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Responsive eCommerce: Part Two

My encore talk on responsive eCommerce details why content strategy makes/breaks multi-device design, confronts the war on frontend performance, and sidesteps the real and imagined pitfalls of building for all devices.

The second of my two talks about responsive design at Magento Imagine 2013 is dense: 6150 words and 201 slides. Here’s your recap:

Extended edition: now with 50% more "Lord of the Rings" references.

View my slides on Speaker Deck.

Word from the front

Last year I made the case for responsive eCommerce. I covered why mobile matters, what you could/should build, and how to strategize for the multi-device world. It was abstract and aspirational. I was beckoning from the thicket.

This year was grit. The mobile strategy lines have moved significantly toward responsive design, but nobody stands above the trenches. My follow-up talk reflects that: less conceptual, more functional. It’s about the hard-fought challenges in responsive eCommerce, the tactics and decisions I make, and the mine of riches in waiting.

Acknowledgements

That I get to step forward and share what I’ve experienced doing frontend and mobile work is amazing. Thanks Magento for repeatedly letting me anchor these discussions and speak for the community.

Vinai Kopp coordinated the speakers and content for Technical Track. This was my second year working with him, and it’s a hidden joy of Imagine. His support of and confidence in my eccentric writing process made my job creating content easier. Thanks Vinai!

Technology betrays you

Every speaker does an AV check and dry-run the day before the conference officially starts. On Monday, everything simply worked: my slides mirrored on the projectors, and my presenter display configured itself perfectly.

On Wednesday, no luck. My display went totally black after plugging in. Speaking at 205 wpm for 30 minutes straight is rough without any visual cues. That’s a drawback of my presentation style. We burned five minutes before moving to Plan B.

So my left hand ran the slides from my laptop in the back via remote, and my right hand scrolled my cues from Vinai’s laptop on the podium. My eyes swirled keeping them in sync, and scanning the audience. I hope my performance wasn’t affected too much, but you deal with it.

Silver lining: this post will be seen by 50x more people than attended live.

Feedback

Thanks for the cheers (and jabs) via Twitter during and after my talk. I love that there’s a two-way component to speaking beyond the Q&A session. If you have any comments leave them below.

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