A week of free technology events for developers, IT professionals and IT managers

Hear from Microsoft and Industry speakers on the latest technology releases including Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2010, Silverlight 4 and Visual Studio 2010.

Follow @uktechdays on twitter to follow the conversation

Tech-days Events

Visual Studio 2010 Launch – A path to big ideas

• Keynote: The Best Path from Your Ideas to Impactful Solutions
• Web and Cloud Development with Visual Studio 2010
• SharePoint and Office Development with Visual Studio 2010
• Team Foundation Server 2010 for Everyone
• Improving Developer-Tester Collaboration with Visual Studio 2010

This session is aimed at Heads of Development, Development Managers and Software Architects. (If you are a developer who wants to see demo packed technical sessions on Visual Studio 2010, please join us on 13 April.)

Getting started with .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010

• Unveiling the new and useful features of .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 – part 1
• Unveiling the new and useful features of .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 – part 2
• Modelling and Visualisation in Visual Studio 2010
• A Perspective on Agile Development
• Putting some Testing into your TFS Build Process
• Fun Programming with Visual Studio

You will go away from this day with a good overview of what is new and what is interesting in both the framework and the tooling, as well as some guidance from your peers on where to get started today.

The Essential MIX

• Keynote — the Essential MIX
• Silverlight 4 — the Evolution
• Silverlight 4 — the Revolution
• User interaction design for developers
• What’s new & interesting in ASP.NET 4
• Using jQuery with ASP.NET
• Lap Around Azure

Join us for the Essential MIX as we continue exploring the art and science of creating great user experiences. Learn about the next generation ASP.NET & Silverlight platforms that make it a rich and reach world.

Best of Breed Client Applications on Windows 7

• Keynote: The Client Decade
• Windows 7 — Top Features for your Applications
• Visual Studio 2010 & Windows Presentation 4 for Rich Windows Applications
• Building Rich Clients with .NET Framework 4.0 — Parallel, Extensible, Connected
• Building Rich Windows Applications with .NET Framework 4.0 — Parallel, Extensible, Connected — Part 2
• Lap Around Azure

In this demo-driven day, we’ll look at the developer landscape around Windows 7 to get you up to speed on the operating system that your applications will run on through the new decade.

Windows Phone

Details TBA

A practical day of detailed Windows Phone development sessions covering the new Windows Phone specification, application standards and services.

Now available for download and completely free is:

Launching a WordPress Blog Ebook Edition 2.0

We cover the following:

1. Getting started with a WordPress Blog
2. Requirements for Installing WordPress – Before you get started make sure your host gives you the tools you need. One host that we know of who does not is 1and1 UK Home packages. Did you read to the bottom of the page?
3. Installing Database -
4. Download WordPress
5. Configure wp-config-sample file – Did you read the instructions all of the way through? Did you rename the file?
6. Configure a FTP Client – If you are already using an ftp client that works, it is not necessary to download FileZilla. Use the one you are comfortable with, but make sure if you’re using another ftp client to set it to ASCII for the WordPress installation
7. Installing WordPress –
8. Setting up WordPress – Did you read to the bottom of the page? Do not try and install a new theme yet. Work with the default one until you have finished setting up.
   Options Permalinks – If your url looks like http://your-domain.com/hello-world.php rather than http://your-domain.com/?p123 you followed the instructions. Ready for the next step?
9. Configure WordPress Categories – Did you follow all of the instructions to the bottom of the page? Don’t worry; you can add more categories later.
10. Setting WordPress Preferences – Read it all!
11. Installing WordPress Themes – Now you are finally here. Read it all to the very bottom. It will take you longer to decide on choosing a theme than anything else. Once you have installed the theme, take the time to check how it looks in the various browsers, does it have a horizontal scroll? Does it validate? Do you know enough to tweak it until it works like it is supposed to or would you be better off choosing another one?
12. Creating SEO Titles in WordPress – Did you follow all of the steps? Did you read to the BOTTOM of the page? Does your page title look like it is supposed to?
13. Disable NoFollow Attribute in WordPress – If you don’t read to the very bottom, you will miss the bit about writing posts. After all, that is what your blog is for.

1. WordPress Essentials
   1. WordPress Plugins
      1. Akismet Plugin – If you don’t want to be plagued by spam, read and configure this plugin.
      2. Sitemap Plugin – Read all the way to the bottom or you will end up with the word category beside all of your categories.
      3. WordPress Database Backup – An easy way to backup your database.
      4. WordPress Ready Contact Form – Do you want your readers to be able to contact you? Then you need a form for them to use. Don’t skip this part.
      5. How Trackback and Pingback works in WordPress Learn how they work, how to use them and when to use them.
      6. Moving a WordPress Blog – More advanced but someday you may want to move from a sub-domain to a domain all its own.
      7. Moving Servers with WordPress – This tutorial is written for those of you who have already upgraded your installation of WordPress to Version 2.7. 1
      8. Upgrading WordPress Program – Read and implement carefully, WordPress regularly updates and improves the program, so be ready with the instructions at hand.
      9. WordPress API – You will need this for configuring your Akismet Spam Plugin.
      10. WordPress Tips
2. Desktop Blogging Clients – These are more advanced topics for you to explore, if you find you don’t like the WordPress interface to post your blogs, these desktop blogging clients are a safe alternative.
3. Windows Live Writer
   1. Setting Up Windows Live Writer
   2. Creating Posts
   3. Inserting Images
   4. Options
   5. Publishing
4. BlogDesk
   1. Installing BlogDesk
   2. BlogDesk Configuration
   3. Creating Posts in BlogDesk
   4. Inserting Images in Posts
   5. Publishing with BlogDesk
   6. BlogDesk Options
   7. BlogDesk Extras

