We are pleased to announce the September event for PHP North East, Buttons 'n' Shit - Design frameworks for developers. The event will take place at the Post Office in Pink Lane (@PostOfficeNE1) courtesy of PNE.  Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Laura Sharpe of Sharpe Recruitment, there will once again be a stack of pizzas, from Firenze of Jesmond before the talk.  The event is... [read more]

We are pleased to announce the September event for PHP North East, Buttons 'n' Shit - Design frameworks for developers. The event will take place at the Post Office in Pink Lane (@PostOfficeNE1) courtesy of PNE.  Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Laura Sharpe of Sharpe Recruitment, there will once again be a stack of pizzas, from Firenze of Jesmond before the talk.  The event is free and open to all, but please sign up online so that we have an idea of numbers for the venue, and how much Laura needs to cough up for the pizzas.  Feedback, suggestions and ideas for future topics are welcome on our Google Group. Please promote this event via Twitter or your own website to help us spread the word. Buttons 'n' Shit - Design frameworks for developers by @itsleesimpson The battle between designers and developer is an age old one. As the stereo types go developers often see designers as big kids with a box of crayons and too much 'creative thought time', and designer see developers as boffins trying to solve a problem that never existed. However no matter how much we wrestle its hard to ignore that what happens in the front-end is just as important as what happens in the back-end when developing a website or application. With a number of different framework options out there you don't need to be a design genius to get something that looks good (and works) in place quickly. Whether you're developing for a client or developing for yourself, its good to have a solid foundation of front-end markup in place whether it comes down to the design or not. …and if you do need something a bit more pleasing on the eye then it doesn't need to be about drop shadows, gradients and rounded corners. More often than not a simple, well planed layout does the job. This talk will aim to give you an overview of resources out in the wild that you can start using straight away: - Grid Systems & Layouts; quickly creating both fixed and fluid layouts. - Forms & Buttons; creating usable forms for applications. - Typography & Font-Face; there's more to life than Arial. - Responsive; frame works for creating responsive layouts for different devices. - HTML & CSS Markup; simplest way to keep your front-end clean. - Templates & Template Systems; the best resources for when you need a more complex design, you really don't need a designer. Followed by Q&A at the venue time permitting, or down the pub afterwards. Many of us will be enjoying a refreshing beverage or two after the talks at the Town Wall Pub in Pink Lane, it would be great if you could join us for that too.