Team Spotlight: Clinton, Lead Front-End Developer

Welcome to another edition of our Team Spotlight series! Today, we turn the spotlight on Clinton, our Lead Front-End Developer at Eyekiller. In this feature, Clinton takes us on a journey through the intricacies of responsive web design, accessibility, and innovative front-end technologies.

Join us as we explore the methodologies that power our exceptional user experiences and learn about the exciting developments in the world of front-end development that are shaping the future of digital experiences.

How do you ensure that the websites you develop are responsive and accessible across various devices and platforms?

Ensuring the responsiveness and accessibility of the websites we create at Eyekiller is not just a fundamental aspect of our work; it is an absolute imperative. We take a multi-faceted approach to achieve this goal, prioritising user experience and inclusivity.

Starting with Responsive design, we integrate responsive web design principles right from the beginning, working closely with our design team. This collaborative effort includes using techniques like flexible grids/layouts, fluid images, and CSS media queries to ensure seamless adaptation across a wide range of screen sizes.

Our Mobile-First approach acknowledges the significant presence of mobile users in web traffic. This methodology entails initially optimising the core functionality and content for smaller screens, with progressive enhancements tailored for larger devices. While it's true that many mobile devices can connect to Wi-Fi, we operate under the assumption that they might rely on cellular data, which could result in slower speeds. Additionally, we prioritise delivering smaller file size images for an efficient and responsive mobile experience.

At Eyekiller, prioritising Accessibility is paramount. We strictly follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that our websites are user-friendly for individuals with disabilities with a current base standard of reaching WCAG 2.1. This commitment includes rigorous testing using accessibility tools to ensure cross-browser and cross-device compatibility, guaranteeing an inclusive user experience across various devices. Our accessibility features encompass essential elements such as alternative text for images, keyboard navigation, and semantic HTML markup.

In the realm of Performance Optimisation, we focus on speed by minimising file sizes, using efficient coding practices, and leveraging content delivery networks (CDNs), all of which contribute to fast-loading pages that enhance the user experience. This is especially important in providing access to users with slow mobile connections and small data limits.

Our commitment to responsive design and accessibility ensures that the websites we develop at Eyekiller deliver an exceptional user experience across a wide range of devices and platforms, meeting the needs of diverse audiences and promoting inclusivity on the web.

Can you share a project where front-end development played a crucial role in addressing a client's unique requirements?

User flow is usually discussed at the early stages of the design process but when it comes to implementing, it is not just a case of a series of links, which is what it looks like when viewing a flow/site map. It involves comprehensive User Experience exploration and how information can be passed and stored across web pages.

The Multi-award winning luxury African travel specialist, Mahlatini approached us with a complex vision of sharing, storing Wishlists and potential customer acquisition. This involved a multi stage approach of initial implementation and reiteration with progressive ideas, until the client was happy and the process was performant.

The initial interaction involved using a Toastr approach for highlighting when a wishlist is added/deleted/updated etc. which involved a pop-out from the side of the screen to alert the user something has been changed/updated.

The current approach which we came to after thorough user testing was to have a slideout panel, with the same information but with expanded items such as the top 3 Wishlist items currently in the users Wishlist and also a form which they can immediately fill out. This form also involves a seamless submission approach using AJAX negating the need for page refreshes. We are always looking at existing data and how we can use that to improve customer experience, engagement and ultimately customer acquisition.

What are some emerging front-end technologies that you find exciting and believe will impact the industry in the future?

At Eyekiller, we're always excited about what lies ahead and strive to use the latest technologies to meet our clients' and our website users' expectations. Some useful future front-end technologies that we are anticipating, are:

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) - Things are really moving fast in this area especially since the introduction of Apple’s ‘Vision Pro’ headset. We are looking forward to using new frontend tools to allow Immersive User Interfaces such as Enhanced Product and Data Visualisation. For a client’s website and its users this is very exciting and not just from what could, at first appear a gimmick experience. The value that this will bring, even looking at existing clients in our portfolio, will be immense.

AR can assist individuals with visual impairments by providing audio or tactile feedback based on real-world surroundings so we can look at further developing accessibility. As front-end developers, we can contribute to building inclusive AR interfaces that improve accessibility.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is always moving forward with better, leaner methods of creating layouts. To progressively enhance some websites we may choose to load a Javascript polyfill using browser feature detection. The problem with this is it can cause a performance hit. As we value page speed performance so much here at Eyekiller we are looking at CSS Houdini and how it can allow developers to extend CSS, resulting in better performance and stability.

Careers at Eyekiller

If you are a driven developer, designer, or digital marketer eager to shape the future of web experiences, explore the exciting career opportunities awaiting you at Eyekiller.