Workshops

Understanding and Managing Performance of Ajax Web Applications*

Ryan Breen , Vice President Technology, Gomez Inc.

Developing Web applications that perform well is more difficult than ever. While Ajax gives developers the power to hide network latency from the end user, the complexity of developing for the Ajax model requires a significant change in approach for organizations more comfortable with traditional Web development, and application complexity is moving to the edges of the network with the browser executing complex business and presentation logic. Increasingly, you as the Web developer do not even control much of what is presented to the end user; it could be a third-party Ajax framework, advertising content with complex JavaScript and Flash, Web services feeds from a business partner, and so on. To the end user, any performance degradation from any of those components is your fault. In this workshop session, attendees will learn:

• The traditional approach to Web performance testing, focusing on the metrics collected, and what they convey about the performance of the system. We will look at real-world examples and discuss how to use these metrics to hold third parties accountable for their contribution to the performance of an application.

• Best practices for applying this testing approach to Ajax applications. We'll discuss the need for developer involvement in the creation of performance tests and the increasing need to understand performance before shipping the application to production.
  
  
• How to add context to performance analysis by considering the impact of user perception, taking into account the impact of factors like browser window size and caching to create a more realistic model of user experience.
  
  
• Instrumentation of Ajax applications to show the true performance experienced within the end user's browser. We will focus in particular on instrumentation common to Ajax frameworks.

*We recommend bringing laptops to participate in this full-day workshop.

Ajax/JavaScript Patterns and Best Practices

Christian Gross , Speaker, Mentor, and Author

Ever looked at prototype, Dojo, or Yahoo Design Pattern Libraries and thought, "Cool. I read the code, but what does it do?" Ever been shown the code to solve the "this pointer" problem and thought, "neat, but why?" This workshop will explain how to write JavaScript code for the Ajax generation of applications. JavaScript is a dynamic language, and to write the best and most efficient code requires a different mindset. You will learn that mindset by exploring the "dynamic" in dynamic languages using concepts such as Duck-typing. You will also learn how to create class types and why functions are not functions but objects with state. You will discover the why and how to creating code blocks, Ruby-style mixins, proxies, and delegates. In addition you'll learn how to use the XMLHttpRequest object, including why you should always use asynchronous mode, how to solve the "back button" problem, how to work with multiple requests using queuing techniques, and why you always need to think about caching. This workshop is focused on illustrating everything with code. The code focus will be patterns and best practices, not features, that make you want to go "ooh and aah." You can bring your computer and follow the tutorial to experience firsthand how JavaScript works. However, there is no disadvantage to not having a computer as everything will be demonstrated live. After attending this workshop you will have learned how to take your JavaScript and XMLHttpRequest programming skills up a notch.

The Theory and Practice of Successful Interface Engineering

Jared Spool , Founding Partner, User Interface Engineering

In this full-day workshop, Jared M. Spool will share the results of years of research examining how the best sites navigate users to their content. In just one day, you'll see the techniques behind successful designs including Lands End, A.G. Edwards, Staples.com, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, CNN.com and the BBC. You'll come away with practical insights that will change your perspective on Web design forever. You will learn about: 

• The "Scent of Information." A lack of scent in a site's design explains why users consistently fail to find their desired content. If you haven't been designing your site to have good scent, everything you're doing could be at great risk. You'll learn the key secrets for ensuring every page on your site has the scent it needs.
• The 5 Types of Navigation Pages on Web Sites. The designers of successful sites know the secrets to each type of page and use that to their advantage. They know that, as users traverse through a Web site and encounter different types of pages, they need each type to fulfill its own special requirements. You'll learn the secret requirements for each type of page a user can encounter.
• Three Ways to Predict Where Users Are Failing. Our research has uncovered three primary indicators that you can use to pinpoint when users are having trouble achieving their desired goals. We'll show you how to spot these predictors and what you can do to eliminate them.
• UIE's Usability Toolbox. Jared will share the groundbreaking techniques User Interface Engineering's top researchers leverage to uncover user needs, including five-second usability tests, inherent value tests, surrogate tests, focus groups, surveys, Web log analysis and field studies. 
• Best Techniques for Getting Teams Onboard. Usability testing, field studies and other techniques produce massive amounts of information that a design team needs to make the right decisions. UIE's research shows that many teams have tried style guides, templates and design guidelines, but have rarely achieved their objective of creating uniform designs. You'll learn the common failure points of these techniques and explore new techniques that are gaining good traction: design pattern libraries and personas.