EV
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ANYMORE
RETHINKING BEST PRACTICES TO RESPOND TO THE FUTURE
Dave OlsenProfessional TechnologistWest Virginia University
Doug GapinskiStrategistmStoner
@thedougco@dmolsen
Dave: development and performance
Doug: planning and design
#uad2
PLEASE RETWEET
#heweb12
I. Rethink everythingII. Our reality
III. Making the caseIV. Planning + patterns
V. Optimization + testing
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS NOT QUITE RIGHT ANYMORE
I. RETHINK EVERYTHING
Most colleges and universities are only showing ~10 to 15% traffic from mobile operating systems.
Source: anecdotal from clients
55% of Facebook's monthly active user base accesses
Facebook on a mobile device.
Source: Facebook
“...we actually have more people on a daily basis using mobile web Facebook than we have using our iOS or Android apps combined.”
Source: Mark Zuckerburg @ Disrupt 2012
Sequential browsing:90% of people begin a task on one device (most commonly a
smartphone) and finish it on another.
Source: Google
Mobile “on the go” is a myth:81% of 18-24 year olds use their
mobile device while watching TV.
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
+
17% of cellphone users in the US use their phone as their primary
web browsing platform.
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
Mobile and tablet traffic is predictedto outpace desktop traffic
by 2015 or sooner.
Source: IDC
>+
48% of prospects who visited a school with a mobile site were
positively affected.
Source: Noel Levitz’s “Mobile E-Expectations Report”
We can see that the need to deliver content on multiple
devices exists.
We must be proactive in creating great experiences for
audiences on all devices.
After the launch of a responsive home page for WVU mobile traffic
increased from 11% to 22% in less than a month.
Source: WVU analytics
The first higher ed mobile web solutions were dominated by the m-dots.
But those solutions don’t scale.
+
Developers
ContributorsVisitors
+CMS
VISITORS WILL STILL RELY ON TRADITIONAL MEANS OF ACCESS
Not every mobile device will have your app on it but every mobile
device will have a browser.— Jason Grigsby
“
”
CLIENTS WANT TO KEEP DOING WHAT THEY’VE ALWAYS DONE
Links don’t open apps.— Jason Grigsby
“ ”
MOBILE WEB IS ALIVE & KICKING
SearchEmail Social Media
Coming to Grips
Finding balance.
http://flic.kr/p/axKd6X
ELEGANCE + LAZINESS
III. MAKING THE CASE
UC HastingsWebster University
Drake UniversityMiami UniversityWhittier College
Spring Arbor UniversityHerzing UniversitySt. Joseph’s College
University of RochesterManhattan College
100% SUCCESS RATE FOR SELLING JUST BY TALKING ABOUT IT
Responsive Redesigns in Progress Retrofits in Progress
Show, don’t sell
bostonglobe.com
mediaqueri.es
weedygarden.net
IV. PLANNING AND PATTERNS
Planning is the number one way to guarantee you wind up with a high performance,
good looking, fully responsive site.
Ethan Marcotte, the Moses of Responsive Design
A flexible grid
The design has fluid layout elements that change based on browser size.
Conditional images and
other media
The design uses one or more techniques to scale images and media so that the design performs well across devices.
Media queries
Conditional code that changes items on a page based on device detection or browser width.
PLANNING FOR FUNDAMENTALS
Advanced elements
A basic fluid grid is the priority; but to be fully responsive we must often cover slideshows, tables, tabs, multi-column type, custom widgets, forms, and more.
Touchinput
Touch input is a critical development component as we move away from a mouse-first model of human-computer interaction
RESS andserver-side
conditionals
Heavy lifting for user agent detection and conditional media deployment is done by the server, not the device.
PLANNING FOR ADVANCED FUNDAMENTALS
+
Pros:• most thorough method• no page element left unexplored• may be the best solution for retrofittingbecause it provides the most detail
Cons• takes the longest• in some cases, wireframes don’t preclude the group changing their mind later• with a slow-decision group, can bog down length of process
Planning: full wireframes for each breakpoint
Planning: responsive prototypes
Pros:• gets specific about repositioning and content without promising every detail• one asset per template instead of three or four
Cons:• requires someone on the team have front-end skills• may not preclude the need for more detailed wireframes
Source: styletil.es
Styletiles: for when moodboardsare too vague and comps are too precise
Writeup: seesparkbox.com Download: github fork
Sparkbox’s in-browser style prototype
Design patterns provide effective examples at the beginning of a project so that you’re not rethinking the wheel.
Source: Luke W
Responsive design patterns
Source: Brad Frost on github.com
Responsive design patterns
Source: Brad Frost on github.com
Source: Luke W and Jason Weaver
New patterns: off canvas touch layouts
Source: Zurb
Patterns for contemporary look and feel
dribbble.com
mobiletuxedo.com
patterntap.com
A last note on planning: plan to conduct user testing on multiple devices
brad’s iceberg
© Brad Frost
brad’s iceberg
© Brad Frost© Brad Frost
V. OPTIMIZATION & TESTING
The average weight of a web page today.
