A blog by Ben Gilman

Spent yesterday at Future of Web Apps Expo (to give it it’s full name) down in Docklands. Some great presentations with the traditional FOWA sprinkle of corporate sponsor sales pitches (although kudos for Adobe’s stressing of third-party applications to develop AIR apps). Leisa Reichhelt explained her concept of Ambient Intimacy (something to which I tend to feel very remote given my lack of understanding/interest in Twitter or it’s imitators). And Erika Hall’s case for copy being part of the interface was an amusing reminder of how important a part of user experience your tone is.

Only a couple of slight problems - the rather miniscule dimensions of the Business track ‘room’ made it a not entirely pleasant place to be and the shortage of power points made space on the back row of both rooms rather premium. Also being a lazy Londoner, Excel was quite a distance to get to - particularly when my natural ability to find the correct tube line and train under any circumstances let me down.

Also, pity anyone who headed for Google Maps’ fictional location of the defunct Shoreditch tube station in search of the Excel centre.

If nothing else, the immediate future of web application may be one prone to these little data glitches. Web 2.0 - check it twice ^TM

So dConstruct 2007 proved a good Friday day (and night) by the sea. User experience was the order of the day with no code (as far as I can remember) on display at all. It was a happy absence IMO - I find it easier to take in more conceptual talk than coding practices at conferences

Interesting things I need to investigate that I picked up from presentations and pub chats:

• FreeAgent Central - worth investigating for freelance income tracking etc. (thanks Roan).
• The relationship between UCD and Agile

Plus countless other tidbits of inspiration and book list ideas.

Was also particularly pleased to see B3ta.com discussed at a serious web conference - the attitude to community at B3ta always seems to have been ahead of its time so kudos for recognising this to the organisers. Was good to meet Denise after although I’d had a drink or five so I’m not sure I made sense - save for spouting about how much I appreciated B3ta… nice.

Ah, just found a great summary of proceedings - these look like the notes I should have taken:

• Notes on dConstruct 2007 by Garrett Coakley

Thanks everyone!