ConFoo: Pushing the Boundaries without Breaking the Web

Resources can be found at: http://www.rachelandrew.co.uk/presentations/pushing-the-boundaries

1. Pushing the boundaries without Breaking the Web Rachel Andrew: ConFoo February 2013 Wednesday, 27 February 13
2. Wednesday, 27 February 13
3. Pushing the boundaries without Breaking the Web Rachel Andrew: ConFoo February 2013 Wednesday, 27 February 13
4. a History Lesson Wednesday, 27 February 13
5. <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- function MM_reloadPage(init) { if (init==true) with (navigator) {if ((appName=="Netscape")&&(parseInt(appVersion)==4)) { document.MM_pgW=innerWidth; document.MM_pgH=innerHeight; onresize=MM_reloadPage; }} else if (innerWidth!=document.MM_pgW || innerHeight!=document.MM_pgH) location.reload(); } MM_reloadPage(true); //--> </script> Wednesday, 27 February 13
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7. Things used by people who understand the problems they solve are also used by those who do not understand those problems, or even if there is a problem. Wednesday, 27 February 13
8. This is an amazing time to be a web developer. Wednesday, 27 February 13
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11. Frustration Wednesday, 27 February 13
12. The web is a work in progress. Your job? To deal with it. Wednesday, 27 February 13
13. Making things better Wednesday, 27 February 13
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15. You now have two problems Wednesday, 27 February 13
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17. The state of play in December 2011. Wednesday, 27 February 13
18. December 2011: greenbelt.org.uk Wednesday, 27 February 13
19. Understanding the technology your audience is using gives you a point of reference for your decisions. Wednesday, 27 February 13
20. Our approach: mobile first responsive design Wednesday, 27 February 13
21. <link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/css/basic.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (min-width: 460px)" href="/ assets/css/460.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (min-width: 700px)" href="/ assets/css/700.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (min-width: 940px)" href="/ assets/css/940.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (min-width: 1180px)" href="/ assets/css/1180.css" /> Wednesday, 27 February 13
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23. Problem: no media query support in IE8 and below. Wednesday, 27 February 13
24. No media query support Wednesday, 27 February 13
25. Option 1: serve these users the mobile version of the site only Wednesday, 27 February 13
26. Option 2: Use respond.js to polyfill media query support Wednesday, 27 February 13
27. Option 3: Offer a fixed width version of the site to IE8 and below Wednesday, 27 February 13
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29. Problem: lack of support for styling HTML5 semantic elements in older browsers. Wednesday, 27 February 13
30. No support for HTML5 semantic elements Wednesday, 27 February 13
31. Option 1: use the JavaScript polyfill html5.js to add support via JavaScript Wednesday, 27 February 13
32. Option 2: avoid using HTML5 semantic elements in the templates until IE8 usage declines Wednesday, 27 February 13
33. Replacing divs with semantic elements later is trivial due to our template based CMS. Wednesday, 27 February 13
34. We (edgeofmyseat.com) are retained to maintain & develop the site. We can make these changes when old browser usage reduces. Wednesday, 27 February 13
35. Your mileage (and situation) may vary. Wednesday, 27 February 13
36. Avoiding using the tag in your selectors means you can switch tags in your templates without changing your CSS. Wednesday, 27 February 13
37. Problem: lack of support for certain CSS3 Selectors in older browsers. Wednesday, 27 February 13
38. No support for nth-child Wednesday, 27 February 13
39. Option1: do nothing Wednesday, 27 February 13
40. Option 2: polyfill with Selectivizr Wednesday, 27 February 13
41. Option 3: fix each selector in your own JavaScript Wednesday, 27 February 13
42. My decision to fix the width for older browsers also made polyfilling CSS3 selectors much easier. Wednesday, 27 February 13
43. Problem: no clear solution for Responsive Images Wednesday, 27 February 13
44. Solution: put in place technology that will enable us to adopt a solution later Wednesday, 27 February 13
45. Responsive Images Community Group http://www.w3.org/community/respimg/ Wednesday, 27 February 13
46. In February 2013 browser use on the site without support for these modern technologies has fallen to under 8% Wednesday, 27 February 13
47. 1. What is the problem? My process 2. What are my constraints? 3. Is not supporting this feature an option? 4. What current solutions exist? 5. Use a polyfill or roll my own? Wednesday, 27 February 13
48. May 2012: grabaperch.com Wednesday, 27 February 13
49. How many users of the Perch website do not have support for the modern web technologies we want to use? Wednesday, 27 February 13
50. May 2012: grabaperch.com Wednesday, 27 February 13
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52. I use more polyfills when I have fewer older browser users. The downsides are going to be an issue to a much smaller % Wednesday, 27 February 13
53. Why not just use a boilerplate? Wednesday, 27 February 13
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55. Stop solving problems you don’t yet have Wednesday, 27 February 13
56. If you don’t know what it is doing. Why is it there? Wednesday, 27 February 13
57. What happens if any part does not load? Wednesday, 27 February 13
58. Do you know what is safe to delete? Wednesday, 27 February 13
59. Starting with the bare minimum and adding things forces you to consider the implications of each thing you add. Wednesday, 27 February 13
60. There’s no silver bullet to making a slow site fast. You must take a holistic approach. High performance runs the entire way through from the hardware it’s hosted on, through the app that builds the pages, to the server software that delivers the pages and the front end code that displays them in a browser. Drew McLellan - http://allinthehead.com/retro/361/how-to-make-your-website-fast Wednesday, 27 February 13
61. Web pages are getting larger and a lot of the size is down to JavaScript. http://royal.pingdom.com/2011/11/21/web-pages-getting-bloated-here-is-why/ Wednesday, 27 February 13
62. Size Matters Wednesday, 27 February 13
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66. We are all learners and we are all teachers... Wednesday, 27 February 13
67. ... no matter how old we are, how long we have been doing this, and whether we write tutorials or speak at conferences or not. Wednesday, 27 February 13
68. Polyfills should not be a black box Wednesday, 27 February 13
69. Teach problem solving before polyfilling. Wednesday, 27 February 13
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71. “Perch is removing my paragraphs” Wednesday, 27 February 13
72. We need to teach: HTML, CSS, JavaScript Wednesday, 27 February 13
73. We need to teach: Problem Solving skills Wednesday, 27 February 13
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75. If we train people to just copy and paste, we stop them growing, learning and contributing. Wednesday, 27 February 13
76. Make sure you know why you are using a solution and what your other options are. Wednesday, 27 February 13
77. Know and test for what happens if JavaScript doesn’t load. Wednesday, 27 February 13
78. Build solutions that are flexible for future changes in best practice. Wednesday, 27 February 13
79. When teaching or writing tutorials for others explain problems before handing out the solution. Explain why as well as how. Wednesday, 27 February 13
80. Thank you. Slides: http://www.rachelandrew.co.uk/presentations/ pushing-the-boundaries @rachelandrew http://rachelandrew.co.uk http://grabaperch.com http://edgeofmyseat.com Wednesday, 27 February 13