National Association of Government Webmasters

Presented by Jared Spool, CEO, User Interface Engineering

We all want to make our designs be the best they could be. We'd like to eliminate all the frustration that our users experience and have them talking about how delightful the experience is. Getting everyone to agree on that is easy.

What's more difficult is getting approval to spend money or take the time necessary to make it happen. Hiring consultants, renting expensive lab equipment, and taking months to analyze results are not in the cards for most teams.

Fortunately, they aren't the only option for cooking up a great experience. There are very inexpensive and fast techniques and tricks that teams can use that will help them see great improvements to their designs.

In this presentation, Jared will share these "fast-food budget" techniques, showing you cost and time effective methods for extracting the core benefits of any user experience design process. You'll learn simple ways to gather information about your users, the tasks they are doing with your designs, and how well the designs meet their needs. In turn, you can use this information as you continue to make changes, thereby making each new release that much more delightful.

Presented by Adriel Hampton, Media Trainer, City of San Francisco, California

Communicating effectively online has grown more difficult with the rise of social media and Web 2.0, but is increasingly important for reaching Internet-savvy constituents. In this fast-paced talk, we'll cover the changing media landscape and local government's important role in communicating programs and services. We'll discuss how to effectively leverage non-Web staff for online communications efforts, social media policies, and practical tips and tools for leveraging agency social media.

Presented by Steve Fisher, Webmaster, Washoe County Health District, Nevada

This presentation will go over steps to make your HTML tables accessible. This session will help attendees meet Section 508 compliance and help those with screenreaders get the data from your tables.

Presented by Jesse Manning, Director of Sales Operations, CivicPlus

Large purchases of web management applications and other software can create headaches for government staff through muddled responses, drawn-out contract negotiations and skewed information from the local media. But it doesn’t have to be this way! In this presentation, Jesse Manning of CivicPlus takes a look at how to prepare targeted and relevant requests for proposals that generate the best responses. He’ll also share advice on how to ease contract negotiation headaches with a variety of vendors and how to prepare your local media to accurately report how taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Presented by Jack Horner, Webmaster, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska

This presentation explains the 960 grid system, and runs through creating a page template using free, and freely available tools. Examples will be drawn from .Net and Joomla projects I am working on, and will also highlight implementations in systems like Drupal and WordPress.

Presented by Dan Melton, PhD, MPA; CTO, Code For America

Code for America was founded to help the brightest minds of the Web 2.0 generation transform city governments. Cities are under greater pressure than ever, struggling with budget cuts and outdated technology. What if, instead of cutting services or raising taxes, cities could leverage the power of the web to become more efficient, transparent, and participatory?

We believe there is a wealth of talent in the web industry eager to contribute to the rebuilding of America. Code for America gives them the means.

Dan Melton, CTO of Code for America introduces us to this exciting project.

Presented by: Jim Maivald

Take a whirlwind tour of Dreamweaver CS5 with the author of Dreamweaver CS5 Classroom in a Book (Adobe Press 2010). Check out the latest features that will increase your productivity and help you build standards-based web pages and websites quickly and easily. See how Dreamweaver integrates seamlessly with other Creative Suite applications, like Photoshop, InDesign and Flash.

Presented by Jon Gunderson, Coordinatorof Information Technology Accessibility Disability Resources and Educational Services, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

Dynamic HTML and web applications cannot be evaluated with traditional web based accessibility evaluation tools. Many web based do not evaluation javascript or tools rely on the state of the current web user interface being defined in the URL of the web resource. The state information for web application is defined on a server and communication of state information is handled through behind the scenes transactions with the server. The Functional Accessibility Evaluator has a feature to provide a web based interface to allow HTML markup to be sent to FAE for evaluation and to generate page level accessibility reports. The Firebug Accessibility Inspector allows accessibility evaluation inspection as a part of the Firebug interface. The Firebug Accessibility Inspector has direct access to the DOM and can link errors to the HTML view in Firebug for direct code inspection.

Presented by Nathan Smith, Webmaster, City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri

The jQuery javascript library is revolutionizing the way people work with javascript. Have you heard about jQuery, but not had time to investigate what all the fuss is about? In this introductory session, you will learn how to include jQuery and jQuery plugins on your page, and essential jQuery syntax. We will also explore the widgets and effects that are available in the jQuery UI package.

Presented by Joe Rotella, CTO, Delphia Consulting

You get it. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be part of NAGW. You know your site has to be easy to use, promote your organization, reflect your brand, help build a virtual community, offer self-service and be built on a platform that’s easy to maintain, secure, reliable, scalable and robust. So why is it so hard to get everyone else on board? Joe will show you how to sell your ideas by presenting a business case – a strong and thoughtful proposal to your leadership.

Presented by Jared Spool, CEO, User Interface Engineering

Everyone wants an "intuitive" interface: the users, the designers, and the content publishers. But building them is hard. User Interface Engineering's recent research has given insight into why it's hard and how to get past major obstacles.

To build an "intuitive" interface, a designer has to do two things: (1) Take complete advantage of what the user already knows, so what they see is completely familiar to them and (2) make the act of learning anything new completely imperceptible to the user. It turns out, if the interface requires the user to realize they are learning something, the "intuitive" label disappears instantly.

