How can we build experiences for the devices of tomorrow? Explore the techniques for building performant, maintainable and future-proof responsive designs. Bio: Adam Chambers is a senior developer at Digital Surgeons, a full-service creative agency based in New Haven, Connecticut. Adam is the lead architect on the Gumby Framework project, creator of ResponsiveComments.js and a web standards enthusiast.

1. FUTURE-PROOF RWD

2. ADAM CHAMBERS
Senior Developer, Digital Surgeons
!
@chambaz
digitalsurgeons.com

4. FUTURE-PROOF RWD

5. FUTURE-PROOF RWD

6. Desktop
Tablet
Mobile

7. THE
INTERNET
OF THINGS

8. Future-proofing Responsive Web Designs.
• Elastic layouts
• Mobile first
• Progressive enhancement
• Modular & semantic
• Lightweight & performant

9. Bourbon & Neat

10. Keep it relative

11. Elastic Layouts.
• Rems
Font sizes
• Ems
Structure, widths, heights, margins, padding
•%
Structure, widths, heights, margins, padding
• Px
Sprites, borders, rounded corners

12. What is an em?

13. “One em is equal to the computed
value of the ‘font-size’ property of
the element on which it is used”

14. What is an em?
body { font-size: 100%; }
body header { font-size: 2em; }
1em = 16px
1em = 32px
2em = 32px
2em = 64px

15. Elastic Layouts.
• Rems
Font sizes
• Ems
Structure, widths, heights, margins, padding
•%
Structure, widths, heights, margins, padding
• Px
Sprites, borders, rounded corners

16. Why not px?

17. Why ems?

18. Absolute Typography.
Base font size 16px
Base font size 40px

19. Relative Typography.
Base font size 16px
Base font size 40px

20. Absolute / Relative Media Queries.
Px base media query
Em based media query

21. Start small

22. Mobile first.
• Often referred to by the misleading term “mobile first”
• It’s really just common sense to start small and work up
• Mobile browsing is fast overtaking desktop browsing
• Forces focus by embracing the constraints of smaller devices
• Lets call it “content first”

23. Min-width Media Queries.
Max-width
Min-width
.responsive-element {
padding: 0;
@include span-columns(6);
.responsive-element {
padding: 1em;
width: 100%;
@include media(min-width: 48em) {
padding: 0;
@include span-columns(6);
}
}
!
}
@include media(max-width: 48em) {
padding: 1em;
width: 100%;
}

24. From the ground up

25. Progressive Enhancement.
• Progressively enhance rather than gracefully degrading
• Starting simple and adding complexity causes far less headaches
• Load your advanced features when supported
• Just like our layouts, our functionality can grow and not shrink
• Lets call it “content first”

26. Progressive Enhancement.
Cutting the mustard
Progressive Enhancement
// cutting the mustard
if(‘querySelector’ in document &&
‘localStorage’ in window &&
‘addEventListener’ in window) {
if(Modernizr.webp) {
// use webp images
} else if(Modernizr.svg) {
// ok use sag then
}
!
}
// all the things
!
if(Modernizr.geolocation) {
// geolocation wizardry
}
!
if(window.matchMedia(‘min-width: 48em’).matches) {
// all the things
}

27. <!––
ResponsiveComments.com ––>

28. Modular & meaningful

29. Sassy Modularity.
• I’m sure we all agree that modularity is essential
• Maintainability is essential in future proof applications
• Placeholders are invisible, reusable blocks of CSS
• Extend placeholders into classes for performant modularity
• Sass allows us to create semantic, content driven classes

30. Modular CSS.
HTML
CSS
.product {
width: 25%;
padding: 2em;
float: left;
}
.featured {
width: red;
}
<div class=“product”>
<!-— product markup —->
</div>
!
<div class=“product featured”>
<!-— featured product markup —->
</div>

31. Modular Sass.
SCSS
%product {
width: 25%;
padding: 2em;
float: left;
}
!
%featured {
background: red;
}
HTML
.product {
@extend %product;
}
<div class=“product”>
<!-— product markup —->
</div>
!
!
.featured-product {
@extend %product;
@extend %featured;
}
<div class=“featured-product”>
<!-— featured product markup —->
</div>

