In July 2008 we spent four days building a Twitter mash up web app called “The Mattinator” using a web framework we had never used before (Django). We conducted the challenge publicly and blogged about each days progress daily. At the beginning of the week we weren’t sure if we would achieve our goals.

Ultimately the app did launch and we managed to get a post on TechCrunch talking about our project. We learnt a lot of things, both positive and negative. The aim of this panel is to talk about our experiences openly and explain why we feel building a web app in a short space of time will reap rewards for your company.

Key themes will include:

Are team building exercises always necessary?
How do you get your team on board?
How much planning should take place beforehand?
What happens to your real work?
What goals and timescales should be set?
Is it important to challenge your team with “uncomfortable” tasks?
Should you tell the world about your web app?
Is external feedback always welcome?
Where’s the “return on investment”?
How does the team evaluate after the event?

Although primarily aimed at web development/design shops we believe that the concepts can be applied to any type of company.

You can vote online by visiting http://moourl.com/sxswpanel

Thanks for your support.

As you all know, us Carsonites are passionate about the web, so we thought it’d be great to raise money for a charity that helps people with disabilities use the web better. AbilityNet fits that bill perfectly.

If you’d like to donate, we’re giving away some great publicity:

$500 - You get a link in the news on Vitamin (15,000+ subscribers)

$1,000 - The above + your URL on screen during the live shaving + your URL in the post-shaving article on Carsonified.com (3,500+ subscribers)

$5,000 - All of the above + your URL at the bottom of a Vitamin article (50,000+ subscribers) + your URL in a post-shaving Tweet by Ryan (3,800+ followers)

$10,000 - All of the above + your logo on the big screen at the beginning of FOWA and a thank you from Ryan from stage to the entire audience (2,000+ attendees)

Please help us out!

So where do I start?

We’ve already had a couple of meetings about the sites and we’ve set out the technical and functional criteria. The design is down to me.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the process of design because to be honest I’m still searching for one that works.

I’ve designed a load of projects over the years with some half decent results along the way… but using only a very loose design process I normally grind and crash my way to the project’s conclusion. So I’m eager (especially with the 2009 sites in front of me) to find design process that works.

So after some thought I’ve come up with a five point design process plan.

1. Just think

Put on some inspiring tunes and just think about your project in the loosest possible way (at this point anything goes, the crazier the ideas the better).

I sometimes find going for a run with some tunes for company gives me a ton of ideas. Thinking in bed before you go to sleep is quite thought-provoking too.

2. Look for inspiration

Make a note of your initial ideas and with them in mind hit the internet. Scour the web for anything related to your ideas and bookmark anything that catches your eye. Do the same with your bookshelf, newspapers and magazines. One thing I find helps is looking at non design related literature as you can often stumble across an unexpected visual gem when you’re least expecting it. It’s also useful to take a step back from current design trends when looking for inspiration as I sometimes find it’s easy for a project to start looking a bit like everything else out there. Remember if you find that perfect bit of inspiration in the back of some old 80’s gatefold album sleeve you can bet your bottom dollar that no-one else’s design is going to look like yours.

3. Sketch out rough designs

Spend some time sketching out your ideas in your notepad/sketchbook. Try and avoid jumping straight onto your computer (I’m guilty of this big time!).

I find going straight to your computer can give you a sort of ‘design tunnel vision’…basically meaning it’s easy to get stuck in a rut with your first design that wasn’t really thought through.

4. Start designing proper

So after sketching out a bunch of ideas you should have a much clearer idea of what direction you want to take your design. So designing in photoshop or xhtml/css etc should be a much easier process. Also once you feel confident with the route your taking in your design try not to get bogged down in minor details at this stage (I’m also guilty of this), you can do the the detail later when you happy with the bigger picture.

5. The devil’s in the detail

Hopefully now your photoshop and xhtml/CSS is going swimmingly and you’re nearing the end… well this is the time to pay attention to those small details as it’s often the attention to detail that makes the difference between good and great. If there’s something nagging you about a certain part of your design and you sort of know you should revisit it but don’t know if you can be bothered - just do it… It’ll be worth it in the end.

So what do you reckon? Is this a load of rubbish, is it just obvious?… or is there some value in it?
Does anyone have any thoughts or tips they could add? :)

However, there’s one place you have to be careful using Firefox - password management. You know the little “Remember Password” button you click when you log in? Turns out Firefox doesn’t mind showing you the passwords you’ve saved, in plain text. It’s no secret - others have previously blogged about it - but it does bear repeating. This is the default behaviour, so if you haven’t already spotted this, then chances are it applies to you right now. That means someone unscrupulous can come along and read your passwords. Like this:

First, go into “Preferences” in Firefox (on a mac, hit Cmd-,) and head to the Security tab. Then click the Saved Passwords button as shown here:

This will bring up a Passwords window. I’m not showing you mine. But look for this button at the bottom right:

Press this button. Voila! All your passwords are shown, in plain text, on-screen. Please note, my password is not hunter2.

This means that someone can open up Firefox on your computer, and view all your saved passwords. The way to change this is to set a master password for Firefox. Close that passwords window, and go back to the Security preferences pane. There, you’ll see an option for “Use a master password”.

