My notes for the first day:
Keynote
- “Big” Bill as keynote speaker.
- MySpace.com, very very large community site.
- BBC gadget to browse through TV broadcasts, an incredibly rich userinterface with great functionality; download missed episodes of a serie, share it with contacts, really fancy 3D rolodex
- IE7 beta 2 ( build 5335 ) is available for download.
- InfoCard, very userfriendly interface to sign in at trusted sites.
- RSS enhanced with list extensions, this extension gives the user the possibillity to sort the RSS items in different ways. Examples mentioned were Amazon and Yahoo.
- Microsoft’s AJAX framework named ATLAS, the March CTP is released today.
- WPF/e, Windows Presentation Foundation everywhere.
- Open discussion between Tim O’Reilly (yes the one from the books) and Bill Gates (see the screencast, read the speech transcript).
Introducing Microsoft Tools for Professional Developers: An Overview of Microsoft Expression ( NGW032 )
- Expression WebDesigner, latest product but probably the first to ship.
- Designer <=> XAML <=> Developer, XAML, XML Application Markup Language.
- Applications shown:
- Splitview, XAML editor similar to XAMLpad
- Expression Graphic Designer ( Acrylic ), powerfull that combines vectorbased images and bitmap based images. Result can be exported as XAML.
- Expression Interactive Designer ( Sparkle ), uses the XAML from the Graphic Designer to define the user interactions.
- Tools are really feature rich.
From HTML to Services: Building a site for REST, POX, AJAX, SOAP and WS-* ( BTB021 )
Second session I followed was the session from Clemens Vaster, since two months a member of the Microsoft family.
- Mashups: www.vlogmap.org, www.flashearth.com, www.weatherbonk.com, see also www.programmableweb.com.
- Go for aggregation: RSS, OPML, ATOM, ASX or any other XML Lingo.
- Mashups providers will sell their services on the internet.
- POX, Plain Old XML
- Ship XML instead of HTML
- HTTP Get to access XML data
- Easily aggregated
- REST, REpresentational State Transfer
- POX with Dogma
- Fully exploits HTTP application protocol
- Create, Update, Delete and linking
- SOAP
- Very rich, requires rich stacks
- is no longer a toddler
- Streams, P2P
- Techniques above can all be used by Windows Communication Foundation
- Universal Communication Runtime, one way to program all the protocols
- Serverside is very flexible.
- NewTellivision, his going away present …
Extending Your Experience to Mobile Devices ( BTB021 )
- Design Patterns for developing mobile applications:
- Minimize roundtrips
- Adaptive rendering
- Don’t port the desktop
- Create a companion
- Input less text
- Use the phone
- Know your limits
- One-handed navigation
- Test on real phones
- Allow for operator branding
- W3C initiative, www.w3c.org/mobile
- Demo: Virtual Earth and AJAX (not ATLAS !!!)
- Kelly Goto, “Mobile phone is the new cigarette” => mobile phone is a fashion statement
- MUXP, Mobile User eXperience
- Perception => Interaction => Integration
- etnography, meet with your audience, “Deep Hanging Out” => know your customers
- Lifestyle Design Process
- MS Research presented the Interactive Flower
- Designed for one hand
- Adaptive Interaction
- Virtual Serial Chording
- !!! Interaction Flower Rocks !!!