WebConf Riga: Pushing the Boundaries Without Breaking the Web

The version of this talk presented at WebConf Riga on the 11th November 2012

Transcript

1. Pushing the boundaries without Breaking the Web Rachel Andrew: WebConf Riga November 2012 Sunday, 11 November 12
2. a History Lesson Sunday, 11 November 12
3. <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> Sunday, 11 November 12
4. Sunday, 11 November 12
5. 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. Sunday, 11 November 12
6. This is an amazing time to be a web developer. Sunday, 11 November 12
7. Sunday, 11 November 12
8. Sunday, 11 November 12
9. Frustration Sunday, 11 November 12
10. The web is a work in progress. Your job? To deal with it. Sunday, 11 November 12
11. Making things better Sunday, 11 November 12
12. Sunday, 11 November 12
13. You now have two problems Sunday, 11 November 12
14. Sunday, 11 November 12
15. The state of play in December 2011. Sunday, 11 November 12
16. December 2011: greenbelt.org.uk Sunday, 11 November 12
17. Understanding the technology your audience is using gives you a point of reference for your decisions. Sunday, 11 November 12
18. Our approach: mobile first responsive design Sunday, 11 November 12
19. <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" /> Sunday, 11 November 12
20. Sunday, 11 November 12
21. Problem: no media query support in IE8 and below. Sunday, 11 November 12
22. No media query support Sunday, 11 November 12
23. Option 1: serve these users the mobile version of the site only Sunday, 11 November 12
24. Option 2: Use respond.js to polyfill media query support Sunday, 11 November 12
25. Option 3: Offer a fixed width version of the site to IE8 and below Sunday, 11 November 12
26. Sunday, 11 November 12
27. Problem: lack of support for styling HTML5 semantic elements in older browsers. Sunday, 11 November 12
28. No support for HTML5 semantic elements Sunday, 11 November 12
29. Option 1: use the JavaScript polyfill html5.js to add support via JavaScript Sunday, 11 November 12
30. Option 2: avoid using HTML5 semantic elements in the templates until IE8 usage declines Sunday, 11 November 12
31. Replacing divs with semantic elements later is trivial due to our template based CMS. Sunday, 11 November 12
32. We (edgeofmyseat.com) are retained to maintain & develop the site. We can make these changes when old browser usage reduces. Sunday, 11 November 12
33. Your mileage (and situation) may vary. Sunday, 11 November 12
34. Avoiding using the tag in your selectors means you can switch tags in your templates without changing your CSS. Sunday, 11 November 12
35. Problem: lack of support for certain CSS3 Selectors in older browsers. Sunday, 11 November 12
36. No support for nth-child Sunday, 11 November 12
37. Option1: do nothing Sunday, 11 November 12
38. Option 2: polyfill with Selectivizr Sunday, 11 November 12
39. Option 3: fix each selector in your own JavaScript Sunday, 11 November 12
40. My decision to fix the width for older browsers also made polyfilling CSS3 selectors much easier. Sunday, 11 November 12
41. Problem: no clear solution for Responsive Images Sunday, 11 November 12
42. Solution: put in place technology that will enable us to adopt a solution later Sunday, 11 November 12
43. Responsive Images Community Group http://www.w3.org/community/respimg/ Sunday, 11 November 12
44. 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? Sunday, 11 November 12
45. May 2012: grabaperch.com Sunday, 11 November 12
46. How many users of the Perch website do not have support for the modern web technologies we want to use? Sunday, 11 November 12
47. May 2012: grabaperch.com Sunday, 11 November 12
48. Sunday, 11 November 12
49. I use more polyfills when I have fewer older browser users. The downsides are going to be an issue to a much smaller % Sunday, 11 November 12
50. Why not just use a boilerplate? Sunday, 11 November 12
51. Sunday, 11 November 12
52. Stop solving problems you don’t yet have Sunday, 11 November 12
53. If you don’t know what it is doing. Why is it there? Sunday, 11 November 12
54. What happens if any part does not load? Sunday, 11 November 12
55. Do you know what is safe to delete? Sunday, 11 November 12
56. Starting with the bare minimum and adding things forces you to consider the implications of each thing you add. Sunday, 11 November 12
57. 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 Sunday, 11 November 12
58. 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/ Sunday, 11 November 12
59. Size Matters Sunday, 11 November 12
60. Sunday, 11 November 12
61. Sunday, 11 November 12
62. Sunday, 11 November 12
63. We are all learners and we are all teachers... Sunday, 11 November 12
64. ... no matter how old we are, how long we have been doing this, and whether we write tutorials or speak at conferences or not. Sunday, 11 November 12
65. Polyfills should not be a black box Sunday, 11 November 12
66. Teach problem solving before polyfilling. Sunday, 11 November 12
67. Sunday, 11 November 12
68. “Perch is removing my paragraphs” Sunday, 11 November 12
69. We need to teach: HTML, CSS, JavaScript Sunday, 11 November 12
70. We need to teach: Problem Solving skills Sunday, 11 November 12
71. Sunday, 11 November 12
72. If we train people to just copy and paste, we stop them growing, learning and contributing. Sunday, 11 November 12
73. Make sure you know why you are using a solution and what your other options are. Sunday, 11 November 12
74. Know and test for what happens if JavaScript doesn’t load. Sunday, 11 November 12
75. Build solutions that are flexible for future changes in best practice. Sunday, 11 November 12
76. When teaching or writing tutorials for others explain problems before handing out the solution. Explain why as well as how. Sunday, 11 November 12
77. Thank you. @rachelandrew http://rachelandrew.co.uk http://grabaperch.com http://edgeofmyseat.com Image credits - Flickr users: artbystevejohnson, atoach, dominicspics, imagesbywestfall, koalazymonkey, pinksherbert, whatcouldgowrong Sunday, 11 November 12