Dan Hilton

It’s hard to ignore the ‘google effect’ when eating free trail mix and drinking organic apple juice in the plush offices of Google London at BarCampLondon3. It’s like a weird geek wonderland - like the kind of place thought up by nerds who got beaten up at school. The bountiful acceptance of intelligence as being best, the child-like playhouse of an office - I’ve never seen so much high end tech in one place. It’s a geek heaven and a geek haven. It’s intoxicating I can’t deny.

As far as the talks go it’s like information is being jacked straight into my head. I’ve discussed CMS frameworks with a guy  from the BBC, Web Developer recruitment with some guys from Yahoo and had a long discussion about building better forms with people from an insurance comparison site. It’s as a guy just said to me: “Surreal”.

I think I’ll need a few days to truly give some sort of insightful view of the Google BarCamp experience. Onwards to sleep (in a Google tent!)

1) Tell users what to expect

progress indicator

show there is help at hand and other routes to access help phone / chatlive /callback

2) Make users feel secure

verisign logos, padlocks!!!!

3) Keep it short and simple

remove cruft

chunk into logical steps

three columns one for lable, one for element and one for help.

4) Register right away? No way!

standard usernames = email addresses

keep rules for passwords standard

5) Succinct labels

* at the left.
6) Use correct field elements correctly
Free text fields should be indicatively sized so that users can judge their entries.
Person’s name
- Given name(s)
- Family Name

less than 5 options radio buttons more dropdown

7) Display a clear navigation hierarchy
Design buttons/calls to action in accordance with their ranking.

8) Show help in situ on the page
Assign the right of page for help.
Be consistent with placement of help icons.
Exteneded Alt text on mouse-over or ajax can offer help in situ.
Helpline number on each page

9) Helpful error messages
Auto-validation is good.
Italics bad.
Place the red and bold error message above the relevant page

10) Have a confirmation page

User will appreciate it.
There will be less mistakes actually submitted.
Useful for the user = peace of mind and printable record.
Useful for business = less support calls and more long-term customers.
VERY IMPORTANT to have a call to action on the top and bottom of the page.

Software: Tealeaf,

Julie Watts

“Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who know where you live” Damian Conway

• Use spaces not tabs.
• Code goes no further than column 77.
• no-one ever died from too much whitespace.
• Separate operators and braces.
• Indent by four spaces.
• Line up assignments.
• Space keywords not functions.
• vertical rhythm.
• k & R bracketing
• one statement per line
• break lines before operators (except in JS)
• Use single quotes where posssible.
• Always use /x on regexps (removes all whitespace)
• Hungarian code is harmful.
• Short variable names harmful
• Use underscores not camel case.