Croydon Creatives

That was fun! // Friday September 30, 2011

Thank you all for heading down to the Spread Eagle on Wednesday for Croydon Creatives. It was a fun evening and again, a few new faces arrived! The CC Brick works :)

We met at the new venue and I don’t think we’ll be returning. It was expensive, noisy & the football on the TV’s didn’t help either (but I’m not a football fan!). @therulebook suggested we try the Green Dragon next time so we’ll give that a go next time! We’re open to suggestions though!

Lots of talk about Google plus and the state of social networks, semantic headings and spy apps for the iPhone… James bond was mentioned a few times.

An enjoyable evening and already looking forward to the next!

Hosting Issues // Thursday September 22, 2011

I’ve been running the CroydonCreativ.es off of my hosting since it started up 5 months ago. It’s worked swimmingly but my heart sank yesterday morning when I tried to look at the site and was promptly shown a ‘Site isn’t loading’ message.

After 10 minutes, it soon become apparent that the server where my domain was hosted was no longer online for one reason or another.

While that’s all being rectified, the domain has been forwarded to the tumblr blog and will revert back once the site is up & running again.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hopefully see you next week at our new venue, The Spread Eagle, Croydon.

Anthony (@mrqwest)

September ~ We’re trying a new venue! // Thursday September 22, 2011

Hello,

Wow, it’s that time of the month again where I send out an email to remind you all about the next Croydon Creatives. This weeks are ticking by at an incredible pace!

The next CroydonCreativ.es will be happening on Wednesday, 28th September at 7pm at The Spread Eagle, Croydon. This is a new venue as unfortunately, our usual pub has closed down and will soon become a pizza restaurant. 

If you’ve not been before, the Spread Eagle pub is right next to Croydon Clocktower / Library so head in that direction and you’ll find it.  Directions and address (as well as parking details) are on our website, http://croydoncreativ.es ~ and when you get to the pub, keep an eye out for the Croydon Creatives Brick. It’ll be on the table so you know where we are!

The Croydon Creatives is an informal gathering where we get together over a pint & a bite to eat and chat about the web in general, typography, design and everything in between. If you fancy giving a little talk about something you love, a project you’re working on or a tool you’ve found then you’re more than welcome - we’re all open to learning new tricks!
The evening is up on Lanyrd, so if you are coming or even just thinking about it,put your name down as attending or tracking just so I have a rough idea of who can make it so I can organise a bigger table if need be. Also, feel free to invite any others that you think may be interested in the general banter.

Also, in case you missed it, we have a tumblr blog to add to the website (http://croydoncreativ.es) - this holds details on the meetups, recaps of topics talked about in the meetups. and other little tips, tricks & interesting related posts. Also keep an eye on the twitter account, @CrCreatives for more updates,

Finally, just as a brief reminder, CroydonCreativ.es regular, @MikeStreety is holding an awesome little free event in Brighton next month called Points.  Points is an informal evening of digital discussions with topics ranging from web-development through to SEO. There are 3 main speakers entwined with smaller 5 minute talks and brief discussions. Everyone is invited to take part, get involved and ask questions or talk about something cool! It’s all taking place on the 13th October at the Brighton Media Centre. More info can be found on the Points website, http://www.pointsbrighton.co.uk/ - check it out and register your free place!

Don’t forget, we’re at a new venue next week, I hope to see you there!

Anthony (@mrqwest)

CC ~ August // Thursday September 1, 2011

First off, thank you all for coming down. It was a great night and was nice to see a couple of new faces too :) I like the way the group is growing with every meeting with one or two new faces at each. So again, thank you!

Beer flowed and lots of subjects discussed. I didn’t get a chance to hear all the conversations as the table we had wasn’t fantastic for group discussion but GimmeBar.com came up a few times, as did one or two members who professed their love for Expression Engine.

LESS (and SASS) have been receiving a lot of press on the twitters recently, and it’s certainly piqued my interest.  Thanks to that fine fellow, @PaulAdamDavis, who done a quick 15 minute chat on LESS, and detailed how easy it is to jump into it and get using it straight away.  He explained Nested selectors, variables & mixins. I don’t know about the rest of the group but I can’t wait to give LESS a go on my next project! 

There was also talk of some group-wide activities ~ Perhaps a BBQ next summer?

Lastly, we found out last night that The Brief, which has become our regular is closing in two weeks. Which means, next months CroydonCreatives will be held at a new location.  It’ll still be in Croydon and within walking distance of the train station, but for the time being, it’s yet to be determined. I’ll post here when it’s confirmed though!

It was another cracking evening! Thanks to those who made it along! I’m looking forward to next month already :)

Anthony (@mrqwest)

An Impromptu Beer // Friday August 26, 2011

This past week, #drupalcon has been taking place at Fairfield halls, Croydon.  I wasn’t aware of the event until last week. I’ve never used Drupal so it wouldn’t have been an event I’d want to attend, but it was a web-event none-the-less so I was interested to see the line up. 

I realised that those smart chaps, the Web Standardistas (@standardistas) would be doing a keynote session. I’ve been a fan of their blog ever since I discovered it so I wouldn’t let an opportunity to have a pint with the pair go amiss.  

So last night, Kris, Alex & myself met with Christopher & Nicklas for a few pints where we talked about DrupalCon, CMS’s, Narnia in Nottingham(?!) and the web community in general. We were also sharing stories from previous conferences including New Adventures & Build along with some odd stories about the Croydon natives.

I had a great evening and it was a pleasure to chat with the guys. I’d love to do it again sometime.  Build 2012 perhaps?

Anthony (@mrqwest)

August ~ Are you free? // Sunday August 21, 2011

Hasn’t time flown? The next CroydonCreativ.es is upon us and it’s happening on Wednesday 31st August at 7pm at The Brief, Croydon (usual location). If you’ve not been before, directions and address (as well as parking details) are on our website, http://croydoncreativ.es and when you get to the pub, keep an eye out for the Croydon Creatives Brick. It’ll be on the table so you know where we are!


 

The Croydon Creatives is an informal gathering where we get together over a pint & a bite to eat and chat about the web in general, typography, design and everything in between. If you fancy giving a little talk about something you love, a project you’re working on or a tool you’ve found then you’re more than welcome - we’re all open to learning new tricks!

The evening is up on Lanyrd, so if you are coming or even just thinking about it, put your name down as attending or tracking just so I have a rough idea of who can make it (just in case I need to organise a bigger table!). Also, feel free to invite any others that you think may be interested in the general banter.

I’ve also added a tumblr blog to the website (http://croydoncreativ.es) - this’ll hold details on the meetups as well as a recap of stuff talked about in the meetups.  Also keep an eye on the twitter account, @CrCreatives for more updates!

See you there!

Anthony

Members Projects // Tuesday August 16, 2011

@Mikestreety came up with an idea a few months back. He said that there should be a showcase of projects as part of the CroydonCreatives website. It should be a place to show off the tools or resources that have been created by the regular attendees of the CroydonCreatives.

So I’ve done just that. ‘Projects’ (imaginative name huh?) is a place to check out what we’ve been building as part of our day jobs or in our free time.

If you’ve got any ideas or projects to add, give us a shout! @CrCreatives