Created for obsessive-compulsive designers, Build is no ordinary web conference. From internationally renowned speakers to a jam-packed social calendar, Build is bringing the best of the web to Belfast’s Waterfront Studio on the 5th November.

Build presented some of the world’s most respected designers and speakers and it was an honor to meet them and be in their presence: Eric Meyer, Wilson Miner, Ryan Sims, Andy Budd, Mark Boulton and Tim Van Damme.

The conference was a huge success, I thoroughly enjoyed myself not just on the day but across the whole week with various other meetups and Andy deserves a huge pat on the back. Well done sir! I even managed to win a ‘goody bag’ thanks to this tweet – sorry Tim

I can’t even begin to list all the awesome people I chatted to over the week as there are too many to mention but it was good to meet you all and next time you’re up for a drink in Belfast just tweet me

If you’re in Belfast later in the month check out the Adobe CS4 training day Wednesday 25th November (free event).

Round ups

• Front: Build Conference recap
• Pabcas: Building a better web
• Web Designer Notebook: #buildconf
• TaylorMade: Belfast builds giants
• Kyle Boyd: Build Conference – Belfast 2009
• Sam Brown: Build Conference – My experience graph
• No More Art: City of Culture eh? Well 2009 will just have to do

Press

• Wired: Belfast looks to build a hi-tech future
• BBC: The next Twitter or Facebook?

Photos

Front

Keith Anderson

Paddy Donnelly

David Parsons

Maykel Loomans

Yaili

Videos

Tim Van Damme – Designers Designers Designers (from @vectorfunk)

These are just some of the post #buildconf links I have come across. Please feel free to share your blog posts and photos in the comments below.

Please also take a moment to review or recommend any cool places you visited over the days of Build on Lookaly (another project of mine). Cheers!

• John Hewitt Bar
• McHughs
• Duke of York
• Ramada Encore Hotel
• Malmaison Hotel

Stay tuned for Build 2010.

I’ll be joining the lineup of Andy Clarke, Drew McLellan, Web Standardistas and others.

The Belfast event is being held in W5 at The Odyssey starting at 8.45am.

Tickets are still available at £59 (bargain for a FOWD event).

I’ll be talking about ‘Rounding the edges of your website‘:

• Minor adjustments to ensure your user has an enjoyable experience
• How to optimise your site for optimal performance
• Essential checks before launching your website

Further links:

• Check out the schedule
• Check out the speaker list
• More Carsonified events

I’m very excited about the event and hope to see a lot of you there. Who’s going?

Here’s a brief roundup.

What is Refresh Belfast?

Refresh Belfast is a monthly event for designers and creatives to meet over an informative talk and a ‘refreshing’ pint.

It takes place every third Monday of the month in The Black Box, and like a lot of web related events happening in Belfast is organised by Andy Good.

More about Refresh Belfast.

Who are Front?

Front are one of Ireland’s leading web development agencies with clients including BBC, O2, Independent News & Media, Carte Blanche Greetings – and lots of exciting new work they’re not yet able to speak about!

Photo source

Paul McKeever, Front’s MD, and Jamie Neely, Front’s creative director, both spoke at the event.

Topics

Paul talked about the user experience, how people will use your site and being human online (and not talking like a robot).

Jamie discussed Front’s approach to design and how it’s not about jumping into Photoshop and starting to design a site. It’s about understanding the user and client needs, scoping out the project with wireframes and sketches and building the client’s online brand.

You can view the round-up, video clips and slides on Front’s website. It’s worth a read

What is Lookaly?

Lookaly is an online business directory that lets you rate and review businesses. The objective is to allow you to find the best businesses and services in your area based on ‘the wisdom of crowds’ i.e. feedback from others.

What’s in it for businesses?

Businesses can add themselves for free. Yes, free! If you own a business or are associated with a business, by adding yours you will get a:

• Free directory listing
• Free web page
• Free link to your website

What makes Lookaly so special?

Apart from being beautifully crafted and really easy to use Lookaly is all about helping to promote the best businesses and services in your area. By allowing anyone to signup and review, you can make informed decisions about what restaurant serves good steak or what cinema has comfortable seats.