In this talk, Jared will show:

• How users need both tool knowledge and domain knowledge to complete their tasks
• How simple problems with designs can cause big problems for users
• What successful teams are doing to create experiences that delight

Jared will show examples from Microsoft Word, MSN, Google Talk, Flickr, Avis, and many more.

Presented by Mike Scott, Manager of Accessibility Solutions, MSF&W Consulting

PDF documents are everywhere on the web, and, in many cases, they are completely -- and unnecessarily! -- inaccessible to people with disabilities. While Adobe has made great strides, the techniques for making PDF accessible are still widely unknown. In this session we will explore what makes PDF accessible, and how common tools including Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe LiveCycle Designer can be used to get the job done.

Presented by Brooks Bennett, Technology Specialist, City of Round Rock, Texas

The City of Round Rock has had a mobile-friendly version of its website for over 3 years over 1,500 visits a month to our website are from handheld, mobile devices. I propose to talk about what functions of our site are most mobile friendly and how we implemented them. Should we force mobile devices to mobile optimized content, or give them the choice? I also would like to see an open discussion on where we see mobile web-utilization going in the future for government use.

Presented by Robin Hastings, Information Technology Coordinator, Missouri River Regional Library

The author of "Microblogging and Lifestreaming in Libraries" will discuss ways to use Twitter, FriendFeed and Tumblr in Government - with specific examples of how each service can help you connect with your community.

Presented by Phil Mui, Senior Products Manager, Google Analytics, Google Inc.

Session description forthcoming.

Presented by Molly Holzschlag, Web Evangelist, Opera Software

As the open standard for web applications, HTML5 takes markup to a new level, requiring web developers and designers to re-examine the way they've worked in the past, and will be working in days and months to come. Presented by Molly E. Holzschlag, Web Standards advocate, evangelist, and developer relations team member at Opera Software, this talk helps demystify HTML5 as well as provide real-world insight into how to begin using aspects of the language today.

Presented by Carole Lassak, Communications Manager, Delphia Consulting

Writing web content is different than writing for print because people don’t read on the Web in the same way they read print media. Users come to your site for content. Learn to optimize that content for the Web. Participants leave the Writing Web Content session with a better understanding of what make good web content and concrete list of guidelines to follow to make your message clear on your website.

Presented by Kristy Fifelski, Web Services Manager, City of Reno, Nevada

Discover how to use Wordpress, the popular open source blogging software platform. Learn how the City of Reno has utilized Wordpress for the city’s Around the Arch Blog – integrated with Reno’s existing website. This session will explore how many government sites are also using Wordpress to create quick “microsites” for specialized content, such as sites for recovery information, data sharing, and collecting budget ideas. Learn tricks and tips for quickly and easily creating your own blogs or microsites using one-click installation of WordPress software. This session is for web project managers and web designers, but does not delve into programming and coding.

Presented by Jason Morrison, Search Quality Team, Google

Is your site a target for spammers, hackers, and malware? You might be surprised. In this session we’ll look at why spammers target websites, how to tell if your site has been abused, and how to clean up after an attack.

Presented by Michael Riedyk, President & CEO, DotGov

Topic to be announced.

Presented by Joe Rotella, CTO, Delphia Consulting

You like the latest designs you’ve created. You feel great about the navigation on your site. Everything makes sense to you. But does it really work for your target audience? Join Joe as he discusses ways you can validate your design ideas with subjective and objective user input – from surveys to usability testing.

Presented by Collyn Floyd, Online Marketing Specialist, The Karcher Group

Why Email Marketing? It’s inexpensive, effective, and easy to measure. This session will cover email laws including Can-SPAM and State-to-state; email address capture, including best practices, examples and ways to increase subscribers; your email message: how to optimize your message, what's your goal and more; thought sequence: capture their attention; convince! what makes it worth a click; closing with a call to action; Landing Page best practices and examples; Email Stats: Testing and examples; and if time allows a live clinic including email examples from attendees and live reviews of attendee emails/landing pages.

Presented by Jay Eason, City of Akeny, Iowa and Ashley Fruechting, Vision Internet

With more and more website users accessing the internet through iPhones, Blackberries, and other mobile devices, it has become increasingly important for government agencies to have mobile versions of their websites. Presented by Jay Eason of the City of Ankeny and Ashley Fruechting of Vision Internet, our presentation will demonstrate key features of effective municipal mobile sites. Attendees will learn the best practices for creating an effective mobile interface, including making navigation intuitive, dealing with compatibility, and more.

Presented by Michael Riedyk, President & CEO, DotGov Inc.

Government websites and Twitter feeds are public records and should be archived. Michael will explain the legislature, give practical tips and demonstrate tools on how to comply.

Presented by Molly Holzschlag, Web Evangelist, Opera Software

Most of us are familiar with the term and concepts related to "Web Standards." But as our work becomes more complex, it's important to visualize what it is we really do. An emerging term is "The Open Web" which speaks not only to standards but also an entire technical and social "stack" of what it means to be a Web professional in contemporary times. In this closing keynote, Molly will describe the Open Web vision, demonstrate visualizations of both the technical and social structures of the Open Web, and inspire all to move forward with courage and commitment as leaders of the most far-reaching, affordable and life-altering communication system humankind has ever known.