Speaking
I believe that the best way to learn something is to teach it to others. I’ve been travelling the country speaking at 10-20 conferences a year for the last 3 years.
This page is a central repository of information about the different talks I’ve written for conference sessions. Below you’ll find the latest version of the slides for every talk, as well as links to any videos where you can re-watch the talks.
Some feedback from joind.in and Twitter:
- “Absolutely brilliant. Hilarious. Very useful information for someone like myself who has not clue 1 when it comes to design.” – Alan
- “Josh Broton is an amazing presenter.” – @iandstewart
- “…my absolute favorite talk at [WordCamp San Francisco] this year.” – @davidlaletta
- “An informative and entertaining talk. Came out with a ton of things that I can start to implement in my code today. Great stuff.” – Mike
- “This was one of the best presentations of the whole conference. Very useful but also entertaining! Josh is an excellent presenter. Thanks!” – Brett
Interested in having me speak at your event? I’d love to! Let me know via email.
You Don’t Need jQuery // Slides
As developers, one of the first things we do when starting a new project is load jQuery and start writing code. That’s the way it’s always been, and works for you. But as devices get smaller, processors get slower, and web apps get more complicated, jQuery can cause some fairly serious performance issues. So let’s take a step back from jQuery and talk about ways VanillaJS is faster and simpler.
It’s time to stop writing jQuery, and start writing JavaScript.
Videos
WordCamp Chicago
WordCamp Minneapolis
Embrace Your Inner Designer // Slides
Whether you want to admit it or not, the decisions that you make as a developer greatly influence the final design of your application’s user interface. It doesn’t matter if you’re working with a designer, or you’re a one-man A-Team, there are some very easy and powerful things that you can do to ensure that the final product is intuitive, usable and (gasp!) beautiful. Come embrace that designer inside of you that wants to get out (and wear hipster glasses).
Videos
An Evening of Web Development
OpenWest 2013
Rocking the Responsive Web // Slides
Up until the last few years, it was completely acceptable to design/develop a new website for one size of monitor. But with the release of the iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices, we’ve witnessed the beginning of a mobile revolution. By the end of this year, over 50% of Americans will use their phone or tablet as their primary web browsing device. The question is, are the sites that you are creating ready? In this talk, I discuss reasons why responsive is the best way to develop new websites, as well as the best techniques I’ve discovered after a year of full time development of responsive websites.
Videos
An Evening of Web Development
OpenWest 2013
Sticks, Spit, and Duct Tape: Advanced Responsive Layout Techniques // Slides
You’ve made the decision. You’re taking the plunge. It’s responsive or bust. But what happens after the first bit of HTML and CSS is on the page? What if plan A doesn’t work?
HTML/CSS can be a fickle lover, so it’s important to know 2 (or even 3) ways to accomplish the task at hand. This hour will be a quick overview of the history of responsive web design, as well as uncovering a plan B, C, and maybe D for your responsive layout.
Videos
HTML & CSS 101 // Slides
HTML and CSS are hard. Grasping the basics is a start, but the power lies in understanding the deeper workings. In this talk, we’ll discuss the basics of the block model, CSS specificity, and best practices.