But, You Don't look Autistic?
Ruby Conference | Feb 2023
3P Tech Conference | Mar 2023
Put yourself into the eyes of someone with autism… wait that’s not how that goes, metaphors are hard. As someone who grew up in an autistic house, I knew we were different, but not why and what to do about it. After stumbling through life, here’s what I’d like to share about autism. Wait, shoes!
An in depth look into autism and how people with autism function in the workplace.
This talk goes through:
- Personal history and experiences
- I’ve been diagnosed for 15 years and majored psychology at university to learn more
- How autism is diagnosed including criteria and levels of autism
- Including the history of autism
- Debunking some common myths and stereotypes
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Real life min/maxing
- Workplace consideration and accommodations
Asking people what they need and believing them helps everyone I’m hoping by sharing my experiences you’ll be able to gain some insight on how to help others, or yourself if you identify with what I’ve been saying a little too much.
Move over TypeScript, here comes TypedCSS!
WWC | March 2021
Hover Conference | Apr 2021
Have you ever wondered how a browser makes sense of CSS properties and values?
Turns out by parsing strings. Everything is a string: 50%, string. 2px, string. 0.5, string. #FFF, string.
So what happens when the browser can’t work out what the string is?
width: 24asd;
It fails silently, warning us with the generic “invalid property value” message. But what if we could assign types to the values? So the browser knew what it was expecting and what was wrong with the value we entered.
This is where the CSS Typed Object Model comes in. It sits under the umbrella of the CSS Houdini API’s and assign types to CSS values. So the browser knows it’s expecting a number, colour or keyword. This allows for more control over attributes and for more useful errors.
In this talk I’m going to take you through the CSS Typed OM and examples of how we can start using and benefiting from TypedCSS.
Armstrong Numbers
Elixir Australia | August 2020
I gave a beginner talk online at an Elixir Australia meetup, going through the exercise of the month, Armstrong numbers. As well as a general introduction to how the exercises are set up, some elixir command line prompts and resources to get you started.
Houdini, behind the CSS
MelbCSS | Jul 2020
GIDS | Oct 2020
DDD | Nov 2020
Traditional CSS is limiting in a number of ways. While it has many, many attributes, if you want to make something outside the DOM box your options are pretty limited. Leading to many CSS hacks to make objects like, triangles for example, a reality in a modern web browser. This clutters up the HTML and CSS with extra elements it doesn’t need. This then slows down performance and makes the code harder to read and maintain.
This is where CSS Houdini comes in with its DOM magic. It allows you to craft your own CSS attributes using JS Worklets. Making the code more performant, deliberate and reusable. This can also be combined with their new CSS typed system. Which gives you more control over your attributes and useful errors if something goes wrong.
Things you can do with CSS that used to need JS
MelbCSS | Sep 2019
SydCSS | Oct 2019
WebDirections | Oct 2019
More and more websites are using large amounts of Javascript in every aspect of the application. And while Javascript is a very versatile and powerful tool, it is optional for a user if they want to enable it or not. Approximately 2% of users have currently have it disabled.
And no matter what technology your application is built on, there are ways to improve the user experience for people who can’t or don’t have javascript enabled.
Full Stack Accessibility
AWS Community Day | August 2019
Approximately 20% of people in Australia have a disability that impacts how they access technology. Including difficulties with vision, hearing, speech, motor and intellectual function.
And no matter where you sit on the stack you can help make your application more accessible for people with disabilities.
It all starts with you asking the simple question “Is this accessible?”
The 5 W's of Accessibility
DDD Melbourne | September 2018
Spoke at a conference going through the What, Why, Who, When and How’s of accessibility in terms of a web development project. I then went through my top tools and tips for front end in particular and considerations to keep in mind for people with different disabilities.
DIY Grids
reinteractive Toolbox Talk | June 2018
Gave a talk going through how I have been building my own grid layout the last few months using CSS Grid. As well as Flexbox and Columns. Rather than implementing a whole framework just for the grid. It reduces the amount of code needed and gets the layout a lot more pixel perfect.
Presenting SVG graphs
Webdirections WDYK | June 2018
Ruby on Rails Meetup | March 2018
Gave a talk going through the process where I made a line graph in a website. Including the different options, why I picked Ruby generating an SVG. Examples of SVG elements and how to target them in CSS. As well as then how you can generate them with Ruby code, first embedded then moved into a presenter class.
The 5 W's of Accessibility
reinteractive Webinar | November 2017
reinteractive Toolbox Talk | November 2017
Hosted a webinar going through the What, Why, Who, When and How’s of accessibility in terms of a web development project. I then went through my top tools and tips for front end in particular before going through a worked example where I improved a demo blog site with poor accessibility features.
Mice and Maps
Linux Conf | January 2017
Walk through on how I made one of my first projects the Mouse Guard map app. This is a Ruby on Rails app using LeafletJS to control the map. It was designed and built to help run the role playing game Mouse Guard and keep track of events that were happening in the game.
Looking into the JAWS of accessibility
A11y Camp | July 2016
WDYK Meetup May 2016
Gave a presentation focussing on screen readers, including the different types of vision impairments and the history of screen reading technology. Then going into some HTML code that targets screen readers specifically.
Pop Up Accessibility
Be Responsive Meet Up | November 2015
WebDirections Code Conference | June 2015
Worked example on how to make a non standard web component accessible for people with disabilities. I focused on modal pop-up windows as there require many custom aspects including how they are triggered, the focus being placed in a smaller container with the background unavailable and how to keep the keyboard focus local to the modal with an easy way to dismiss the modal. These techniques and principles can be transferred to a number of different custom components.
Accessibility, more than just alt tags
PageUp Lunch and Learn | May 2015
Decompress Conference | March 2015
Introduction into the basis of accessibility, a talk of 4’s. First explaining the four types of disabilities accessibility focuses on, visual, auditory, motor and intellectual. Then going into the WCAG four POUR principles of accessibility and how they match up the different types of disability. Lastly going into my top 4 tips on how to make a site accessible including responsive design, screen reader compatibility, keyboard accessibility and colour contrast.
Design and colour tips for Accessibility
Melbourne CSS Meet Up | July 2014
No slides or video for this talk as it was given at the last minute as a favour as the organisers were short a speaker for the meet up. This talk focussed on the design and CSS aspects of accessibility, I went into the different types of visual disabilities, including colour blindness which affects 4-5% of the population and people with partial vision loss or tunnel vision.
This then alters how you should be thinking about design, ensuring there is enough colour contrast in your design and with the right colour combinations so that all people will be able to access the information on your website. I also pointed out the trend that while designers often design for on mouse hover, this styling also needs to be applied to on keyboard focus for people with motor impairments who rely on the keyboard for navigation.
Accessibility, more than just alt tags
REA Group Brown Bag | Aug 2014
Ruby on Rails Meet up | March 2014
Going through my personal experience of having a web application audited for accessibility. Including my initial misconceptions and challenges when beginning the project. Then going through what I learnt whilst working with the auditors and through a University course on accessibility. Finally giving some tips and examples of what to look for when testing a website for accessibility.
How to Present
Strategic Data developer lunch | June 2014
Ruby or Rails Meet up | November 2013
Moving from an education background into technology I saw a bit of a skill gap when it came to presenting a technical topic. With the aim of trying to get as much from talks as I could I decided to share some presentation knowledge with the community. Including how to prepare for a talk, what questions to consider, trying to accommodate for the different skill levels and how speaking to a crowd is psychologically different to speaking to an individual or group.