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Caolan McMahon, Director at Ground Computing

Caolan McMahon

Biography: Caolan McMahon

Caolan McMahon is an open-source developer and Director at Ground Computing Ltd, perhaps best known for the Node.js Async module and his work on CouchDB development tools. He's a specialist in offline-enabled and decentralised web applications. With a background in bringing the web to some remote and difficult environments, from rural Africa to the far north of Canada, he is now looking to bring full-stack development to a wider audience with the Hoodie project.

Twitter: @caolan

Presentation: Offline First: Re-Imagining Web Development for the Real-World

Track: Bleeding Edge HTML5 & JavaScript - Taking the Web Platform to the Next Level / Time: Thursday 13:20 - 14:10 / Location: Mountbatten Room

You've heard of Mobile-first, now there's Offline-first. A reversal of the design process where applications are created for offline use first, and online is a feature. Unlike the always-wired machines of the past, computers are now truly personal, and people move through online and offline seamlessly, our apps should do the same.

Mobile connectivity and bandwidth are issues unlikely to be solved on a global level anywhere in the near future. Offline is a fact of life, get on the tube or take a train, head out into the countryside or go abroad and you'll find many products simply stop working. We've been optimistic about this problem so far, but geography is non-negotiable.

Thankfully, there are technologies available today which can help us. We just need to learn how to apply them. This talk will cover the current state of offline support on the web, why offline is important for users and the web as a whole, and discuss the design challenges posed by developing a first-class offline experience.