32. Modular Sass.
SCSS
CSS
%title {
text-transform: uppercase;
line-height: 3;
color: #000;
}
.product-title,
.cart-title {
text-transform: uppercase;
line-height: 3;
color: #000;
}
!
.product-title {
margin: 20px 0;
@extend %title;
}
!
!
!
.cart-title {
float: right;
@extend %title;
}
.cart-title {
float: right;
}
.product-title {
margin: 20px 0;
}

33. Light & fast

34. Monolithic Frameworks.
• Frameworks are essential for rapid development
• Providing building blocks for your application
• Large overhead and code bloat
• Pick and choose exactly what you require

35. Mixins.
• Mixins are invisible, reusable blocks of CSS
• Arguments and conditional logic
• Mixin libraries have no overhead
• Only use exactly what you require

36. Mixin Libraries.
.product {
@include span-columns(4);
}
!
%outer-container {
@include outer-container();
}
!
.product-container {
@extend %outer-container;
}
@mixin btn($color) {
@extend %btn;
background-color: $color;
}
!
.product-btn {
@include btn(#c0392b);
}
!
.delete-btn {
@include btn(#d54445);
}

37. jQuery.
• jQuery is a fantastic library for cross browser development
• Do you really need the entire 100kb?
• Not just page weight but call stack size
• Native JavaScript support is actually pretty good

38. Vanilla JS.
var products = document.querySelectorAll(‘.product’);
!
var featuredProduct = document.querySelector(‘.featured-product’);
!
[].forEach.call(products, function(product) {
// do something with each product
});
!
featuredProduct.classList.add(‘active’);
featuredProduct.classList.remove(‘active’);
featuredProduct.classList.contains(‘active’);

39. Bower.
• Dependency management for the front end
• Micro-libraries over monolithic frameworks
• Small libraries that serve a single purpose
• Pick and choose exactly what you require

40. Bower.json
{
"name": "Digital Surgeons",
"version": "1.0.0",
"private": true,
"dependencies": {
"normalize-scss": "~2.1.3",
"responsive-comments": "~1.2.1",
"html5-polyfills": "*",
"matchmedia": "~0.1.0",
"headroom.js": "~0.3.9",
"raf.js": "~0.0.3",
"respond": "~1.4.2",
"html5shiv": "~3.7.0",
"slider": "https://github.com/cferdinandi/slider.git",
"swiper": "~2.4.3",
"move.js": "https://github.com/visionmedia/move.js.git#~0.3.3",
"imagesloaded": "~3.1.4"
}
}

41. Grunt.
• Task runner and build processes for the front end
• Package your front end code for production
• Compile, minify, concatenate, optimise
• If at all possible, automate it

42. Gruntfile.js
files: {
// global JS
‘js/dist/global.js’: [
‘bower_components/raf.js/raf.min.js’,
‘bower_components/html5-polyfills/classList.js’,
‘bower_components/responsive-comments/responsive-comments.js’,
‘bower_components/anim/anim.min.js’,
‘bower_components/headroom.js/dist/headroom.js’,
‘js/src/global.js’
],
// global JS + page specific
‘js/dist/home.js’: [
‘bower_components/swiper/dist/idangerous.swiper.js’,
‘bower_components/eventEmitter/EventEmitter.min.js’,
‘bower_components/eventie/eventie.js’,
‘bower_components/imagesloaded/imagesloaded.js’,
‘js/dist/global.js’,
‘js/src/slider.js’,
‘js/src/home.js’
]
}
watch: {
scripts: {
files: [‘js/src/*.js’],
tasks: [‘uglify’],
options: {
spawn: false,
livereload: true
}
},
css: {
files: ‘sass/*.scss’,
tasks: [‘sass’],
options: {
livereload: true,
}
}
}

43. #perfmatters.
• Performance is no longer just load time, it’s a feature
• Rendering performance is essential in a world of client side apps
• Use Chrome’s extensive Dev Tools to profile and optimise
• Make your application run fast and smoothly over time

44. Rendering Performance.

45. Painting Performance.

46. Future-proofing Responsive Web Designs.
• Elastic layouts
• Mobile first
• Progressive enhancement
• Modular & semantic
• Lightweight & performant

48. “Amazing last quote
with something meaningful
and memorable.”
#perfmatters

49. FUTURE-PROOF RWD
Follow me @chambaz
digitalsurgeons.com