Refresh Cambridge
Before we moved away from Peterborough, I had been entertaining the idea of contacting other local web types with a view to both social and business networking, but – as far as I could tell – nobody else in the city was remotely interested in web standards.
Fast-forward a few months and I’m in Cambridge – the heart of Silicon Fen and home to tens of thousands of students – and once more (and in part inspired by @media) I start thinking about a web standards community project… but this time it has a name.
Refresh
The Refresh ‘brand’ originated in the south-west US when groups of web folk got together in cities like Dallas (where designers Andy Rutledge and Garrett Dimon are involved in the project) to:
...refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in their areas [and] promote design, technology, usability, and standards.
There are now 28 cities listed on the Refreshing Cities hub, but – up till now – only two (London and Edinburgh) on this side of the pond.
Refresh Cambridge
I am pleased to announce that the Refresh Cambridge site is now up and running and open to visitors.
It’s only one page at the moment while I get the ball rolling and generate interest in and around the city, but I hope that in time it will be a successful and active community where designer and developer, professional and amateur, guru and newbie can all participate and benefit.
If you are in the Cambridge area, and interested in web standards, accessibility, usability and design, head over to Refresh Cambridge and sign up to the mailing list.
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Comments
- Matthew Pennell
- 709 days ago
- Thanks.
I didn’t get much chance to talk to Multipackers in depth at the conference; but I did talk to Gareth Rushgrove about his group Newcastle New Media quite a bit, and that was more the inspiration for setting up the Refresh Cambridge site.
Plus I’m a big fan of what people like Garrett and Andy are doing in the States. - #2
- paul haine
- 709 days ago
- I have to admit, I see these ‘refresh’ things popping up here and there but I’ve never been sure what the actual intention is…is it just a local mailing list for web developers, or something more than that?
- #3
- Matthew Pennell
- 709 days ago
- Paul: I can only speak for myself, but I think it is a way to stimulate thought and discussion about the things that matter in our industry, like standards, usability, accessibility and good design.
Plus it’s a good way to meet other local designers and drink beer. - #4
- Dragan Babi?
- 706 days ago
- Mathew, I really like the design, but there is one thing I’d like to note, and it is directed to all designers who use a mac for their work on the Web: “helvetica is REALLY ugly on PCs”, it is almost unreadable, just so you know, if you don’t already. ;)
- #5
- Matthew Pennell
- 706 days ago
- Dragan: I suppose I always assumed that not many PC users will have Helvetica installed.
- #6
- Dragan Babi?
- 706 days ago
- Well, yes, and no. I have it because I’ a designer, but many, many people don’t, but that’s even not the point. If the user doesn’t have Helvetica, the fallback should be Arial and everyone should be happy, errr, right? Well no, not quite.
The main problem is Win’s awfull rendering of Helvetica, when the user has it installed. So it comes down to the point where you’re better off not having Helvetica at all, and using the substitute Arial, then actually having Helvetica and having to read that awfull text.
Here is a screenshot to illustrate what I mean (keep in mind thet ClearType is on): http://snissa.com/getimage.foo?uuid=2271d99c90fa401f9ff3486682b1354e - #7
- Matthew Pennell
- 703 days ago
- I’d noticed that in my referer logs. I see what you mean. I've changed the font-family specifications now.
- #8
So, does this mean you are leaving the Multipack?