Tuesday
Design & Research Fundamentals for Developers
Presented by: Alex White
Time: Tuesday 8:00 AM - 12:00 PMHow do you know what you’re building is important to your customers? As a developer, it’s easy for you to jump right into the code when given a problem to solve, but what if you build something that nobody wants? Taking the time to design and research your product can help you better meet the...
Room: Salon ETrack: UI/DesignFormat: PreCompilerLevel: Introductory and overviewBuilding a Full CRUD Application in Excel with VBA and SQL Integration
Presented by: Derek Mulhausen
Time: Tuesday 1:00 PM - 5:00 PMIn this talk, we will build a full application from scratch in Excel to store customer discounts in Excel. We will start with recording a macro to quickly prototype some of our actions and then dig into the underlying code to polish the formatting and produce a product that can be put into...
Room: Salon ETrack: UI/DesignFormat: PreCompilerLevel: IntermediateWednesday
Making Reality Virtual: Simulating Experiences with VR Prototyping
Presented by: Scott Showalter
Time: Wednesday 8:00 AM - 12:00 PMTake the Red Pill, and let's dive into the mind-bending Matrix that is Virtual Reality prototyping. Not just for gaming (though that's cool too), a new dimension of experience simulation is now open to designers of software as well as physical products, to observe customer interaction and gather...
Room: Salon ETrack: UI/DesignFormat: PreCompilerLevel: IntermediateWhat to expect when you’re concepting - Product Learning Lab
Presented by: Saad Kamal
Time: Wednesday 1:00 PM - 5:00 PMYou have a great idea for a digital product and have committed to making your vision a reality. What now? Product Learning Lab will walk you through the basics of how to communicate that great idea to the rest of the world - and more importantly - the rest of your eventual product team. Learn to...
Room: Salon ETrack: UI/DesignFormat: PreCompilerLevel: AdvancedThursday
The UX of Configuration Files
Presented by: Eemeli Aro
Time: Thursday 8:00 AM - 9:00 AMDevelopers are people too, and should be your primary concern when designing an interface for them to configure your tools and libraries. In other words, there are better options than JSON available, but they each come with associated costs and limitations. How well do JSON5, YAML and TOML play with...
Room: Sagewood / ZebrawoodTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: IntermediateUsability Starts With Accessibility
Presented by: Patrick McSweeny
Time: Thursday 9:15 AM - 10:15 AMFor many web developers, accessibility is an afterthought, if they even think about it at all. What they fail to realize is that planning for accessibility from the beginning can actually enhance the design process rather than hindering it, with the end result being more usable by everyone. This...
Room: Salon HTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: IntermediateBuilding a Custom CSS Framework Was Easier Than I Thought
Presented by: Nate Taylor
Time: Thursday 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMIf you're like me, you've used several different front end frameworks such as Bootstrap, SemanticUI and others. You've enjoyed that they give you consistent components and layout. But perhaps you've been frustrated by those same tools. It could be that every site you have created with them looks...
Room: NileTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewImpress Your Boss with Interactive Visualizations
Presented by: Tim Garvin
Time: Thursday 11:45 AM - 12:45 PMWe all have little troves of data lying around, begging to be analyzed. In this session, we’ll talk about how to visualize your data to tell the story you want. Whether you’re trying to decide what support ticket to work on next, convincing your team it’s safe to let you rewrite a module, or...
Room: Salon DTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewThe Agile Designer: Aligning Dual-track UX and Development to Balance the Tactical and Strategic, Mi
Presented by: Jenna Chamra
Time: Thursday 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMProduct teams everywhere are embracing Agile. It’s no wonder why: Agile creates better transparency, alignment and speed to market. The problem is, Agile was originally created for software developers. Design teams which try to adopt Agile often find themselves falling into “Faux-gile” or...
Room: Salon HTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: IntermediateUser Interviews: More than Just a Conversation
Presented by: Ash Banaszek
Time: Thursday 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMAnyone who can carry a conversation can interview users, right? Not so. Gaining insight into user requirements, needs, and frustrations is a nuanced process. Without the proper training, even well-meaning researchers can lead, bias, and manipulate users into getting the answers researchers...
Room: OrangeTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: IntermediateTwelve Spins on User Experience
Presented by: Keith Instone
Time: Thursday 4:45 PM - 5:45 PMWhat is “user experience,” really? Sure, it’s that feeling people get when they interact with your software, but the term UX is being used for more than that, in confusing ways. “We need some UX magic before we launch” “The UX team just gave us the designs, so let’s start...
Room: CypressTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: IntermediateFriday
Beyond Alt-Text: Trends in Online Accessibility
Presented by: Ian Forrest
Time: Friday 9:45 AM - 10:45 AMIf you're like the 2016 version of me, then you think you have a decent handle on web accessibility. You put alt attributes on all your images (though you don't give much thought to the actual text) and you make sure your sites can be used with a keyboard (except for overlays sometimes). Then the...
Room: OrangeTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewThe Dark Side of UX
Presented by: Courtney Heitman
Time: Friday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PMUser experience design brings clarity, removes obstacles. It rewards - makes us feel accomplished, successful, happy. Users are confident when using a well-designed application - as easy as turning on a light switch: [Buy] Don't make me think: did I opt in? Don't make me think: was that a hidden...
Room: Salon HTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewUser Experience Pitfalls
Presented by: Ash Banaszek
Time: Friday 12:15 PM - 1:15 PMUser Experience has become a buzzword in the tech industry. Project managers and business partners are clamoring to improve the experience. You understand UX is a business necessity, but you aren't quite sure what it means to you or where to begin. This session discusses some common pitfalls of user...
Room: Salon ETrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overviewWalking A Mile In Your Users' Shoes
Presented by: Jameson Hampton
Time: Friday 2:45 PM - 3:45 PMDeveloping apps for users in different demographics is inherently differently than developing apps just for ourselves and for other programmers. Understanding the needs of our users and learning to foster empathy for them is just as much of a skill as learning Rails or ActiveRecord — and it’s a...
Room: Portia/WisteriaTrack: UI/DesignFormat: General SessionLevel: Introductory and overview