Designing "Offline First" Applications

Join us for a speaker night focused on what we too often consider a negligible edge case of internet-driven digital experiences!

--

We live in a disconnected & battery powered world, but our technology and best practices are a leftover from the always connected & steadily powered past.

Offline capability is a key characteristic of modern Progressive Web Applications (https://infrequently.org/2015/06/progressive-apps-escaping-tabs-without-losing-our-soul/). Offline first thinking must learn from and further what we’ve seen work with Responsive and Mobile First thinking.

Read the introduction (http://hood.ie/blog/say-hello-to-offline-first.html) and the follow up on A List Apart (http://alistapart.com/article/offline-first).

(introduction copied from offlinefirst.org (http://offlinefirst.org/))

--

Agenda

• 6:00pm: [food] Grab a bite to eat, get settled in, meet your neighbors!

• 6:20pm: [talk] How to Uncover Hidden Assumptions

• 6:50pm: [talk] Designing for Offline Experiences

• 7:20pm: [talk] The Joi of Offline First UX

• 7:40-8pm: Open forum

--

How to Uncover Hidden Assumptions
by Maria Matveeva | @rgbcolor (https://twitter.com/rgbcolor)

A difference in expectations is one of the most preventable causes of projects going wrong. And among all expectations, assumptions can be the most dangerous. They feel so “obvious” that no one even bothers to bring them up. But when collaborators act on conflicting assumptions, it’s only a matter of time until problems arise.

The skill of finding and addressing hidden assumptions is necessary to prevent nasty surprises down the line - and to keep client and team relationships productive in the long term. Attendees will walk away with a roadmap to dealing with assumptions in UX Design projects, as well as specific techniques and example questions they can use in almost any situation.

Designing for Offline Experiences
by Steven Trevathan | @strevat (https://twitter.com/strevat)

Devices are orbiting internet connectivity at all times, like cars passing under the glow of street lamps, only without their own light to follow. Our practice in designing modern web applications is burdened by a past that assumed the browser was for reading one document at a time on a steadily connected device.



In this talk, Steve will introduce the audience to the challenges of creating offline experiences, share offline design patterns found in the wild, describe process we may use to discover the unique cases of our own offline experiences, and shed some light on the state of worldwide device connectivity.

The Joy of Offline First UX
by Gregor Martynus | @gr2m (https://twitter.com/gr2m)

Offline First bring unprecedented possibilities for great user experiences. Imagine a world without `sign up` and `save` buttons, with local encryption and selective data sync, and benefiting from seamless transitions between connective states.

In this talk, Gregor will share experiences from running minutes.io, a 5+ years old Offline First web application.

--