Pretty
So I just got back from the latest Brighton SkillSwap. Entitled ‘SkillSwap Goes Pretty’, it involved two talks, one by Elliot Jay Stocks and one by Paul Annett of Clearleft.
This was my second SkillSwap, and have to say they are very enjoyable events, even though I don’t know many people there! And free beer courtesy of the sponsors Madgex always helps the evening pass smoothly.
Elliot’s talk was titled ‘I care because you do’ and was about what makes you inject care and attention into a project, and how to keep that ‘care’ factor running throughout the lifespan of the project. The talk sparked off a lively discussion in which people variously mentioned: pushing your technical limits to keep you motivated; working on your own site as a way of putting yourself into a clients shoes; various ways in which you can help to educate your client and help them to understand the value of your work; and much more.
Paul’s talk was entitled ‘Oooh, That’s Clever! (Unnatural Experiments in Web Design)’ and was a look into some of the more subtle but clever CSS/HTML tricks that people (including Paul himself) put into their sites, often just as an ‘Easter Egg’ for other developers to find. The ‘parallax effect’ featured on the Silverback website was mentioned, as well as a number of other sites that have gone to town on a small detail that may only be noticed by a few people, but nonetheless add a certain special value to the site.
So all in all an interesting evening, many thanks to those involved and I look forward to the next one, whatever it may be on! And if you haven’t yet been to a SkillSwap yet, I strongly recommend checking out whether there is one in your local area (Brighton and Bristol are two I know of) and going along.