eMAG development team @ Smartweb 2015
Since knowledge is power, our wish is to stay connected to everything new out there related to the web development field. Ok, but how do we do it? One of the solutions we’ve got up our sleeve is to attend conferences dedicated to hot topics of interest for us.
We already did that when we attended Smartweb, a conference for developers and web designers. Between the 21st and the 22nd of September 2015, the UI Core Team from eMAG attended the Smartweb 2015 Conference. Well known speakers from around the world presented the latest technological tendencies that may influence programming techniques. These discussion sessions helped us see what’s coming next in our field in the near and far future. Imagine that! :)
The UI Core Team from eMAG has developed an UI kit for in-house admin applications like ERP or CRM and UI/UX standards to help developers create a good experience for users and increase development productivity.
What did we learn?
Well, on the first day of conference we soaked up all the info on Sass (CSS preprocessor). The presentation was made by Roy Tomeij from the Netherlands. We discussed about the core concepts, syntax and features of Sass, but the most important aspect that was discussed is the sequence in which you use all these tools to improve your workflow.
Other highlights from the first day:
- Hand-crafting Sass functions for grid system
- Media query management
- Modular development and architecture
- Theming with Sass
- Building a library
- Working with right-to-left layouts
- Understanding color and programmatically modifying it
- Automating CSS animation with Sass
Since Boostrap 4 has moved from Less to Sass our team wanted to know as much as possible about this technology.
On the second day at the conference we discussed about various topics like animations concepts, web audio, paper prototyping applications, technology trends or simplicity.
Personally, I consider that the most interesting discussion was “Ghosts in the shell” by Petro Salema about the most significant shifts taking place in technology. He says that there are two interrelated trends: the emergence of personal identity as a fundamental component of software and the movement towards software replacing users as the initiating agent in human-computer interaction. Hyperconnectivity and exponential growth in computational power have made it possible to have computers involved in more facets of our lives than ever before.
The conference ended with a well-deserved after party where we’ve enjoyed spending time with all the attendants and with the speakers sharing even more info.
All I can say as a conclusion from this conference is that technology keeps evolving, and you never have to settle with what you know, you always have to keep learning and absorbing information. There is an old African saying: “A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything”. So whenever you get the chance to better yourself take it, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. We did, and I think conferences make us deliver better and better products not only to our end client but, firstly to ourselves, and make us feel proud of what we accomplish. Definitely next year I will gladly participate in this conference.
