Sessions at Front-Trends 2012 on Thursday 26th April

As we contemplate the quickly-approaching future of the web-as-platform, much of the ground we're building on feels un-even. Why do we have access to OpenGL, yet JavaScript doesn't have any native way of talking about the binary data that underpins that system? Why does <canvas> create a an imperative drawing surface which is entirely un-integrated with the rest of HTML element drawing lifecycle? This and many more deep mysteries lie at the boundary between markup, CSS, DOM, and JavaScript...all under-pinned by the same piles of C++. Where do we go from here? Is there hope of a rational, coherent platform? How can we get there from here?

You know it’s time to redesign when your design is becoming your own bottleneck — incapable of reflecting your changes, values and the new direction of your enterprise. If your list of necessary UX improvements is getting longer, yet you can’t meaningfuly integrate them in your current design, that’s a clear sign that something has to change. That’s exactly the issue Smashing Magazine's team faced before it decided to redesign Smashing Magazine back in July 2011. In this talk Vitaly Friedman, the founder and editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine, provides practical insights into the responsive redesign process and the decisions made (and rejected) during the process. Vitaly will share how the team transformed the new vision in the new design, explain technical difficulties and problems in the responsive design process as well as things to keep in mind when dealing with legacy content.

On any given request for a website, there is precious little we know about the players involved. We don't know who the user is, where they live, what they speak, really anything about them. They are using a browser, but we don't know what that browser is. We don't know how they interact with that browser. That browser is on some device that we don't know about and we don't know how that device connects to to the internet. All we know is about the server where our website is hosted and the files we put there. We can make a better web by accommodating these unknowns.

The iOS platform offers one of most reliable mobile web browsers in its Mobile Safari. Yet, even for all its advantages, front-end development with Mobile Safari is riddled with numerous thickets of briar patches and hidden pitfalls. Dave will discuss his experiences developing creative solutions for iOS and taking on the unexpected limitations of the platform.

In the bad old days of JavaScript, our days were spent fighting through a thicket of DOM differences. These days, we've pretty much conquered those challenges thanks to tools such as jQuery, but our new challenge is figuring out how to adapt as more and more of our application logic moves from the server to the client. We have great tools like Backbone, Ember, Knockout, and more, but in order to use them effectively, we need to do more than learn their APIs -- we need to learn to think about our code beyond the DOM-centric ways of the past. In this talk, I'll look at useful patterns for thinking about client-side a12pplication development that will help you avoid creating a tangled mess of code.

Solving the right problems for the right people; looking at how some of our so-called best practices hinder, rather than help.

Newly coming release of Windows, now officially called Windows 8 reshapes the developer’s perspective significantly. It also is a new opening toward frontend, web developers with wide adoption and embrace of HTML5 related technologies. It touches the next version of the browser – Internet Explorer 10. It also includes a new proposition for apps native to the OS. All developed in HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript. This technical presentation represents a fair view of Microsoft strategy for the future, of course in the context of HTML5.

For both designers and developers, whether you’re working alone or on a large team, having a solid UI Library and CSS architecture is incredibly rewarding and essential for your application. As continuous integration gains traction in today’s web application development workflows, living user interface style guides and Sass help keep everything in check. Learn how you can create smarter, forward-thinking maintainable web interfaces.

With the rise of online applications, Javascript has got much attention for the past few years from browser vendors. Its combination with native graphic interfaces (WebGL, canvas) has offered a whole new playground for people using code as a creative tool. Meanwhile Javascript has stepped out the browser and has made its way to creative environments such as Openframeworks or Cinder, linking the power of desktop applications and the flexibility of scripting. Through examples and initiatives, we will see how Javascript has become an important tool in the creative coding scene.

One of the most exciting aspects of HTML5 is the addition of many helpful and powerful JavaScript API's. Some are attached to presentational elements (<canvas>, <video>, etc), and others are deeply rooted in JavaScript developer land (localStorage, Web Workers, etc). This talk will explore various advanced JavaScript API's in the context of how to weave them all together into a multi-player web-based game. Topics include: <canvas>, History API, localStorage/sessionStorage, appCache, Web Sockets, Local Files, Web Workers.

CSS2.1 was two dimensional: There was no concept of depth or time. CSS3 brings us some control over both, with transitions and animations for the latter. In this talk we will start from the basics of these new specifications, but will quickly move to more advanced tips and tricks to fully leverage these exciting technologies. The talk will follow Lea’s trademark presentation style with live code examples, that has been praised by audiences all over Europe.

The mobile landscape is so hot these days. With laser pointers on a forehead, it is the place where both, the companies that missed the web revolution and the ones that surfed on its weave, rush to secure their slice and defend it. But in the light of what the Open Web has accomplished over last years, turning the Web into diverse, vibrant and innovative ecosystem, the technology stack offered on the mobile is depressing. Proprietary APIs, locked down platforms and users, exclusive app markets, developer entry barriers and non-hackable source code. Can we do better? You bet :)

We're entering the world in which JavaScript (with HTML5 features) allows us to build full blown applications that reduce need for server-side to absolute minimum. In my short speech, I will present latest project that work exactly that way and demo the solutions that you won't find in regular web applications as we know them today. I will also talk about current trends, and what we may expect from web in not that far future.