I just got done with the WebVisions NYC Conference. On Wednesday, the morning session was on Adaptive Web Design, and run by Aaron Gustafson.  While some of the points about mobile first are things I already am working on, I was really intrigued by the ARIA roles section of the talk.  One attendee asked who, if anyone, was in charge of defining and guiding the ARIA spec, which I thought was a great question. I think we are all a bit wary of the browser prefixes and deprecated HTML bits. Aaron quickly described how a steering committee determined the roles, how they were to be used, etc. That seemed to satisfy people, although it makes me realize I need to do more research on them.

The second day was filled with speakers. While the morning sessions seemed to be mostly focused on the technology and nuts and bolts of web design, the afternoon was much more about the philosophy and mental processes behind what we do.  Russ Unger's session on Core UX principles from Jim Henson, was especially fun. I guess with a show that has been so popular for so long, you can apply its success to a variety of different fields, but the analogy did work.

The last day was lots of speakers again, with lots of topics. Crystal Beasley's talk, 13 Signs your Site Needs a UX Exorcism, really hit home.  I'm not sure if it is funny or sad that the very things I was going to start doing at work, were the very things she recommended people NOT do when it came to their UX. The whole day was a lot to process, but I came away with more energy and excitement for what I do, and lots of ideas on how to do it.