We are delighted to be once again sponsoring Pixel Pioneers Bristol, the affordable community conference for front-end developers and UX/UI designers, now in its third year, which is taking place at the city’s iconic harbourside on 7 June 2019.

Speakers this time include Rachel Andrew, Phil Hawksworth, Chen Hui Jing, and Jon Tan, and topics range from optimising experiences for multiple devices, cutting-edge CSS layouts, and practical web animation, to modern web development with the JAMstack, designing conversations for chatbots, durable and inclusive design, and more.

The one-track conference is preceded by a choice of two full-day workshops:

• Front-End Performance with Harry Roberts (see our recent interview)
• Web Accessibility for Developers with Shopify’s Tiffany Tse and Scott Vinkle

There’s also a free warm-up event at Cookpad’s HQ featuring talks by Bristol-based designer Elliot Jay Stocks and members of the Cookpad product and design team.

“This year the focus is on very practical front-end development and UX/UI techniques that attendees will be able to apply straight away when they return from the conference,” said Oliver Lindberg, founder of Pixel Pioneers and regular contributor to the Heart Internet blog.

“It’s very gratifying to see that the line-up — a mix of internationally recognised homegrown talent and experts from further afield — is resonating with people. Delegates are coming from as far as Norway, Romania, and even the US!”

Here are a few talks that we’re especially interested in:

The 15-Minute Model for Optimising Device Experiences by Craig Sullivan
After analysing over 400 client setups to pinpoint and test experiences on multiple devices, Craig discovered sites, particularly on mobile, that are littered with UX bugs, rendering issues and broken functionality. In this talk, he will present a data-driven approach that will help you flush out costly and harmful product defects — all you need is Excel, Google Analytics and 15 minutes of your time.

Practical Web Animation by Lisi Linhart
Web Animation is an essential part of great user experience, leveraging cognitive load and helping to provide appropriate user feedback. This talk examines web animation from a practical standpoint and when to use it, explains how to keep your animations performant across browsers and explores the animation options we have on the web today.

Grids All the Way Down by Rachel Andrew
In this talk, Rachel will discuss subgrid, the most wanted feature of CSS Grid Layout, the problems that it will solve for web designers and developers, and the things that it will make possible. She’ll also take a look at some of the other things that are coming to CSS Layout, and how you can get involved in pushing all of these new things forward.

JAMstack: Silly Name. Serious Stuff by Phil Hawksworth
In this session, we’ll demystify the JAMstack, and explore how the approach to simplifying the technology stack can lead to shorter development times, with better performance and greater security. We’ll also see how it’s placing more power, more confidence, and more capabilities in the hands of designers, authors and front-end developers.

Tickets are still available, student passes are half-price, and you can contact the conference organiser for group discounts. If you’re a member of an underrepresented group in tech but can’t afford the ticket for any reason, you can even attend the conference for free. Apply for a diversity ticket by 10 May.

Pixel Pioneers is also working in partnership with GWR to offer conference attendees heavily discounted rail fares to and from Bristol. If you’re planning to travel on a GWR route, simply go to GWR’s Conferences and Accommodation page and select ‘Bristol’. A London to Bristol return typically works out at £44, for example. You just need to be able to provide proof of attending the conference.

We’d love to see you at Pixel Pioneers Bristol, come and say hi!