Tech Talk: Building Responsive Applications
Background: FedEx Ground is currently undergoing a revamping of its technical infrastructure, which includes the redesign of dozens of internal applications. Many of these applications are used in different contexts, including scanning packages on the facility floor, Instead of creating separate applications, the goal is to use responsiveness which will allow them to function on a variety of devices, including desktop, tablets, handheld scanners and wearables. This is a mostly foreign concept to FedEx’s network of Agile developer teams; as a result, I worked with the UX Design and Mobile Core Teams to create a Tech Talk to explain and illustrate responsiveness in more detail across a corporate-wide audience.
Course Description: Through detailed lecture with visual examples, demonstrations and live coding sessions, this course enabled FedEx Ground employees to better understand the concept of responsiveness and see it in action. The workshop included a list of best practices that go hand-in-hand with creating responsive applications, including rules for layout and positioning, functionality vs. presentation, semantic code, reusable code, and accessibility.
Course Format: Over 100 participants attended the workshop, which was conducted synchronously in an online format. Delivery included demos of responsive sites, including live FedEx examples, as well as a live coding session illustrating Bootstrap in action. Participants received handouts, video of the coding session, and a link to the GitLab code repository, which enabled them to try out the code on their own. Next steps will include a Tech Clinic, where participants will have an opportunity to put these principles into action.
Course Objectives: After completing this course, learners will be able to...
- Understand the importance of responsiveness.
- Have a greater appreciation for what responsiveness means in terms of application design and development.
- Understand FedEx's standards for responsiveness.
- See how Bootstrap works in action.
- Identify best practices for creating responsive pages.
- Create responsive applications that work for anyone.
