Mel Choyce

  • Attending CSSConf

    Earlier this week I attended CSSConf in Boston, the city where I conveniently happen to live. :)

    This was my first CSSConf, and it had a very different vibe than the other conferences I’ve attended lately. Unlike An Event Apart, it was a smaller, intimate conference — but unlike a WordCamp, it focused with just one track both days. In general, I’m a big fan of one-track conferences. They feel more curated and eliminate the need to debate between different talks or speakers.

    Throughout the conference, there was some division amongst speakers about the nature of CSS, which I feel like narrows down into “fuck the cascade” / “embrace the cascade,” with programmers on one side and front-end devs on the other. As a designer, I find myself in the embrace camp.

    Some of my favorite talks of the conference were Will Boyd’s Silky Smooth Animation with CSS, Sara Soueidan’s SVG IRL (which ended up being more along the lines of “embrace hacks when you have to,” with lots of different tips and tricks from a recent project she’s been working on), Justin McDowell’s Bauhaus in the Browser (my top fave!), and Alisha Ramos’ Coding is a Privilege.

    The videos are already starting to go up online:

    Thanks to all the organizers and speakers for a great conference!

    mel

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  • Reflections on An Event Apart: Seattle

    This week, I attended An Event Apart Seattle with a handful of coworkers. It was the first time I had seen any of these particular coworkers since October (and in the case of one coworker, it was the first time I had met her). Getting a couple days to hang out in a conference setting with my coworkers was amazing. I’m constantly reminded of how passionate, talented, and dedicated they are. I get pumped just thinking about hanging out with them, and I can’t wait to get together with my team in New Orleans in a couple weeks.

    AEA:S itself was fantastic — from a learning and development standpoint, it was definitely the best web conference I’ve ever attended. I learned something new at every talk. The speakers were smart, funny, and engaging. I got to see one of my own personal design heroes, Mike Monteiro, speak live for the first time. I can’t wait for my next chance to attend AEA.

    I’m also incredibly grateful to work for a company that will let me take a few days to meet up with my coworkers and learn from some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. I love my job, and I love what I do, and I’m really excited to come back, full of energy and enthusiasm for what I’m working on.

    Thanks for a good week, AEA.

    mel

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