It's about time I posted this

I have been trying very hard to get this post written and posted, and I made the mistake of thinking I would even update my pre-meetup post later that day after attending the meetup. Little did I know that I would learn so damn much, and would have so many things I would want to do and try and implement in my sites afterwords.

It was an extremely large jump in what I knew and understood about the technologies the W3 was presenting about, so large, that I still am trying to recall all that they talked covered.

What now makes writing this post harder is the fact that it has been about a week since the meetup, and I am now trying to recall anything I can at all haha. Old age is catching up with me fast apparently. Anything I am not able to recollect that I found to be worth mentioning, will surely be mentioned in future posts, as it slowly finds its way to my brain again.

It was a long day of coding, hacking, and learning. Just as any day in my life is really. This time, though, I was learning from those who create the Web Standards browsers use for how they read and render the HTML and CSS of websites viewed by millions of people everyday. It's not the same as me stumbling through some half-ass mis-understanding of on thing or another, that I am trying to learn by teaching myself while coding a web page.

About the event

The event was a Boston Web Design Meetup, and was hosted at the Microsoft Center
(N.E.R.D) in Cambridge, Ma., which, if you ask me is a perfect venue for anything nerd-related (ahem...Wordcamp Boston).

The event, Looking at the Next Open Web Platform presented by a few members of the W3C including sessions on HTML5, CSS3, SVG and Canvas. Prior to this I had no clue, or care for whatever the last two were. I was really only interested in HTML5 and CSS3, though after learning about them, SVG and Canvas are now yet another thing I MUST learn and use. Just think of HTML for images, or Flash animations/movies in the form of an image.

Think scriptable, interactive images that are lighter weight than Flash movies. In the afternoon there was a hack/coding session for those wishing to stick around and dig into these technologies a bit more, during which time we learned to create an HTML5/SVG video player from scratch.

The event started at 9:00am and went all day, and about 70 people who attended. More than I expected to, though not surprisingly, and free food/drinks, almost as many large pizzas as there were people, too lol. I remember feeling overwhelmed and unable to choose which box to open when I went to get a slice.

What I learned, and created

I started creating an HTML5 page template the morning before the event, and finished later that day. It was my first complete hand-coded page I have created using HTML5 and CSS3, and have since re-created it, as an even better page template.

• First HTML5 styled CSS3 page - which turned into a playground.
• HTML5/SVG video player - what we made during the hands-on coding session
• Just HTML5 Page: Version 2 - my updated and improved HTML5 exclusive page template.

The Speakers from the W3

• Philippe Le Hegaret
• Michael Smith
• Doug Schepers
• Bert Bos
• Matt Wormer

The Session Presentations (links to HTML slides)

• Introduction to Next Open Web Platform - presented by Philippe
• Introduction to HTML 5 - presented by Mike
  • Intro. to HTML 5 - PDF
• Introduction to SVG and Canvas - presented by Doug
  • Canvas API - Canvas / SVG Presentation
• Introduction to CSS 3 - presented by Bert
• HTML5/SVG Video Player Hack Session
• SVG Filters on HTML5 video (via: Paul Irish)

Video Player Code Snippets on Pastie

• Snippet 1
• Snippet 2
• Snippet 3
• Snippet 4

Here are a couple more links and resources for stuff related to all these technologies. I would include more, but will never get this posted if I do that.

HTML5 Links &amp Resources

• HTML5 Validator
• HTML5Doctor
• DiveIntoHTML5
• Modernizr.com
• CSS3, please
• Canvas API - Many Lines (very cool)

Share what you've done

I'd love to see some of your creations using any of these new technologies. Post a comment with a link, and share it with others.

Also, if you know of any great links or resources for any of these technologies that I haven't already included, please comment and let me know what I've missed here.