In a few days I'll be speaking at JSDay in Verona. I'm lucky enough to have another chance to present a version of my Excessive Enhancement talk which I first gave in Brighton way back in November 2011. But isn't it out of date?
Well, I don't think so. The message that I'm trying to convey in this talk is, sadly, still as pertinent as ever. I'll be updating it to keep it current, with new examples and case studies, but the trends that I'm hoping to encourage people to think about remains the same.
Here's the synopsis:
We all love to see exciting and innovative "interface shizzle" driven by JavaScript and the ever increasing rendering capabilities of modern browsers, but are we getting these at the expense of the Web?
This talk will explore the good, the bad, and the fugly of rich interfaces, while examining how and why we should take care not to damage the Web.
My main message is that of care and consideration for users and for the Web.
In the last year, the average page weight has grown 24%, according to the HTTP Archive, and this includes a growth in the amount of JavaScript which is delivered for interpreting in the browser.
In itself, that's not the end of the world, but there are a few examples of fashionable web site designs (often popular with big brands who employ agencies) which might suggest that this slope will get steeper if their practices and tastes are emulated and become popular.
This talk reflects on that while trying not to burst everyone's bubble. Let's see how we get on.
Update - all done!
After giving this talk and speaking to people afterwards, it's nice to see that there are lots of people caring about the same issues and being mindful of them during their own development. Thanks to all for such a warm reception.
One question I got a few times later in the day was:
I care about this kind of thing too, but how do I convince pushy clients or managers that it is important?
Certainly, I can relate to that. For me there is an on-going battle to convince clients and some of the more ambitious designers that there is a need for care and restraint (in tandem with striving for an exciting and engaging experience).
I wish I had the perfect answer to this. The truth is that some are more open to hearing arguments that others. I'd echo something that Marco said in his talk on a different topic:
"Bring numbers, not theories"
There are a lot of studies on how page performance and percieved performance impact user engagement and convesion rates. Often, the people we need to convince about these issues care a lot about conversion rates. I'd recommend taking a look at Steve Souders' post about page performance and the impacts on results.
A few key figures from that post which might help:
- When Mozilla shaved 2.2 seconds off their landing page, Firefox downloads increased 15.4%.
- Shopzilla saw conversion rates increase 7-12% as a result of their web performance optimization efforts.
- Making Barack Obama’s website 60% faster increased donation conversions 14%.
There were many great talks at JSday and I enjoyed the event a great deal. It's worth keeping an eye on Lanyrd to see covereage of other talks.