More than two weeks ago now, I was lucky enough to attend Flash on the Beach, an annual programming, web and design conference, held in Brighton. I say lucky as I won my ticket, simply by putting the FOTB badge on this very site. Attending with my flash programmer accomplice, I thought it might be a bit Actionscript-heavy for me, in my capacity as front-end developer/content manager. In fact, a number of the sessions were really relevant to my job and interests, and at the conference it was pointed out that the term “HTML5” appeared in more session titles than “Flash” did. I believe the conference will undergo a rebrand next year to reflect the evolving nature of the web industry, something I’ll be keeping a very interested eye on. Some of my favourite sessions were:
- From zero to app in 60 seconds by Greg Rewis – really practical tips on developing native apps
- With great power comes great responsibility by Elliot Jay Stocks – common-sense design session on why we shouldn’t necessarily use the latest software/function at our disposal
- Idea to interface by Aarron Walter – how to get the idea out of your head and into a working prototype
- Lettering is not fonts by Jessica Hische – very entertaining session on work processes and specialising
- Visual improvisation – Using playfulness to spark ideas by Eva Lotta-Lamm – not a technical session, more a philosophical one on how to boost creativity
- The elevator pitch session – this was super, 20 people, 3 minutes each to pitch an idea – I could have watched this for hours!
I would thoroughly recommend this conference to anyone working in web, and the fact that it’s held in lovely Brighton doesn’t hurt either!
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