# John Allsopp

> Writer, conference founder, and developer with a thirty-year track record of identifying major shifts in web and software technology early — now focused on the AI transformation.

John Allsopp is based in Sydney, Australia. For three decades he has worked at the front edge of web and software technology as a developer, writer, and founder of the conferences where practitioners gather to define what comes next. This site (johnfallsopp.com) is the canonical home for his writing; pieces are syndicated to NOOPS, LinkedIn, and Web Directions but originate here.

## Through-line

One capability applied for thirty years: telling durable signal from hype, early. In 2000 he wrote "A Dao of Web Design," arguing the web was not print and should not be forced into the constraints of paper — an argument for what became responsive design, made roughly a decade before mobile made it obvious. The same instinct runs through his work on web standards, twenty years of Web Directions conferences, and his current focus on the AI transformation.

## Now (2026)

- NOOPS (https://noops.au) — real-time intelligence on the AI transformation, co-founded with Mark Pesce. Daily signals, weekly analysis, monthly deep dives.
- AI Engineer — runs the Australian editions in partnership with the global AI Engineer event (Sydney, December 2026).
- AI by Design, AI Week, Next — AI-focused conferences run through Web Directions.
- Web Directions (https://webdirections.org) — twenty years of conferences on product, design, and engineering practice.
- Conffab (https://conffab.com) — a platform hosting nearly 1,000 conference talks from 45 conferences.

## Writing

Recurring themes: the economics of organisations in the AI era (coordination costs, disintermediation, the end of waterfall as economic necessity), AI engineering as a craft, and the web/technology through-line connecting past paradigm shifts to the present one.

- All writing: https://johnfallsopp.com/writing
- RSS feed: https://johnfallsopp.com/rss

## Books

- Developing with Web Standards (New Riders, 2009)
- Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0 (friends of ED, 2007)
- Smashing Book 5 (contributor, 2015)

## Contact

- Email: john@webdirections.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfallsopp/