My Top 5 Talks from jQuery UK 2015
Mar 24th 2015 (updated Apr 3rd 2023)
jQuery UK 2015 was a fantastic event for front-end web development, all the talks I had the opportunity to see this year were great and you find all the videos online.
If I had to pick my favourite 5, I think this is what they would be
mdo-ular CSS
Mark Otto from GitHub presents his recommendations for writing great CSS. It's my top pick as the guidelines are so simple that they seem obvious but the rewards of applying them are massive in comparison.
Take away: Techniques for creating gratifyingly clean and easy to read CSS.
Architecting resilient front-ends
Andy Hume from Twitter provides insights into making sure your front-end is as robust as you back-end. I had this down as a close tie with top spot, but the applying the techniques is a bit trickier. You will probably be looking to improve your website after watching it.
Take away: Mechanisms for minimising 'time to screen', progressive enhancement and using font loaders.
What the heck is the event loop anyway?
If you don't know how single threaded JavaScript becomes magically 'asynchronous' in the browser then Philip Roberts from &yet will take you through the answers.
Take away: How JavaScript actually works in a web browser using loupe
Hacking front-end apps
Securing your website is should be a priority and this is a great video to start you off - even if you're a security expert it's still worth watching as Alex Sexton from Stripe presents a very light-hearted, easy to watch talk on a serious topic
Take away: Some unusual web attacks such as CSS Hacks as well as summarising the more common ones
Dismantling the barriers to entry
Rich Harris from The Guardian demonstrates Ractive.js and gives a passionate talk about making life easier for new front-end developers.
Take away: Design code & frameworks for the average guy, utilise competition between framework & Ractive.js