You can also follow and share reviews with family and friends. Lookaly has a social networking platform so you can setup your own profile and follow your friends, keeping you up-to-date with their latest reviews.

Background

Lookaly was developed by James Gallagher and myself (Lee Munroe). There are a lot of business directories out there but we found them really awkward or depressing to use. Trying to find a list of good recommendations for sandwich bars or coffee shops in Belfast, for example, didn’t seem to be possible. So we made it possible.

Most people now look up businesses online these days but because other directories charge upwards of £120/yr to get listed, there are tens of thousands of businesses missing out. So by offering a free listing service, we’re allowing every business from self employed tradesmen to global Hotel franchises to get listed and found online.

What now?

Check out Lookaly, signup and start reviewing.

For the month of February we’re putting an iPod up for grabs. For a chance to win the iPod, all you need to do is review a business and you’ll be entered into the draw.

We’re currently targeting Northern Ireland businesses but if you’re based in Ireland, England, Scotland, USA or anywhere else feel free to add your business and try it out. You still get your own webpage and link to your website.

Any feedback you want to provide please do.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who helped test out the app; Paddy, Kyle, Chris, Nick, Andy, Marty, Barry, Andrew, Brian, Liam, Jonny, James Boyce and other family and friends who helped out.

So if you’re from Northern Ireland or have ever visited Northern Ireland I’d really appreciate 60 seconds of your time. There’s nothing complicated involved, honest.

Click here to complete the form.

I’ll post the results soon

Thanks

#Edit – View the results here

I’m sure there are more useful resources that I’ve missed so if you think you can recommend anything else, leave me a comment and I’ll update accordingly.

Web/Techy blogs and meetups

Belfast Open Coffee Club

BOCC is an informal tech meeting that happens once or twice per month. Chat about web apps and iPhones over coffee and cake.

Digital Circle

Digital Circle is an association of digital media businesses that help to develop, connect and promote the industry.

NI Creatives

Great resource to keep you informed about what’s happening in NI.

MobileMonday Belfast

MobileMonday brings together industry professionals interested in mobile.

Northern Ireland Mac User Group

NiMUG provides support to Apple users and have monthly meetings.

Digital Media Island

Digital Media Island is an enterprise network that develops and administers enterprise resources for companies in the digital media industry in Ireland.

Crea8ivity

Northern Ireland’s creative digital hub.

Web Designire

Showcase of creative web designs coming from Ireland and Northern Ireland.

NI Tech Blog

The latest tech news from Northern Ireland.

Events to keep an eye on

BarCamp

An open techy/web event where anyone is welcome to present.

CreativeCamp

A similar event to BarCamp but with a broader creative reach i.e. you don’t have to be ‘tech savvy’.

Build

Coming to Belfast later this year, Build is an exciting new web conference.

FOWA Dublin

The Future of Web Apps is coming to Dublin in March 2009. Keep track of Carsonifed for future events.

Business meetups

NISP Connect

Northern Ireland Science Park have a variety of events and competitions, including monthly frameworks classes that are free to attend (and often include bacon buddies).

Creative Entrepreneurs Club

CECNI brings creative entrepreneurs together at various networking events.

Free Wi-Fi hotspots in Belfast

Free Wi-Fi spots include;

• Sinnamon, Stranmillis
• Charlies, Bradbury Place
• The Limelight, Ormeau Avenue
• Ground, Fountain Avenue
• Roast, Royal Avenue
• Roast, Lisburn Road
• Bookfinders, University Road

What else is happening?

Feel free to leave a comment below with more suggestions.

My latest mini-project is a web design gallery for websites and designers from Ireland and Northern Ireland – www.webdesignire.com.

I use galleries all the time and they’re great for getting a daily dose of inspiration and as a web designer they’re a great way to help promote your website.

Why another gallery?

There are 100s of galleries online, CSS Mania, Best Web Gallery, CSS Drive to name a few, but there isn’t a niche gallery for Ireland.

The aim for Web Designire is to:

1. Help to promote Irish websites
2. Showcase the best designs coming out of Ireland and Northern Ireland to the rest of the world
3. Provide inspiration for other web designers

Visit Web Designire and if you’re from Ireland or Northern Ireland remember to suggest any sites you’ve designed. If not, feel free to vote on the sites showcased.