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Front end engineering at Web Directions Summit - Web Directions

Front end engineering at Web Directions Summit

John Allsopp

29th September, 2022

@johnallsopp

From the very beginning, Web Directions events have at their heart been about developing for the Web.

For years before we ran our first conference, that’s what I did–not only building many sites, but writing books, articles, online courses, software for developers–and we’ve continued to focus on the technologies and practices of building great web sites apps, experiences ever since.

At Web Directions Summit in 2022, for the first time ever, we have not just one but two front end focussed tracks–officially we’re calling them the Front End Engineering and React Ecosystem tracks, but you might also find it useful to think about them in the terms Brad Frost coined a couple of years ago, the front-of-the-front-end and back-of-the-front-end tracks. As Brad puts the difference succinctly

a front-of-the-front-end developer determines the look and feel of a button, while a back-of-the-front-end developer determines what happens when that button is clicked.

Brad Frost, front-of-the-front-end and back-of-the-front-end web development

And as captured in this illustration from an article by Chris Coyier discussing the concept, “The Great Divide“

The Great Divide, Chris Coyier, CSS Tricks

Now of course many front end developers, perhaps most, don’t exclusively focus on just one or the other of these, and so, at our conferences it’s always possible to set your own agenda–we’ve designed the program so it’s easy to move from one track to the other talk by talk or session by session.

But what about the sessions you have to miss? No worries, all the conference sessions are available on demand soon after the conference ends!

So whether your primary focus is front-of-the-front or back-of-the-front, we’ve got you covered.

Check out the amazing lineup today–for front of the front, or back of the front, and we’ll hopefully see you in Sydney December 1 and 2.

Can’t get to Sydney? Concerns about meeting in person?

If you can’t get to Sydney, or have concerns about meeting in person at this moment, we’ve got you covered–with a streaming option. And it’s not just a stream of the conference sessions–there’ll be chat to allow you to connect with other attendees, online and in person, and you’ll be able to ask questions of the speakers as well. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about delivering the best possible online conference experience the last 3 years or so, and we’ll bring that to bear in the conference experience, all hosted on our very own streaming platform Conffab.

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I’ve been admiring the Web Directions events for years, and was honored to be part… What a fantastic event!

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