It's been a long winter, and an equally long time since the last CWSA meeting. For this month's CWSA we will be joining our friends from the Cleveland chapter of the IxDA at the Market Garden Brewery for some drinks and good conversation.

Hope to see you there!

You already know the basics of responsive design, now learn more about some of the techniques and tools that make it easier to create a responsive website: grid frameworks, navigation patterns, CSS preprocessors like Sass/LESS, responsive images, responsive data tables, and polyfills. Responsive design isn't nearly as difficult as it seems: the secret is taking advantage of resources such as these instead of trying to solve every problem yourself.

This month's venue is Progressive Insurance. Please register as it is required for security.

It's that time again… Time to enjoy some drinks and conversation with your fellow Cleveland web geeks. This time we are going to be welcoming our friends and colleagues from the local chapter of the IxDA.

Hope to see you there!

You've crossed the threshold. You've left your comfortable Adobe and are down in the mean streets of terminal town. It's okay to be afraid, but know that I'm here to help you.

In this talk I'm going to cover some typical tasks required for setting up development environments on common platforms like Linux and OS-X. We'll talk about web servers, web frameworks, databases, and source control.

Bring your flack jacket, we'll be down in the command line.

In this workshop you will learn how to start bringing users into your design process, whether you're green-fielding a software product or improving one already in production. Through practical examples, hands on application and lots of resources for further learning, you will leave armed with the skills to ensure any release of your product sufficiently solves the problem at hand.

Attendance for the workshop is limited to twenty so register now!

Do you design or build software for the web? Think that HTML pages have to end in ".html"? Thought that a RESTful web service was a yoga session for people bitten by radioactive spiders?

HTTP is about much more than just HTML and CSS. It's a powerful and very flexible language between servers and clients that's often misunderstood and underused. Together, we'll dig into the history of the HTTP protocol and how it evolved. Dont take this transport layer for granted. Its not merely the pipe that you use to deliver your beautifully cascading style sheets to your users. It is, of course. But it's so much more. You might be surprised what's in there.

Please Note: LeanDog is temporarily relocated due to renovations on the boat. They are now located at Burke Lakefront airport (address below). You will need to go to the door farthest from the parking lot, all the way to the east end of the building.

It's that time again… Time to hoist a pint or two with your fellow Cleveland web nerds (or geeks if you prefer) and take a break from the bleak winter weather. We'll be back in March with a great presentation so stay tuned.

Last year, Ethan Marcotte wrote a book that forever changed the way I made web sites. No longer would my designs be constrained to a boring fixed width. Away with panning and zooming. Now my designs will move, change and respond to the user’s device.

Responsive Web Design is based on three basic principals: a fluid grid, flexible images, and media queries. It’s an extension of progressive enhancement. (We’re all building our sites this way already, right?)

I hope to give you a clearer understanding of this new way of designing and developing web sites and answer some of the trickier questions such as: Is it right for my site? Will I need to entirely rebuild my existing sites to make them responsive? Is this the silver-bullet for mobile web design?

Responsive Web Design is the future. Let’s all make awesome, responsive web sites this year.

Please join the CWSA as we welcome Brad Colbow, Jonathan Penn and Randy Beiter for our first mobile panel. We will touch on such topics as designing mobile interfaces, developing for mobile devices and navigating the waters of getting your app to users.

The first half will be a moderated session, answering previously submitted questions, the second half will consist of a live Q & A session.

Submit questions for the panel to cwsainfo@gmail.com.

Since 2008, Larissa Itomlenskis has been teaching user-centered design classes to teens in the Cleveland public schools, through the local nonprofit Progressive Arts Alliance. Larissa’s goal is to transform the classroom into a design studio – to create an environment that encourages creativity, minimizes judgment, and provides structure for getting things done. She has found teens are really excited about design. By creating their own website or architecture project, design offers an outlet for students to build something relevant and unique.

Larisa will speak about her teaching process, and show projects from two architecture workshops. Student's projects tackle problems important to them, including violence, drugs, access to health care, and the bad economy. They include concepts for local businesses, clinics, day care centers, sports and fitness centers, and learning centers. Though young, the students present innovative solutions meant to affect real change.