Truth as I know it: this design would not be what it is — nor would I be the designer I am nor care as much about what I do — without the inspiration, critiques, guidance, mentorship, contributions, camaraderie, encouragement, and support of certain people with whom I have crossed paths in my lifetime. continued

When I finally met Hugh Forrest for the first time in Austin this past week, I told him I keep thinking each year that SXSW is the biggest it can possibly get. That there’s no way the following year can top the previous year in terms of the talent he pulls in for speakers, and the amount of interesting people attending who are so open and receptive to new ideas. Each time I’ve been wrong.

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While I’ve been busy the past few weeks, so too, have some of the folks I got to meet in the fine, windy city of Wellington, New Zealand. Next week, Thursday 9 December, will be the first official meeting of the Web Standards Group in Wellington. It’s free, casual, and open to anyone who’s interested. continued

The last three days I spent in Wellington couldn’t have been better. The weather was ideal: clear skies with a few clouds, mild temps, and a low breeze blowing off the harbor — apparently kind of a rare environment for Wellington. The days were relaxed, nothing was planned, and I got to meet quite a few local webbers. continued

I’ll be joining up with Peter and Russ to fly into Melbourne this Tuesday afternoon (5th of October) for a spontaneously rescheduled Web Standards Group meeting that night. Dave Shea and his wife April are traveling to Melbourne, so they’ll also be there for the meeting. If you’re in the area, please come out and join us, whether you’re a member of WSG or not. Details on time and location will be posted to this page on the WSG’s site when they become available. continued

Interesting that the same topic I wrote about at the end of last year (Who/Where are the Women?) is resurfacing. Well, actually, it’s always a topic, but one that seems to be getting hot again continued

Picking up where we left off a couple weeks ago, I direct your attention to the header for the Examples section. (And no, you’re not just imagining a drastic shift if you looked at it soon after the redesign. I did change the background of the page from dark to light.) The original photo for this header image was taken during a recent trip down to San Diego, where good friends, Jason and Megan, took me to one of the best barbecue spots in the country… Phil’s BBQ:

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This year is certainly my “coming out of the office” year in terms of public speaking. With three events down, and four more on the schedule so far, the year holds lots of opportunities to meet new people.

A big, huge thanks goes to the Sonoma County Web Developers SIG for hosting me on Tuesday night for a talk titled, Beautiful Interfaces with CSS. Except for getting out of the office late that afternoon, and getting stuck in over 2 hours of traffic on the drive up from San Francisco, it was really an enjoyable evening with a lively crowd. The smaller setting provided lots of opportunity for interaction and a good amount of questions mixed in throughout from the audience. continued

As we approach the 6-year anniversary of the original CSS2 Specification that reached W3C Recommendation status on 12 May 1998, and as the major undertaking of CSS 2.1 rapidly nears Proposed Recommendation status, John Allsopp writes a very appropriately-timed post. Message To The Messengers – Props to the old school reminds us of those to whom our gratitude belongs for their early work and evangelism of CSS. continued

Whew. The all-day and late-night, non-stop activity in Austin is enough to leave anyone exhausted once the event is over. (And to think some of the geeks are still there for the Music portion of the festival.) Yesterday morning, the hotel alarm clock had been set for 5:50am. The Veen brothers were coming to pick me up at the hotel at 6:20am for a way-too-early flight back to San Francisco. True to some law that states “an alarm clock will not go off when you need it most”, the alarm never sounded. Regardless, in some miraculous instance, I somehow bolted up in a panic at 6:18am. No idea what woke me up then, and why it couldn’t have occurred a few minutes earlier. continued