Chris Coyier’s “Let’s Build a Website” workshop at CSS Dev Conf 2017 New Orleans
Chris Coyier has been a regular presenter at CSS Dev Conference, from sessions to keynotes to the popular CodePen Show and Tell.
This year, Chris brings his “Let’s Build a Website” workshop to CSS Dev Conf 2017 New Orleans.
We asked Chris a few questions about his workshop. His answers might give you some insight on what to expect at CSS Dev Conf and his workshop!
This isn’t your first time at CSS Dev Conf. For newcomers, what would you like people to know before they attend so that they can get the most of their time?
I think some folks will have a little anxiety over the multi-track thing. You’ll have to do some decision making about what talks to see and what talks to miss. If you can persuade your brain to not worry about it too much, try! I promise it’s not that big of a deal. For one thing, if you miss what turned out to be a really great session, there is a good chance you’ll get an opportunity to see it again at the end, as the sessions are voted on and the best are repeated. So make sure to vote! For another thing, taking about what sessions were about and how they were is easy hallway and lunch table talk, so you can get the best-of stuff from your fellow attendees.
Another thing I’d recommend, in general, is to carry your laptop around. We’re all CSS nerds at this thing, and we love looking at interesting things on computer screens. If you have yours right there, show me something cool! It’s a rare opportunity to be among so many folks that all know and care what you’re looking at on that thing.
This is the first time you’re doing workshop at CSS Dev Conf. What can attendees expect in a workshop setting that’s longer a typical conference session?
It’s an appetizer vs. main course situation. We can definitely get meatier in a workshop.
A 45-minute session, like an appetizer, is meant to wet your appetite. A session like that isn’t meant to actually train you on anything. You won’t walk away an expert on the subject. You will walk away from a short session with your mind opened up to an idea.
In a workshop, we can chow down. In my workshop, we’ll be coding and looking at code. We’ll be looking at tools and using tools. We’ll be commiserating on just what the heck it is to be a front end developer these days. You’ll leave, hopefully, satisfied and with a larger sense of understanding of this job.
What are the main skills will attendees gain from your Front-end Design and Dev Workshop? How will their new skills affect their workflow?
As a framework for the day, we’ll be building a fairly simple website. But it’s a ruse, really, as we’ll just be using it as a guide to talk about all the important front end developer topics we need to talk about.
We’re going to be writing HTML and CSS. That is hardcore fundamental stuff that is vital to being a front-end developer. We’ll be hitting that from lots of angles. Just how and where are we going to write this HTML? What kind of abstractions are we going to use? Are we thinking about CSS as we’re doing it? What kind of abstractions are appropriate there? When does layout start being a factor? What tools do we have to reach for concerning layout?
We can’t forget about JavaScript. It’s the most powerful tool we have as front-end developers. We’ll be using it to do some things that only JavaScript can. But we’ll also be thinking about it philosophically, in a sense, in how we can use it most effectively to do the most good.
All along the way, we’ll be considering things like performance, accessibility, workflow, and the future of our project. All the puzzle pieces should fit together as we go, giving us a sense of what this job is all about.
You can grab a Workshop Ticket to go along with your CSS Dev Conf Ticket. Workshops include catered breakfast and lunch.
We hope you’ll join us for CSS Dev Conference and Chris’s “Let’s Build a Website” Workshop. Get your ticket now and join us in New Orleans this October 9–11, 2017!
