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Tech Tuesday on a Wednesday: HTML5. Why should I care?

Because HTML5 will be all kinds of rad and revolutionize the basic building blocks of the web – while at the same time creating a better web experience for everyone. “OK, great,” you say, “but how will it be all kinds of rad?” There is no need for future tense. The future is now! Most browsers currently support a subset of HTML5. Download that latest version of Google Chrome and check out these experiments. Then, download the latest Firefox browser and check out this radular display of awesome.

None of the glorious animation and audio goodness from the links above use any type of plugins. It’s all in the browser using HTML5. Animation, audio and data retrieval – all done using scripting. The drawing is done natively using the new canvas tag, which is exactly what it sounds like – a canvas that you can draw on. Only instead of a paintbrush you have JavaScript. Starting to get it now?

There is even a new video tag that could alleviate the need for Flash and Sliverlight based video players. There may be a slight conflict of interest there, explaining why Microsoft has yet to support the video tag in its latest version of IE8. Nevertheless, full adoption of HTML5 is bound to happen, and when it does get ready for an intensely magical web experience.

This is the stuff that Tim Berners-Lee couldn’t even have dreamed of back in 1989 while trying to help physicists at CERN reference research papers. How cool is that that we’ve come this far? HTML 4 has been out for 10 years. In those 10 years, we’ve seen a drastic move from web pages to web applications through the Web 2.0 movement. The web application is at the heart of HTML5. With the announcement of Google’s Chrome OS and the increase of cloud computing and storage, there is no doubt that the web will continue to have a greater influence on the way we live and work.

Top Chef Nerdery on the 2nd of July

A Trekkie talking-to

When it comes to the age-old question of who’s the greatest Star Trek captain, this rolling Trekkie debate may have gathered new steam earlier today at The Nerdery when it was learned that (name withheld) not only did NOT have a fave, but (are you sitting down?) has still not even seen the current summer blockbuster.

Come to think of it, this person was nowhere to be seen when we camped out for opening day tickets.

After a good talking-to from HR and some free advice from others, so-and-so is taking in a matinee today. It’s an excused absence.

The Nerdery handles nerd-cred breaches like this internally, however, this blog made the editorial decision to send a shot across the bow.

Each of us has our own coping mechanisms – I had to count to ten again after just rehashing the scene (real or imagined) in my head….phew. Beam me up, somebody, and sing me back down, Bob Dylan:

“You gotta serve somebody/You’re gonna have to serve somebody/It may be Bill Shatner/And it may be Picard/But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”

Good evening, jQuery

Tomorrow at 6 p.m., The Nerdery welcomes jQuery expert Marc Grabanski to lead a Twin Cities Web Design user group discussion on jQuery essentials.

Marc Grabanski is the original author of jQuery UI Datepicker and has worked extensively with jQuery since the release of the fast, lightweight and concise JavaScript library.

A snippet from the library? Check this out:

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”/path/to/jQuery.js”></script>

I could read between the lines of this stuff for-like-ever. Where’s my jQuery library card?

Mark Grabanski will better address how the open source JavaScript library simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development – and how he uses jQuery as a Minneapolis-based web developer who consults with businesses creating startups.

When: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 6-8 p.m.
Where: The Nerdery, 9555 James Ave S. suite 245, Bloomington MN

The Twin Cities Web Design user group is a community for Minnesota-based web designers, developers and anybody interested in learning or developing their skills in the web marketplace.

Get more info and RSVP.

A Golden Ticket to the next Overnight Website Challenge

Yesterday at the Engaged Philanthropy Conference I spent the day with about 300 people talking about social innovation. Most of these folks, I gathered, spend most of their days working/living it. Four standout nonprofits were there vying for the Social Entrepreneur’s Cup, which comes with a $20,000 grant from Social Venture Partners Minnesota.

Remember when Ed McMahon would show up at people’s doorstep to tell them they’d hit the jackpot? Here’s where we get to be like him, minus the big cardboard check. We sweetened the pot for the Social Entrepreneur’s Cup winner by throwing in a Golden Ticket to the next Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, where last year, by the numbers, 120 volunteer web pros worked for 12 nonprofits in one room for 24 hours straight – for zero dollars.

And the Golden Ticket goes to … Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL), worthy winners of the 2009 Social Entrepreneur’s Cup. RREAL’s mission is to make solar energy available to people of all income levels.

Here’s hoping all three runners up for the Cup also apply for the next Challenge, they are: Admission Possible, Hearth Connection, and lastly, Apple Tree Dental, whose founder began his presentation by saying, “Some of you are probably wondering, ‘What’s this dentist doing here?’” We soon found out. He’s doing what he’s uniquely qualified to do and helping people in dire need of something he’s passionate about. He’s doing what he can.

Social Venture Partners Minnesota executive director Brad Brown challenged everyone in the room yesterday to make Minnesota the Silicon Valley of social innovation. We’ll do what we can next March by working with our friends in the interactive community to help another batch of Minnesota nonprofits move their mission forward by creating websites they couldn’t otherwise afford.

Nerdy deeds, done dirt-cheap. Like the good dentist, we’re just doing what we can – a simple something we should all aspire to.

So welcome, RREAL. Get some rest and we’ll see you at The Nerdery’s next Overnight Website Challenge.