First Speaker

The First Event in 2009

Everyone remembers their first time: Lots of anticipation, getting flustered and it being over very quickly. So, I'll never forget my first time introducing Front-End on stage. This event was so cool because it proved that we (my wife and I) could do it. The entire event was coordinated and marketed via Twitter, including the initial speaker invitations. It went really well and Eric Azares assured that there would be more by offering to buy a ticket to next year's as the day wrapped up. That felt awesome.

The speakers made the day. They each rocked in their own way and were completely approachable. They set the tone for everything that I wanted Front-End Conf to be.

July 31, 2009

The event was held at the Hilton Carillon in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Pics

2009 Set on Flickr

Sponsors

  • Wufoo Wufoo was our primary supporting sponsor and really made a difference in us being able to run the event again. They make forms easy + fast + fun.
  • LessAccounting Small business accounting software
  • Shopify Simple, beautiful and flexible ecommerce solution
  • Pixelmator Powerful image editing app or OS X
  • ExpressionEngine Professional content management system
  • Grooveshark Listen to free music online
  • FUEL Brand Network Editorial sites dedicated to creative development

2009 Speakers and Presentations

  • Fabio Sasso

  • Fabio Sasso

    Fabio is a graphic, web designer and enthusiast from Porto Alegre, very south of Brazil. He is the co-founder of a design studio called Zee and runs a blog called Abduzeedo where he shares his thoughts, cool sites, and tutorials.

    Follow Fabio on Twitter: @abduzeedo

  • Design Inspiration

    Finding inspiration is a wonderful part of beginning a new project. Fabio Sasso will be discussing the ways in which he finds inspiration and how the Brazilian culture influences his work. He runs Abduzeedo and has published over 250 Daily Inspiration posts so far....

    See Nate Croft's video recording of Design Inspiration.

Fabio
  • Grant Friedman

  • Grant Friedman

    Grant Friedman is a design enthusiast, author and blogger with a wide range of experience in the design industry. His work has been featured in many popular websites and publications. Grant has a degree in Telecommunications from the University of Kentucky with a background in graphic and web design, advertising and communications...

    Follow Grant on Twitter: @colorburned

  • Techniques for Creating & Using Design Resources

    In this presentation you will learn how to create your own Photoshop/Illustrator brushes and patterns. You will then learn how to combine those resources with textures to create your own unique design.

    See Nate Croft's video recording of Techniques for Creating & Using Design Resources.

Grant
  • Jonathan Longnecker

  • Jonathan Longnecker

    Jonathan Longnecker has been living and breathing design since he graduated back in 2001. Well, actually before that but he didn't know it yet. He and Nate were rocking out in their band and needed a website and some t-shirts. Cue the "ah-ha!" moment. Yeah, he started then and hasn't stopped yet...

    Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @necker47

  • Why ExpressionEngine is Great for Designers

    If you're a designer who wants to create awesome websites without worrying about the restrictions of layouts, functionality and templates, then you should give ExpressionEngine a try. It's the most flexible publishing system you'll ever use, and it puts the visual and code power back in your hands. Join us as we take a look at how you can get up and running with ExpressionEngine.

    See Nate Croft's video recording of Why ExpressionEngine is Great for Designers.

Jonathan
  • Chris Coyier

  • Chris Coyier

    Chris Coyier is a mild-mannered web designer by day. Long hours of helping clients with their website needs keeps lots of ideas flowing for CSS-Tricks, his web design blog and community site. In addition to client work, Chris has built a number of other sites aimed at aiding the web design and developer.

    Follow Chris on Twitter: @chriscoyier

  • Using jQuery to Pick Up Where CSS Leaves Off

    If you are already fairly comfortable with HTML and CSS the learning curve for getting into jQuery is deliciously small. That's a great thing, because jQuery extends your toolbox as a designer and makes some amazing things possible. In this presentation you'll learn how to accomplish things that CSS is notoriously bad at, do things that CSS just can't do, and see a variety of practical solutions to real-world design problems.

    See Nate Croft's video recording of Using jQuery to Pick Up Where CSS Leaves Off.

Chris
  • Andrew Maier

  • Andrew Maier

    Andrew is a professional front-end developer with interests in interface engineering, usability, and human-computer interaction. He has worked both independently as a freelancer/entrepreneur and as a member of highly focused teams. When he's not blogging about user experience at uxbooth.com, he can usually be found at the local independent coffee shop, reading books on the subject and sippin' the good stuff.

    Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewmaier

  • Affordances in Modern Web Design

    How do your users decide what actions lie behind a given interface element? For example: what makes a button a button? In this talk, we'll focus on the logical underpinnings of design; drawing on research in the fields of product design and ergonomics. We'll examine the foundations of usability and what it means to interaction design. Finally, we'll explore what it means to "overdesign" an application, and how you can avoid it.

    See Nate Croft's video recording of Affordances in Modern Web Design.

Andrew
  • John Ashenden

  • John Ashenden

    John Ashenden bathes daily in a pool of creativity. Living in Gainesville, FL, he is, among other things, an experienced web designer and developer. John's work has been featured in a number of distinguished periodicals and design showcases. His day's are currently spent as Creative Director for Grooveshark, a free-music streaming service, which has quickly become one of the world's leading resources for free and on-Demand music....

    Follow John on Twitter: @ashenden

  • How to Make it Better

    John Ashenden will be showing how to "make it better"! Design is in the details and this presentation will show how to use customized elements to capture the attention of your visitors and maximize their experience.

    See Nate Croft's video recording of Customizing Elements for Maximum Effect.

John
  • Kevin Hale

  • Kevin Hale

    Kevin Hale is the Co-founder of Infinity Box Inc, a Y Combinator seeded company. He is responsible for safe guarding and designing the user experience of their online HTML form builder, Wufoo. Kevin writes about interface design issues for the web development blog, Particletree and served as Editor-in-Chief of the web development magazine, Treehouse. As a child, Kevin was the kid in class who who ate a box of crayons for a dollar.

    Follow Wufoo on Twitter: @wufoo

  • How to Design Web Apps People Love

    As part of the Wufoo team, Kevin Hale is no stranger to creating wonderful web apps. In his presentation, Kevin will be showing how to focus on user interaction in order to create an experience that users will love.

    See Nate Croft's video recording of How to Design Web Apps People Love.

Kevin