I am a full-stack web developer, currently working in a research program at St. Michael’s Hospital, who strongly believes in making web content accessible and usable. This goal has made me passionate about web standards, responsive design, progressive enhancement, accessibility guidelines, and web performance. Since October 2012 I have been a member of the W3C’s Responsive Images Community Group, and I am a co-editor of their Use Cases and Requirements for Standardizing Responsive Images.

Speaking session

Improving Performance with Responsive Images in the Advanced Developer track

About your presentation

I will be speaking about the web’s hunger for more, bigger, and higher-resolution images, and the performance problem this creates. I’ll give a brief history of the new (and occasionally controversial) `picture` element, and discuss some other exciting new standards and techniques that are on the horizon. Attendees can expect concrete examples of how `picture` works, and to learn how they can use responsive (and responsible!) images right now to improve performance and deliver the best possible experience to their users.

What do you want people to learn from your presentation?

• That performance is an important part of design
• How responsive images can make your site more performant
• How to implement responsive images

Why did you decide to speak?

I think responsive images, and web performance in general, are important topics that are relatively poorly understood, and I am in a position to help others learn about them. Sharing our knowledge and experience is the best way to make the web better.

What attracted you to WordPress in the first place?

The ease with which custom plugins and themes could be written, and I could get from doing this.

What is your favourite plugin or theme, and why?

Akismet, because who wants to deal with spam?

What are you most looking forward to at WordCamp Toronto?

Sharing my knowledge and learning from others!