Web Design World 2007 | San Francisco

9 a.m.

Adobe CS3 Focus Day

From Photoshop to Dreamweaver to Flash, it's a CS3 world: Adobe has released the most significant updates ever to the most popular tools in the Web design world.
But in a world of constant deadlines, how do you find time to master the new version of a program? We've tailored the Adobe CS3 Focus Day to address exactly that need: in six tightly focused sessions, you'll get the practical, how-to advice you need to integrate the latest CS3 applications into your workflow. You'll hear from the technical product managers and engineers who built the CS3 applications -- and who, as designers and developers themselves, are familiar with the challenges you face every day.
The Adobe CS3 Focus Day: it's a must for anyone who uses Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, or Flash.

Photoshop CS3's Greatest Hits

John Nack, Senior Product Manager for Photoshop, Adobe Systems

Photoshop CS3 brings dramatic imaging enhancements: non-destructive filters, improved retouching and image-adjustment tools, Zoomify Web export, and much more. Get a guided tour of what's new in CS3, and see how to apply it to all of your digital imaging tasks.

Rapid Prototyping for the Web

Danielle Beaumont, Senior Product Manager for Fireworks, Adobe Systems

In today's fast-paced work environments, it's essential to be able to quickly prototype Web sites, rich Internet applications, or device interfaces so you can get approval and move into production as soon as possible. Adobe Fireworks CS3 has powerful new prototyping features that enable you to create and simulate multi-page navigation, Flash applications, and more. Learn techniques for prototyping with Fireworks CS3.

CSS-Based Layouts with Dreamweaver CS3

Lori Hylan-Cho, Computer Scientist for Dreamweaver, Adobe Systems

The latest version of Dreamweaver offers more help than ever to build Web designs entirely with CSS. New, visual CSS tools enable you to move styles within and between files, as well as see how your changes will affect the design. Accelerate your workflow with new CSS layouts, and test your design with the new Browser Compatibility Check. Learn how to choose from the wide array of CSS layouts that are new in CS3, customize them to fit your needs using the CSS panel, and then make the design work across your site.

CSS Problem Solving with Dreamweaver CS3

Lori Hylan-Cho, Computer Scientist, Dreamweaver Team, Adobe Systems

Nothing is more frustrating than building a beautiful design with CSS, only to have it go haywire in the browsers. Armed with a methodical mind, Browser Compatibility Check, and the CSS Rule Tracker, you can track down the source of any inconsistencies, learn how to work around them, and--if you're "lucky" enough to find a new browser bug--even share what you've learned with others.

In this session, you'll see how to check for browser bug triggers with Browser Compatibility Check; review the cascade with the CSS Rule Tracker; and use Adobe's CSS Advisor site to exchange bug hunting (and fixing) tips with the community.

What’s New with Flash: Integration and Workflow

Greg Rewis, Worldwide Senior Evangelist for Web Tools, Adobe Systems

Come see Adobe Flash Professional's new interface, learn how it works with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator files, and explore its new Drawing Tool features. In this session, you'll learn how to copy and paste motions into the Actions Panel, use nine-slice scaling, and encode video. We'll also take a look at new components, a better debugger, and tools for testing your mobile Adobe Flash applications.

Flash Beyond the Basics: Flex and Flash Media Server

Bill Lofft, Senior Solutions Engineer

Come see Adobe Flash Professional's new interface, learn how it works with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator files, and explore its new Drawing Tool features. In this session, you'll learn how to copy and paste motions into the Actions Panel, use nine-slice scaling, and encode video. We'll also take a look at new components, a better debugger, and tools for testing your mobile Adobe Flash applications.

9 a.m.

Designing Content-Rich Sites

Jared Spool, Founding Partner, User Interface Engineering

User Interface Engineering's research — and, no doubt, your own experience —have shown that some sites make it easy to find relevant information, while other sites are difficult and frustrating.

What's the secret? In this half-day workshop, Jared Spool will share the secret of designing sites that are rich in content, easily navigated, and attract repeat visitors.

You'll learn how the content on your site emits "scent" and how to ensure users catch hold of it as they maneuver through your site's pages. At the end of this workshop, you'll know exactly what you need to do to greatly enhance the usability of your content-rich site.

Part I: Why Good Content Must Suck
If you have thousands of pages of really cool stuff on your site, how do users find what they are looking for? Turns out that the content itself has to pull the user to it. The stronger the pull, the more likely the user will find it.

In Part I of this workshop, Jared discusses how to organize your site to pull users to the right place. He'll talk about User Interface Engineering's recent research on how people find information on large web sites. You'll see examples of sites that work well -- and ones that don't.

You'll also learn how the quality of links affects whether users click on them; how longer pages actually help users get where they are going faster; the three types of graphics: navigation, content, and decorative and the importance of each; how users follow the scent of information, and four ways your design could be blocking their way.

Part II: The Five Types of Navigation Pages
You work hard providing top-notch content on your site. Will your users find it? If they don't find it, all that effort is for nothing.
What can you do to guarantee that users find the content they've come looking for?

As users traverse through a web site, they encounter different types of pages, each with unique functions. The designers of the best sites understand the special functions of each type of page on a web site, and design the pages individually based on their specific purpose.

User Interface Engineering's research has uncovered three ways to predict when users will fail finding the content they desire. You'll see what these three predictors are and how to counter the effects in your designs.

You'll learn the secrets behind the successful designs of several sites, including Lands' End, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, CNN, and the BBC.
See why trigger words are critical to users successfully finding their content, why the best sites prevent users from using a search function, how exposing a site's hierarchy can increase the success of the user, how designing longer pages helps users find what they seek, and how to best use lateral links and breadcrumbs.

2 p.m.

Photoshop & Web Graphics

Michael Ninness, Executive Director, Lynda.com

Essential techniques to make the most of your pixels

The Digital Darkroom — 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.
When working with digital images, you often have to deal with the same four problems — the images are the wrong resolution, too dark, too soft or have a color cast. This session will show you how to make the most of your pixels, whether you started with a traditional scan or captured an image with a digital camera. Whether you are going to print or the Web, you will learn how to put your best image forward.

Perform tonal corrections without sacrificing details
Instant color cast removal
Match color and lighting schemes across multiple images
Why Adjustment Layers are your friends
How to remove or reduce dreaded digital noise
Selective sharpening techniques

Blend Mode Magic — 3:15 a.m. to 4:15 a.m.
"Was it Multiply? No. Was it Difference? No. Was it Color Dodge...?" Admit it — the layer blending modes in Photoshop are a big mystery, right? Unless you're a geek, no one really knows what the heck these things actually do. If you are one of those designers that cycle through the different blend modes in the pop-up menu until the image looks the way you want it, then this session is for you. You'll learn which blending modes you must memorize, and more importantly, how to incorporate them into your daily workflow in ways you've probably never thought of.

Instant image correction
Painting with light
Reveal hidden details in blown-out images
The Advanced Blending options

Size Matters: Power Optimization Techniques — 4:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Learn the essential parameters of designing Web graphics that look great, load fast and encourage return visitors. See how Photoshop and ImageReady combine to combat the evils of bloated graphics. This session will reveal the hidden optimization tools and techniques to squeeze out every extra byte while retaining image quality.