Microsoft Expression Web: No Platform Left Behind MIX09-C03F

“Come learn how to use Expression Web to build resilient standards-based sites for use across a wide range of browsers and platforms. Hear about the current version of Expression Web and also some sneak peeks at future work that will make creating great sites even easier for designers. With a focus on workflow, you will also see how well Expression Web integrates with ASP.NET and PHP.”

The Microsoft XTeam mention that it would be a good idea to keep an eye on their blog and the Microsoft Expression Web product site for the latest news concerning Expression Web 3.0 Beta which is in development as Steve and Tyler mention above, there will be some sneak peaks at Mix09 so stay tuned

More than 95 live sessions on current and emerging technologies in developer tools, mobility, Windows, Office/Sharepoint and Web development (that means Expression Web too)

Make Microsoft history and join this first ever 24-hour day of technology learning. If you cannot attend don’t worry after the event there will be access to all learning sessions on-demand. Whats-more apply what you learn with an evaluation copy of Visual Studio. Registration for Techdays 2009

If you are wondering how it will work then take a look at the Techdays agenda Look over the Techdays Sessions  but keep coming back as sessions are added daily.

So far there is just one Expression Web related Session

Beauty & the Beast: A Practical Approach to Standard Based and Beauty Web Designs

“In this session we will try to realized the importance of design and implement not only beautiful designs in the facade but inside too, with a robust and standards based code using (X)HTML to structure, CSS for design and JavaScript for behaviour. We are going to deep into the principles of Web standards designing and coding with Expression Web 2.0 in practical demos that demonstrate the powerful of the tools in this Authoring application to improve the User Experience in (X)HTML sites, and demonstrating that even the most complicated interfaces, based on XML data, could be made easy using XSLT code auto generated by the tools. Finally we will see in action XSLT + CSS to get the most of data presentation to the users using Data Views in different ways, using filters and conditional styles.”

Level: 300
Session Type: Live Session

Submit Sessions – Call for Content
Are you passionate about what you do? Would you like to spread the word about what you know? Then submit a session for consideration. Note that does not gauarantee your session will be accepted for this event.

• Saturday, March 14, Noon – 6pm
• Sunday, March 15, Noon – 6pm
• Monday, March 16, Noon – 4pm

You can email her or contact her via Twitter ( @betsyweber or @techsmith ).

She would also like to know if you would like to meet up. Find out more about the offer at Techsmith’s Virtual Lounge

SXSW Interactive Festival

“The SXSW Interactive Festival features five days of exciting panel content and amazing parties. Attracting digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs, the event celebrates the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technology. Whether you are a hard-core geek, a dedicated content creator, a new media entrepreneur, or just someone who likes being around an extremely creative community, SXSW Interactive is for you!”

When SXSW finishes she is headed over to Microsoft MIX09 – more about MIX09 in a later post.

Their current total is $75.000 see if you can help them raise it to $100.000

Hurry though their Sale ends February, Friday 13th – Five for one books from SitePoint

All books are in PDF format ONLY

My five selections are:

1. The PHP Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks, 2nd Edition

2. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

3. The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques – PDF Only

4. No Nonsense XML Web Development With PHP

5. The Art & Science Of CSS

Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tinaclarke and tell me your choices

University? Are you kidding? The first place web design is taught is where it needs to change BEFORE it gets to the University level. My local college ran a ‘web design’ course. Trust me it was painful particularly the frames section. I thought it was just my local college that was not one not two but three or four years behind. From what I’ve read online it seems the problem is more widespread.

1. The people that hire the people that teach the courses, should do their homework on what is expected in that subject that SHOULD be taught.
2. This needs to start before the university level too.

The article supports getting active with the local community if you are able to do that to help the teachers. However, in order to teach standards it really does not require that much in the way of resources. There really is no excuse when it comes to common or garden web design that such stomach crunching methods as frames are still taught.

However this is blog is focused on Expression Web, so how does Expression Web fit into all this?

Many colleges are STILL teaching FrontPage, not only FP but the older versions, not only the fp and the folder versions but, Horrors! THE BOTS, Shared borders, themes and more. WHY? The people teaching either are not web designers or are pimping themselves. You cannot pretend to be THAT far behind and have a passion for the product. ( Previously FrontPage which has evolved into Expression Web ).

Sometime last year I joined a Newsgroup where some teachers were asking for feedback on their new curriculum based on Expression Web. Needless to say once again it involved absolute positioning and advocating continuing use of some bots.

