For those who are about to Mac... I salute you!

I've resorted to using Firefox to post this update, since it'll give me a few more browser in-line tools for this very special post.

Since I'm finally making a long-overdue pilgrimage to Macworld San Francisco this January, and also since the IDG Event crew has managed to make one of the more inflexible large event websites I have ever tried to use, I set about the thankless, unenviable task of copy/pasting ALL of the Macworld Conference Expo programs, AND all of their descriptions (typos and all, courtesy of macworldexpo.com) into subscribable iCal calendars. I was also driving myself insane trying to determine which package was the best value to me, because many sessions conflict, so unless you can physically be in two places at once, you NEED to know what is happening when and where.

I've never really pushed iCal this far, but you get to see some of the really cool power available when you take an event of this size and really break it down into manageable, visual chunks. An especially nice side-bonus that I found is that, as I entered speakers into the attendees field, you can search within iCal for "Andy Ihnatko" and find every session at which he is scheduled to be (that is, if I didn't miss one, mind you. I am merely one guy... with, yes, a lot of time on his hands).

In an effort not to make one huge honkin' calendar (the entirety of which you might not care completely), each "track" and "session" is broken out into its own group. So if you didn't pay, for, say, the Users Conference, you don't actually have to view it in iCal if you subscribe.

Direct subscription links to iCal calendars (i.e. webcal)

MWSF 2008 Specialty Programs
MWSF 2008 Users Conference
MWSF 2008 MacIT
MWSF 2008 MacLabs
MWSF 2008 General Admission (including Exhibit Hall)*
MWSF 2008 Market Symposiums
MWSF 2008 Power Tools Series 1
MWSF 2008 Power Tools Series 2

.Mac web browser URLs

MWSF 2008 Specialty Programs
MWSF 2008 Users Conference
MWSF 2008 MacIT
MWSF 2008 MacLabs
MWSF 2008 General Admission (including Exhibit Hall)*
MWSF 2008 Market Symposiums
MWSF 2008 Power Tools Series 1
MWSF 2008 Power Tools Series 2

*Also, added Easter Egg bonus! I decided (and now regret it, but I'll keep plugging away at it) to add EVERY LISTED EXHIBITOR to the To-Do list of the Exhibitor Hall calendar, under "General Admission" (Well, okay... Most of them. Alright, fine, I'm done through "D." Happy?)

Anyway, so make sure to subscribe to the To-Do's of that calendar! Why? Well, not only do you get their write-ups from macworldexpo.com, and URLs to their respective websites, but you can also, search through just To-Do's for anything with the text "W-" in iCal's "Search" field, and voila! find EVERY EXHIBITOR in the Moscone West Hall auto-magically. The main Exhibitor Hall calendar also contains two URLs linking directly to the Macworld floorplans for the halls.

I'm really hoping this makes a lot of people's lives MUCH easier at the show, and leverages some of the way-cool power available from within iCal, and maybe even handy for the lucky those of us (not me... sigh) who own iPhones and can make some use of these calendars as well. Not having one (double sigh), I can't really see how well it works.

My only requests are that:

a.) you pass along this blog's main URL (http://www.pixelography.com) to anyone who may benefit from subscribing to it, as opposed to just linking straight through to the iCal's

b.) you keep an eye on the schedules, regularly, and be patient. A lot is going up there, but it's not 100% complete (but it's 85% more than what exists now via IDG). I am updating them by hand, so if there's something missing, it's probably coming up soon. Plus, some sessions which had no descriptions when I started this project are beginning to get them, as well as scheduled speakers, etc. As I notice them, I'll add them.

Enjoy!