This September (2019), I attended CSSConf and JSConf in Budapest. Both conferences were single-tracked, with a total of 39 amazing talks. It was an incredible experience, and I learned many new things. Below, I’ve listed my top 9 favourite talks, in chronological order as they were presented in the conferences, together with explanations and recommendations.
Videos of the conferences in their entirety can be found here: CSSConf, JSConf day 1, JSConf day 2.
So here goes!
1. CSS Games and Drawings in the Real World: Useful or Just Fun?
By Giulia Cardieri | 📝 Slides | 📼 Video
Giulia spoke about creating drawings and games using only CSS and HTML. She mentioned how even though people tend to dismiss those types of projects as useless, she learns so much by just playing around.
Why I liked it: It was really cool to see what you can do only with CSS + HTML. When I tell people about this talk, they do not believe that a memory game can be built without using JavaScript! It was inspiring to see how much you can learn from “useless” things. Giulia has totally altered my preconceptions of the power of CSS + HTML.
Recommended for: Frontend developers looking for inspiration and perspectives on CSS and HTML.
2. The Weird — Yet Practical — World of Paint Worklets
By Jeremy Wagner | 📝 Slides | 📼 Video
Jeremy talked about Paint Worklets (AKA CSS Paint API — part of Houdini), and the capabilities they contain.
The talk touched on a variety of subjects, including:
- Considerations for randomly generated background images
- Customized paint worklets using JavaScript or custom CSS properties
- Shape calculations using trigonometry
Why I liked it: Jeremy presented this cutting-edge technology with an engaging approach. The API lets you explore your creative side by customizing your websites in exciting new ways. The talk inspired me to play around with paint worklets.
Recommended for: Frontend developers looking for inspiration, or learning the latest browser APIs.
3. CSS Architecture for Modern Web Applications
By Mike Riethmuller | 📝❌ Slides not published yet :( | 📼 Video
Mike showed various approaches for modelling components with multiple states, and explained his favorite approach. The talk also included important considerations for structuring an application’s component hierarchy.
Why I liked it: The talk was delightful on both the presentation level and technical level. Mike’s separation of component types (container, layout and UI) was insightful.
Recommended for: Frontend developers seeking to optimize project structures using new coding paradigms.
4. Building Better Products Faster: DevUx is the new DevOps
By Yu Ling Cheng & France Wang|📝❌ Slides not published yet :( | 📼 Video
Yu Ling & France talked about the DevUX culture, which aims to improve the collaboration between developers and designers. They specified four levels of DevUX, and advised how to “level up”.
Although I couldn’t find the original slides, the toolbox section on devux.tech holds a lot of the talk’s content.
Why I liked it: France and Yu Ling Slack-inspired presentation was definitely a personal favorite for me! They presented the subject in an engaging way. I think anybody from the industry can relate to at least one of the problematic scenarios described. I’m excited to start implementing some of the useful tips from this talk.
Recommended for: Frontend devs and designers MUST see this talk.
5. Accessibility vs latest Web APIs. Can’t we just get along?
By Mauricio Palma | 📝❌ Slides not published yet :( | 📼 Video
Mauricio gave examples of the importance of accessibility. He demonstrates how we unintentionally exclude people from using the web. He presented a live demo of a voice-activated application and used it to operate Spotify in different languages.
Why I liked it: The talk was interesting and inspiring, and had a really cool live demo. Mauricio managed to point out the importance of UX with personal stories. He gave useful tips that can help developers to make UX an achievable goal.
Recommended for: Any frontend developer will enjoy this talk. Some designers and PMs may find it interesting as well, if they can get past the technical parts.
6. Javascript Performance in Extreme Conditions: Building WebApps for the Refugee Aid Movement
By Taylor Fairbank | 📝❌ Slides not published yet :( | 📼 Video
Taylor works at the Distribute Aid movement, which aims to help refugees around Europe. He is the main developer of the application which is used by the movement’s volunteers. The application is aimed at use under extreme conditions, like old devices and lack of signal. In his talk, Taylor told us about the challenges he had while optimizing this app.