This means that Firefox protects all your saved passwords with a master password which is never shown. However, get used to seeing this prompt…

because it comes up ALL the time when you’re using password-authenticated sites. Personally, I use Webkit nightly builds for everyday browsing: they’re extremely fast and stable.

The problem is that when we interview people for new positions on the Team, we don’t have anywhere to sit. We could go to the local coffee shop, but I specifically choose to do the interviews in the bean bag room.

Why?

There’s nothing that levels the playing field like two people sitting on bean bags. You can’t act ‘professional’ on a bean bag. You can’t use big words and marketing speak. You just have to act like a normal person. I love that.

It’s awkward and funny sitting down and getting up from a bean bag which is great for putting the interviewer (me) on the same level as the interviewee - I’m not the high-and-mighty boss, I’m just a normal person like you. I also like it because it immediately says “we’re not your normal company” to potential Team members.

I’d love to hear any of your tips for interviewing or being interviewed.

This year we spent a great deal of time and effort consulting some of the movers and shakers in the mobile industry to get ideas and themes for this years content. Many many thanks to all, for the kindness and help received along the way. There are some very interesting speakers confirmed already and we are still talking to several organisations to secure some more great content over the next month or two. There is a lot of very intelligent comment on matters pertaining to the mobile industry coming from the UK. It is a great pleasure to welcome six of the UK’s most interesting technology bloggers to FOM for the 6X6 session. This will provide some strong and occasionally contentious opinions to stimulate the conversation at the event.

A conscious effort has been made to broaden the horizons of this conference to ensure that the future of mobile is examined across much more than the mobile web and in a worldwide context. We are building a programme designed to inform and inspire people from all walks of the mobile industry. It is never going to be possible to cover all the important topics and please everyone in just one day though. There is still a little room for more so please go ahead and comment here once you have looked at the event, or contact me directly.

There are great early bird discounts available now and student tickets for less than the cost of a decent evening of binge drinking.

When you click the monkey’s face in the status bar, it switches from a color smiley face, to a black-and-white frown face. I love that. Instead of saying ‘On’ or ‘Off’ they chose a simple and clever visual indicator.

Touches like that show that you’ve taken the extra time to be creative and will in turn, delight your users.

Has anyone else seen something similar that you’d like to share?

However, Google Apps isn’t news to any of you. What is exciting is the way we’ve rolled out ‘Single Site Browsers’ (SSB) to make using them much easier.

We’re using Fluid to turn Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar into stand-alone apps which sit in the Dock. If you’re on a PC, you can use Prism to do the same (although it seems a bit slower than Fluid).

Why is that cool? Two reasons:

1. It looks gorgeous
2. It makes using them much easier

Why is it easier?

Mainly because people are used to their email and their calendar being stand-alone apps. Going to a browser tab and typing in a URL just doesn’t flow naturally (also it’s too easy to mistakenly close the tab). Clicking on an icon in your Dock or Start Menu is natural. Also, you can add these SSBs to your Start folder so they load every time your machine starts.

How?

It’s super easy. Just download Fluid or Prism and tell it what URL you want to turn into a SSB. The problem is it’ll choose the site’s favicon for the app icon, which usually looks crap. Instead, download these icons first and then tell Fluid to use them for your app. Beautiful.

If you have any other tips for integrating Google Apps into your desktop, please share in the comments below.

Myself and the team have been preparing to bring you some of the top names in the design world and you won’t be disappointed. I can honestly say we’ve got some top speakers for you with more to come over the next few months…. It will be well worth the wait when FOWD arrives in November :)

So get ready for the launch tomorrow…that’s Thursday 24th July at 5pm (UK time). Tickets sold out really quickly last time so make sure you are the first to get yours when registration opens. Early Bird tickets are available until September 18th where you can get an amazing £100 off!

As you will soon see from the brand newly designed Future of Web Design site (thanks Mike) - this year we will be at the Roseland Ballroom which is in New York’s theatre district. It’s a really cool venue and a bit different from your run of the mill conference center (not that there’s anything wrong with conference centers:)

Unfortunately, for those of you that enjoy your ballroom dancing, there isn’t anything planned yet…but you are more than welcome to get your groove on at the after show party which from what i’ve been told, are always a blast!

Lots more to do before the launch tomorrow so adios for now.

Louise :)

Those of you who attended last year will remember how amazing this was, so prepare yourselves for more, and those of you who didn’t attend what are you waiting for? :)

Register here, but move fast to grab your early bird discount, these are only available until 4th August.

To finish FOWA with a bang, Diggnation will be taking place from 7pm on the last day of FOWA followed immediately by the FOWA wrap party/Digg meet up! Join Kevin, Alex, all the fab FOWA speakers and of course the Carsonites at Fox for some free beers.

As if that wasn’t enough the lovely guys at Media Temple are throwing another party on the 9th Oct, so after the first day of FOWA sessions be ready as these guys know how to throw a party!

For more details on all the FOWA parties and Diggnation click here and keep watching for more updates.