If your going to teach Web Design do it The Right Way.

I wanted to see what Yahoo had got in the way of guidelines for webmasters, to do well in the Yahoo Search Engine and whether the meta tag keyword was still in use in its directory.

How do I improve the ranking of my web site in the search results?

 ”Use a “keyword” meta-tag to list key words for the document. Use a distinct list of keywords that relate to the specific page on your site instead of using one broad set of keywords for every page.”

So according to Yahoo, they recommend webmasters to use the keyword meta tag

<meta name=”keywords” content=”KEYWORDS GO HERE”>

They might say that, but do they actually use it as one of their criteria for their algorithms when producing search results? That however is another question.

How are web documents ranked?

“When you search on Yahoo!, our search engine instantly searches and sorts billions of web documents, makes a decision on each one’s comparative relevancy to your search query, and offers these web pages as ranked results. Search engines don’t have the ability to ask questions, so they rely on the search terms you enter to interpret and determine the intent of your search.

Yahoo! Search ranks results according to their relevance to a particular query by analyzing the web page text, title and description accuracy as well as its source, associated links, and other unique document characteristics.”

Not exactly a specific answer but as near as we can get. The last question to ask is:

Will using the meta keyword tag harm my website in any way if I use it?

The answer there is yes and no. There might be an algorithm to count in meta keywords on Yahoo as part of the relevance or there might not be. Including it as a guideline in Yahoo Help certainly suggests that might be so. Either way, is there an algorithm for excessive over use of the meta keyword tag? We don’t know.

Conclusion

1. Use the meta keyword tag but keep it to a respectable 150 keywords or keyword phrases. Present like so: keyword,keyword keyword, keyword etc
2. Make sure the keywords or keyword phrases you are using are actually within the page the keyword meta tag is on
3. Lastly use different relevant keywords for EACH page of the website

Read the Yahoo webmaster guidelines indepth for more suggestions on what Yahoo Search Engine wants for a site to rank well. Be advised that what you do for one search engine might affect another, however your main point of reference should always be your end user, the person that visits your site.

1. ColorZilla{2.0} - Pick Colours from the page
2. DafizillaTable2Clipboard{0.2.1} - Cleans the table of formatting
3. FEBE{6.0.3} - Backs up FireFox Bookmarks, Addons and more
4. HtmlValidator{0.8.5.2} - Validates your pages with good explainations and can Tidy the code too
5. LinkChecker{0.6.3} - Checks your links
6. Screengrab{0.95} - Screen Print for just when your kb plays up
7. SearchStatus{1.27} - Great for counting characters in metas plus more
8. TotalValidator{5.3.3} - Validates your pages with extremly good explainations plus they produce a desktop version which does your whole site
9. WebDeveloper{1.1.6} - Can’t do without this one, checks for headings, disables js, images and css at the click of a button plus more

Let the search engines see your content first for better Search Engine Optimization and Accessibility

By using the correct doctype, some CSS and either a table or divs, we can trick the search engines into reading your content first rather than your menu. Of course the same can be achieved by using a Javascript menu with bottom text links, but that’s not always user friendly. For the header you would use a style background in your CSS file, so there is no actual content. Accessibility wise, this is better for those using screen readers so they get to the content first and don’t have to plow through a menu.

Table Trick

This code Table Trick (.txt download) ignores Netcape 4 which requires that the cell not be empty, you can use a 1×1 pixel .gif but do we really need to cater nowadays for that old an browser? If that’s what you want add in a 1×1 .gif to the empty cell. Open the .txt file in notepad and right click and Select All, right click again and press Copy, go to Expression Web and open a blank new page right click in Code View and press Select All, Right click again and press Paste, position the cursor in Design View to update the page and you will see the layout. If you want to use padding on the header and footer you will need to move them out of the wrapper div.

Div Trick

This code Div Trick (.txt download) is the Holy Grail of the Div Trick written by Alistapart in 2006. Nowadays we are just about to move into Internet Explorer 8 and we have Firefox 3, time to drop those version 5 type browsers that we don’t really want to use anyway because of security issues. Most people using IE are using either IE6 or IE7.

Conclusion: To be completely safe the Table Trick with 1×1 .gif is the way to go if you want to use this. I think I prefer a JavaScript menu with text links at the bottom and a skip link myself on balance. One has to weigh up which direction one want’s to support.

Test Table and Div Tricks by turning off CSS in the browser

To test both of these tricks save the page and View in a browser that allows you turn off CSS Styles or has an addon to do so,

1. FireFox:  View – Page Style - No Style
2. Opera:  View  – Style – User Mode
3. Internet Explorer: IE7 – It’s easier to use an addon such as AIS Web Accessibility Toolbar and use the CSS Tab – Disable CSS

To add: I was getting fed up of IE crashing, so after ten years I made FireFox (I hate the bookmarks) my default browser to save me grief when I merely click a link. So of course I was viewing the Holy Grail Div Trick in FireFox 3 where it works. It does not appear to work IE7, but does work in Opera. Perhaps a conditional of some sort?

Thoughts and comments?