Now this is really good for us real web craftsman and women. Real knowledge of your field once again proves itself against frameworks. How much I loved the demos of jQtouch at last weeks @media ( or #wdx as it is called now ), I still think that using a library or a framework isn't the thing to do for speed. So Ipad and Iphone development will create a new demand for good old hand coders.

"Don’t rely on frameworks or what standards zealots tell you. In our case, a highly trimmed HTML page, with inline CSS, just some pure JavaScript without a framework and using the capabilities of the target platform (iPad) as much as possible allows for a lean page that loads almost instantly, caches well and works great offline. Yes, we could have used JavaScript and CSS frameworks, but sometimes less is more (and remember, you don’t need all the cross-browser heavy lifting that frameworks do for you)."

(Via Thomas Fuchs.)

As I write this, I'm on my way to @media 2009 in London. This is my 6th visit to an @media event, including the to Ajax ones. I hope to see a lot of old friends and to make new ones.

I will try to update this post as the event goes on, so if your not there and want to know what happens: follow me on twitter to get short updates, a year ago I would have been live blogging but with this twitterthingy.....

Here are some photos, I took those instead of taking notes...

This year I will be attending some conferences, here is my list of the ones I will be going to.

@media 2009

In a few months I will be attending my 6th (sixth) @media conference. This time I booked a room in the hotel which is the closest to the venue, the Premier Inn London County Hall. No more wandering around london in the rain, as I did after a few pints at the first @media ajax november 2008. No more standing in cramped underground trains as I did at my last company sponsered visit in spring 2008.

I am looking forward to seeing all of the speakers, especially the ones I haven't seen like Simon Collison and Jason Santa Maria. I'm curious on the one track arrangement, as I always had a love hate relation with the two track thing. Two of my favorite speakers would always be on the same time in a different room. I am not sure that I like the whole no-lunch thing, but I understand that the guys from vivabit had to do something to keep is affordable in these times.

Still the cost of a conference to me is not the ticket alone, I have to fly over and get a hotel for a couple of nights. So the cost of the ticket is only 40% of the whole, less so if you reckon that I won't be billing clients for three days. But the real value is off-course in the speakers and speaking to lots of fellow web developers from all over europe and to that I am really looking forward to.

Fronteers

The other conference I am going to attend is Fronteers 2009. Not that I have much of a choice as I have been drafted by PPK to help organizing the whole thing. One of the advantages is that I already know which speakers we have lined up. All I can say at this point is that you really, really have to attend this one..

Full frontal

The third one I may attend is Full frontal as the speakers line up sure looks impressive for a day which costs only 100 pounds. I am not sure about this as it comes awfully close after fronteers and I may have some work to do sometime. On the other hand this could be my replacement for my yearly javascript conference fix that @media Ajax provided...

So if you are attending any of these, have fun and I will see you there.

Today I will go to @media (again) hopefully I will meet lots of old and new people. Surely I will have a blast and learn a lot.
Anybody who wants to meet up, contact me or use twitter, see ya.

Update

I went and I enjoyed it. I had a great time and talked with a lot of smart and fun people, some were event speaking on stage! London I will see you in september, as I just booked @media ajax...

Technorati Tags:@media

After long consideration, about 5 minutes that is, I booked for @media 2008, I even got the super early bird discount. After being there for 3 times, including last November's @media ajax, I look forward to attending my 4th @media in a row.

It promises the same conflict the other two (normal) @media's had, two tracks presenting you with the choice which one you will follow. Often the two are equally interesting and offer something for everyone.

I do hope though that the presentations will be more challenging than last years, I had a blast but didn't learn all that much that summer. No offence to the fine people from vivabit though, more a confirmation that I am on the right track maybe...

@media ajax was different though, a very focused two days which left me with my head spinning at times and not just from the beer. The presentations there varied from extremely challenging (Brendan Eich) to hilarious (Stuart Langridge).

Enough said, hope to see you all there, maybe for a few Fronteers beers....

Update, flight and hotel booked. more than 3 months in advance, a record for me...