Evaluating Technology

We work with technology every day. And every day it seems like there's more and more technology to understand: graphic design tools, build tools, frameworks and libraries, not to mention new HTML, CSS and JavaScript features landing in browsers. How should we best choose which technologies to invest our time in? When we decide to weigh up the technology choices that confront us, what are the best criteria for doing that? This talk will help you evaluate tools and technologies in a way that best benefits the people who use the websites that we are designing and developing. Let's take a look at some of the hottest new web technologies like service workers and web components. Together we will dig beneath the hype to find out whether they will really change life on the web for the better.

Transcript

1. EVALUATING
   TECHNOLOGY
   

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3. A
   C
   G
   T
   

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4. specialisation
   ubiquity
   cooperation
   

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6. We shape our tools and thereafter
   our tools shape us.”
   “
   —John Culkin
   

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7. specialisation
   ubiquity
   cooperation
   

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10. Chindōgu
    

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11. Chindōgu
    

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12. Chindōgu
    

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13. Chindōgu
    

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14. Chindōgu
    

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15. Chindōgu
    

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16. Chindōgu
    

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17. hardware
    software
    human
    

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20. hardware
    software
    human
    

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21. WWW
    

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22. computers
    internet
    electricity
    WWW
    industrialisation
    

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23. HTTP
    WWW
    URLs HTML
    

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25. Humans are allergic to change.”
    “
    —Grace Hopper
    

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26. HTTP
    WWW
    URLs HTML
    SGML
    DNS
    TCP/IP
    

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27. SGML
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

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28. HTML
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

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29. HTML
    
    
    
    
    
    

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30. HTML 5 document conformance requirements
    should be designed so that web content can
    degrade gracefully in older or less capable user
    agents, even when making use of new elements,
    attributes, APIs and content models.”
    “
    —HTML Design Principles
    

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31. principles.adactio.com
    

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32. principles
    goals
    patterns
    

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33. HTML
    
    
    
    
    
    

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34. How well does it work?
    

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35. How well does it fail?
    

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39. service workers
    

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41. How well does it work?
    

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43. How well does it fail?
    

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44. web components
    shadow DOM
    custom elements
    

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45. HTML
    
    
    
    
    
    

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46. 
    
    
    
    
    

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47. 
    href="mega-menu.html">
    HTML
    CSS
    JS
    

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48. How well does it work?
    

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50. How well does it fail?
    

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51. 
    
    
    
    
    

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52. 
    
    

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53. 
    
    
    …
    
    shop.polymer-project.org
    

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54. service workers
    web components
    

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55. ajax
    responsive web design
    progressive web app
    the extensible web
    

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56. service worker
    manifest file
    progressive web app
    HTTPS
    +
    +
    =
    

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60. Who benefits?
    

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61. developers users
    

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62. sass
    less
    git
    gulp
    npm
    jQuery
    bootstrap
    angular
    react
    ember
    

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63. What are the assumptions?
    

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64. Software, like all technologies, is inherently
    political. Code inevitably reflects the choices,
    biases and desires of its creators.”
    “
    —Jamais Cascio
    

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66. The street finds its own uses for things.”
    “
    —William Gibson
    Burning Chrome
    

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68. Technology is neither good nor bad;
    nor is it neutral.”
    “
    —Melvin Kranzberg
    

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71. What Technology Wants
    The Inevitable
    

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72. amish
    The Amish have the undeserved
    reputation of being luddites, of people
    who refuse to employ new technology.
    The Amish are steadily adopting
    technology — at their pace.
    They are slow geeks.”
    “
    —Kevin Kelly
    -ish
    

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74. How well does it work?
    How well does it fail?
    Who benefits?
    What are the assumptions?
    

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76. Thank you
    

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