Source: HTTP Archive
Images JavaScript
Flash
HTM
L
CSS
Other
82%
1 MB
RWD sites whose small screen design weights the same as the large screen.
Source: Podjarny
86%
Users expect your mobile site to load as quickly as your desktop site.
71%
Source: Gomez
The way in which CSS media queries have been promoted for
mobile hides tough problems and gives developers a false
promise of a simple solution for designing for small screens.
Source: Jason Grigsby on Speakerdeck
“
”
Mobile first means performance first
(start thinking about performance at the design stage)
Over Downloading
Download & HideDownload & Shrink
Excess DOM
PRIMARY PERFORMANCE ISSUES FOR RWD
Poor Networks
High LatencyVariable Bandwidth
Packet Loss
THE LATENCY EFFECT
The average web site requires 85 requests...
Cable Modem(20ms latency)
0.4 seconds
Cell Network(200ms latency)
4.2 secs
10 times slower!Source: Guy Podjarny & HTTP Archive
http://flic.kr/p/6xQPdi
MOBILE OPTIMIZATION FOCUS
1. Reduce asset size2. Reduce requests 3. Speed-up page render
http://flic.kr/p/4zzKee
HTML & CSS compression
Use mod_gzip or mod_deflate to make sure text-based assets are compressed for transfer.
Image compression
Use a service like kraken.io to optimize images. Also use CSS sprites as appropriate.
Try to avoid images
When possible, think about avoiding images. Implement with CSS or SVG.
Minification Use a minifying service to make sure text-based assets are as small as possible. If using PHP use Minify. If using a Mac check out CodeKit.
MicroJS or, even better,
Vanilla JS
Avoid using bulky frameworks if you’re using them for simple tasks like selectors. Try microjs.com to find libraries that may be smaller & more suitable. JavaScript also blocks the rendering of the page.
1. REDUCING ASSET SIZE
Browser cache
The simplest way to reduce requests is to make sure the browser doesn’t need to make them. Make sure assets are bring cached on the browser.
ConcatenateJS & CSS
Combine similar files together in one or multiple larger files to reduce requests. May harm performance too.
localStorage Google & Bing use HTML5‘s localStorage as an enhancement to the browser cache. Check out basket.js. Avoid AppCache like the plague!
data: URI For small images & fonts try embedding them in your CSS file by using the data: URI.
Conditional loading
Use a resource loader like Modernizr.load to conditionally include JavaScript & CSS files.
2. REDUCING REQUESTS
Avoid DOM reflows &
repaints
By using JS to modify the DOM you can cause unnecessary reflows & repaints of your browser. They slow down page render time as well as burn battery.
Defer loading of JavaScript
Use HTML5’s script defer & async attributes to delay downloading files. Can also insert script elements into the DOM using the onLoad event.
Lazy load JavaScript
Comment out JavaScript that isn’t required at page load. Uncomment & eval() when required.
Touch beats onClick
While not directly related to page render, by making sure your links use a Touch event rather than an onClick event user interactions will speed up by 300ms.
Avoid SM widgets
Try using simple links to services rather than utilizing the JavaScript widgets. They’re performance hogs.
3. SPEEDING-UP PAGE RENDER
RESS* can be a scalpel for your responsive designs.
REsponsive Design + Server Side Components
http://flic.kr/p/a4VsPv
Testing Tools
toolbox, tools
TESTING TOOLS
http://flic.kr/p/4BZsQJ
PERFORMANCE TESTING SITES
MobitestWebPagetest
LEARN TO LOVE THE INSPECTOR
mobile bookmarklet
THE ULTIMATE MOBILE PERFORMANCE BOOKMARKLET
charlesproxy.com
SLOWING THINGS DOWN
ThrottleCharles
charlesproxy.com
EMULATING MOBILE DEVICES
EmulatorsBrowserStack
eBay MobileKarma.com Cellphone store leftoversOpen device labs
GET YOUR HANDS ON REAL DEVICES
http://flic.kr/p/7972f6
Base on:WiFi-capable, Analytics
Rank, OS, Screen Dimensions, & Cost
Suggested focus: iPod Touch, mid-level
Android, high-end Android, a tablet, Blackberry,
Windows Phone 7
HOW TO DECIDE WHICH TO GET
iPod TouchSamsung Fascinate +HTC Thunderbolt +
$438
Example:
ADOBE EDGE INSPECT
(THE APP FORMERLY KNOWN AS ADOBE SHADOW)
Higher education professionals need to think & behave in a
future-friendly way.
Visit: futurefriend.ly
QUESTIONS?
Dave OlsenProfessional TechnologistWest Virginia University
Doug GapinskiStrategistmStoner
@thedougco@dmolsen
THANKS!