Fronteers 2010 sessions
This year we had 14 unsponsored sessions in total.
Creating lifelike designs with CSS3 by Meagan Fisher
CSS3 allows us to make designs feel like part of the natural world; with the organic curves of border radius, the subtle lighting effects of box-shadow, and the gentle glow of text-shadow, websites can feel more lifelike than ever. CSS3 animations and transitions add a new dimension of character to the experience of using a site, and multiple background images allow for rich textures. In my talk, I'll explain how you can use CSS3 techniques to make your designs jump off the screen.
CSS breakout with Andy Clarke
Andy hosted a Fronteers Talkshow special with the following guests: Dan Rubin, Anne van Kesteren and Stephen Hay.
CSS Workflow by Jina Bolton
Mastering CSS is more than just memorizing selectors — it's also having a solid workflow so you can be efficient and productive at what you do. Whether you're a freelancer working alone or on an enormous in-house team, having a good workflow is incredibly rewarding and beneficial for good design, development, and business. It can also help you spend more time being creative and doing the work you enjoy. Learn some tips for smart, forward-thinking front end web development.
CSS3 by Håkon Wium Lie
Håkon showed us some of the history of CSS3, the current status in browsers and where it is heading to with regards to print for example.
High Performance JavaScript by Nicholas Zakas
For much of its existence, JavaScript has been slow. No one complained until developers created complex web applications with thousands of lines of JavaScript code. Although newer JavaScript engines have improved the situation, there's still a lot to understand about what makes JavaScript slow and what you can do to speed up your code.
HTML5 Accessibility: Is it ready yet? by Steve Faulkner & Hans Hillen
What are the features in HTML5 that have the potential to:
- make it easier for developers to provide a more accessible user experience?
- make it harder for developers to provide a more accessible user experience?
Where does WAI-ARIA fit into the HTML5 accessibility story? How can WAI-ARIA fill the gaps in HTML5 UI accessibility?
JavaScript - Like a box of chocolates by Robert Nyman
This presentation aims to give you information about the JavaScript language itself; pros, cons and pitfalls. It will cover the basics and then go into objects, scope, closure and some performance bits.
Progressive Downloads and Rendering by Stoyan Stefanov
After harvesting the performance low-hanging fruits suggested by YSlow and PageSpeed, what do you do next to improve the performance of your web application? You work on improving the user's perception of speed and time. We all know perceptions lie and perceptions of time and duration even more so. So how do you make users believe the application is fast and responsive? The word is "progressive". When the page components download in parallel and don't block each other, the page loads quicker. And when the page renders progressively, it not only gives the user confidence and assurance that the applications works fine and they'll soon complete their task but it also appears that the app is snappier and more responsive.
In this deep-dive talk you'll learn about topics such as:
- the role of progressive (downloads, rendering, enhancement) in the front-end performance
- avoiding downloads block from unexpected sources such as favicons and conditional comments
- preloading CSS and JavaScript without executing
- CSS and high-performance
- tricks used by the big guys (Yahoo, Amazon, Google) to cheat their way to better speed perception
Real-world Responsive Design by Stephen Hay
With increasing interest in mobile, “responsive design” is a hot topic. Ethan Marcotte's article for A List Apart started an avalanche of discussion about the use of media queries in taking adaptive layout to the next level. The discussion exposed some misunderstanding among designers and developers about the importance of media queries and ultimately the meaning of design. Find out which design questions need to be answered before creating truly responsive designs and which tools are currently available to develop them.
Reasons to be cheerful by Chris Heilmann
Being someone who works for the web is having the best job in the world. There is really nothing that compares in terms of creativity, sharing and reach. Of course there are nagging issues but if we really take a look from afar at what we are doing there is a lot of fun to be had. In this session Chris Heilmann will show just how cool it is to be who we are and how to get joy out of our day to day jobs even when we think that everything is against us. We have the tools, we have the knowledge, we have the time. What we lack sometimes is the knowledge where to look, what to use and how to sell ourselves. Here you'll hear all about it and you will find a lot of reasons to be cheerful.
Reusable Code, for good or for awesome! by Jake Archibald
What sets reusable JavaScript apart from other JavaScript? How can we make our code developer-friendly, fast, robust & compatible?
In this talk we'll cover testing, code structure, working with compressors, documentation, measuring performance, but concentrating on API design.
The API is make-or-break when it comes to reusable code. It's the API that lets other developers use your application, if it's difficult to use then they won't get the most out of what you've written.
We'll analyse existing APIs, looking at where they fail and where they succeed, looking at what patterns they use and how users react to them.
By looking at the wins and fails in the real world, we can discover what makes code a pleasure to use and reuse.
The Design of HTML5 by Jeremy Keith
Everyone's talking about the benefits of HTML5 for web apps but the specification also introduces an extra layer of semantic richness to our web documents. These additions aren't wishful thinking for some far-flung future: you can start using them today. That's because the design principles driving HTML5 are steeped in pragmatism. Find out how important good design principles are to any project, whether it's a website, a content management system, or the very language that underpins the World Wide Web.
The Renaissance of Browser Animation by Cameron Adams
Some consider it pure eye candy, but animation is quickly becoming a crucial part of everyday digital experiences -- from playing games to reading your daily news. As the animation capability of browsers increases, rich, animated interfaces can feel not only more friendly and responsive but the polish that they bring can be a key differentiator in a market flooded with products.
Cameron Adams will be talking about his experience creating animated online experiences in a range of technologies from HTML/CSS to Canvas, SVG & Flash. His history with all of these technologies gives him a unique insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each, so when you leave you'll know exactly the right tool to pick up when you approach a new interactive project.
The State of HTML5: Inaugural Address by Paul Irish
HTML5 and friends have been getting implemented in browsers at an impressively quick pace. But that leaves us as web developers wondering, "Great, but how am I supposed to build cross-browser applications with these features when I still have to support IE".
We'll take a look at what the landscape of implementable features are, detailing best practices of implementation and fallback solutions where appropriate. For example, how do you pair WebSockets with a standard comet stack and what do you have to watch out for.
We'll also review your available feature set if you're only targeting webkit mobile, or if you've already given IE6 the boot.
The data will be up-to-the-day accurate, covering all major browsers and filled with best practices from topic experts.
Vector Graphics for the Web by Brad Neuberg
Come learn about Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), what it is, how to use it, and how it interacts with HTML5 and CSS3. In addition, learn about cross-browser solutions for bringing SVG to Internet Explorer including SVG Web, RaphaelJS, and JQuery SVG.
