I attended WWW2005 in Chiba, Japan, just outside of Tokyo. It was a fun conference. I met lots of great people, and saw some people I hadn’t in a while. I was pleased to meet, and not drool on, Eric Meyer, who is both taller and cuter than I had imagined.
I also really enjoyed geeking with Bert about developments in WYSIWYG css and html editing. I think I will give stylemaster another try as he said it now has built in templates for different column layouts that have already been tested for browser compatibility. I had been using Inknoise‘s layout-o-matic, and sometimes the list-o-matic at accessify as jumping off points, but it could be nice to have that functionality on the desktop.
I am also thinking of doing a marketing promotion / good deed at dovetail. Yes, they can be one and the same! I would like to develop a basic accessibility report which can be prepared relatively quickly, and yet provide information for decision makers about how their website fairs against S.508 guidelines and WAI checkpoints. I think I will ask, the very energetic, Molly for her advice when I have a basic template put together. Meeting her in Chiba was really fun, she is totally committed to standards and she really knows her stuff.
I saw Tantek, but hardly got to talk to him this time. I also met the newest Internationalization staffer at the w3c, Felix, who, along with Richard Ashida, helped me order “women’s saki” and thus grow to appreciate what had before tasted like the smell of rubbing alcohol.
Of course, I also hung out with Eric and tried to solve the css problems in one of his presentations in the two minutes before he started to speak. He wanted a double row of list items so that they would fit on the projector without scrolling. Much like the A List Apart article that caused readers to get so nasty.
Wendy and I went shopping just before her flight and didn’t discuss accessibility even once. It was lovely to reconnect with her. I hope that Hugo, Vishal, and I can visit with them sometime soon. We bought beautiful pieces of antique kimono silk. Now I will have to find a backing or frame for it. I should have bought something in Japan, their aesthetic is really compelling.
I also met Shawn’s very jetlagged husband who is a pilot and not a geek, so I doubt very much that he has a website. He and Eric geeked about helicopters and plane crashes. Hugo probably would have loved that discussion!
I also saw Zac again from @semantics who had graciously hosted SPARQL-ing days, in Monte San Savino, Tuscany. (Quite possibly the best food ever served at a conference). Libby was also around. Robin turned me on to a traiteur italien on the rue St. Maur, in Paris. I still have yet to check it out because I am studying for my exam.
Ok, thats enough for my first-ever-name-dropping post. If it gets to be a habit I will create a category so that those who wish, can avoid this type of post.