Why I liked it: Taylor’s fantastic talk reminded me about the power that we have as programmers. The applications he builds help many volunteers in the most functional way possible. It’s not just a matter of “conversion rate” or “customer satisfaction”. His work can actually save or dramatically improve people’s lives.
Recommended for: Frontend developers will learn a lot from this talk. Backend developers may be interested in the minimization strategies for caching and communication that are explained in the talk. PMs can also glean insights on improving their products’ ability to target audiences with bad infrastructure (like 3rd world countries, remote places or travelers).
7. Making things fast in world of build tools
By Surma & Jake Archibald | 📝❌ Slides not published yet :( | 📼 Video
Surma and Jake talked about the optimization process they have made with Proxx — a minesweeper game developed by Google Chrome Labs. They wanted to make the game accessible to developing countries, or those with poor infrastructure. In their talk, they demonstrated how they used Rollup plugins to achieve that goal.
Why I liked it: First of all, this talk was hilarious. Surma and Jake managed to share a lot of content with a fun and easy approach. The way that each problem was introduced, analyzed and tackled was incredible. I loved the creative usage of Rollup plugins for solving real-world problems. Surma and Jake showed that many problems can be solved with a bit of creativity and humour.
Recommended for: I would recommend this talk to frontend developers who are looking to improve client side performance, or really to any developer looking for a good laugh!
8. Web Norms of the World: An exploration of the internet beyond the West
By Kat Kitay | 📝 Slides | 📼 Video
In her talk, Kat explained how different cultures use the web differently. The concept which led this talk is “Well-localized software will win”. Kat illustrated the importance of localization, along with many examples.
Why I liked it: Like most people, I am used to experiencing the web in a certain way. Designing an application to be accessible in different cultures is not a trivial task. As Kat put it in her talk, it is difficult (and essential) building applications in a localized form.
The practical test cases Kat gave were eye-opening. For example, people from certain countries are less likely to take unnecessary risks. Users from such countries will expect a step-by-step guide on websites they use. The talk made me think about how cultural differences affect the web. Kat really put the “world-wide” in world-wide-web.
Recommended for: Anyone with potential users outside their country. PMs, devs and designers will enjoy this talk.
9. StrangerDanger: Finding Security Vulnerabilities Before They Find You!
By Liran Tal | 📝❌ Slides not published yet :( | 📼 Video
Liran explained the security risks that open-source introduces, and how to reduce them. In his talk, Liran showcased Snyk — an open-source security platform.
Why I liked it: Liran addressed problems that we all know, yet neglect. He talked about fundamental security issues that exist in the open-source world and how they will never be solved entirely. Additionally, Liran had a cool demo where he “hacked” a popular library on-stage.
Recommended for: Any developer that uses open-source in any way.
Summary: Why I loved CSSConf + JSConf
If I had to pick one reason why I loved the two conferences, it would be the wonderful blend of technology and community. Almost every talk was extremely interesting and highly polished. I learned tons of new coding techniques and best practices that I can’t wait to put to use!
Another attractive aspect is the wide variety of the attendees’ fields of expertise. CSSConf had not only frontend developers, but many designers as well. JSConf had a nice mix of frontend and backend devs. It was interesting to hear about the same subjects from different perspectives.
The after-party activities organized by the conference — karaoke, digital party games and VR games — were a really nice touch as well.
I met and made friends with amazing people from around the world.
All in all, the conferences truly exceeded my expectations. I hope to attend the next JSConfBP in 2020.
Bonus
- An artist named Malwine drew each talk. The results are awesome!
- Twilio built a fun retro RPG game which involves JS programming.
- Juho Vepsäläinen shared his photos from CSSConf + JSConf.
This post is part of Innovid’s technical blog.
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