A report and select presentations from Vue.js Amsterdam 2019
Some takeaways from the Netherlands
On February 14 and 15, Vue.js Conference took place once again. Six of our sum.cumo frontend specialists were on site to check out the latest news and talk to other Vue experts. Five of them, Axel (Schaffrath), Do-Yeung (Rhee), Johannes (Lamberts), Marcel (Jahn) and Thomas (Nohl), tell us about their experiences and share some of the most interesting presentations.
What was the highlight for you at this year’s Vue.js Conference?
Axel: “For me personally, this was my first Vue.js Conference, but as I expected, it was a very exclusive event with top speakers and insightful topics. For example, what Tim Bennkis shared with his presentation, Vue.js for L’Oréal – A Case Study, was really exciting. This was a project of extremes: take 3,000 websites – total chaos – and reduce them to 800, while building a system that works globally, that anyone can work with instantly.”
Johannes: “For me, it was Akryum’s presentations: server-side rendering will be easy as pie. The CLI plugins look really exciting.”
Marcel: “I liked Nuxt.js 2019 – Don’t Miss the News!. It gave us an insider look at Nuxt, where it’s headed and what we can expect next. This includes Async Data 2.0, offline support and Nuxt Services (back-end services via Nuxt Workers).”
Thomas: “For me, it was the entire Nuxt area: performance improvements, different approaches to content indexing, etc. Also the feeling of community, which you could sense everywhere.”
What do you think was the best talk at Vue.js 2019, and why?
Do-Yeung: “With the great variety and quality of the talks, I can’t really say which one was the best for me. I also think that with this great mix of talks, everyone could find something of interest. Of course the preview of Vue.js 3 was very interesting, but so was the new stuff now being offered by Vue.js 2.6 in terms of SSR – something that will help us simplify SSR implementations in our projects. I also got into some entirely new territory with Create a Vue CLI Plugin by Guillaume Chau (Vue.js Core Team Member) and Desktop Applications with Vue by Natalia Tepluhina (CTO Vue Vixens). And so much more… there really were a lot of top speakers covering great topics, and they gave excellent performances in their lectures.”
Axel: “I’d say Everything’s a Plugin: Understanding Webpack from the Inside Out by Sean Larkin. I didn’t quite understand everything, but the way he presented it, it actually looked quite simple. Everyone’s heads were spinning and he was speaking so breezily, as if he were describing how to make ice cream. After thirty minutes it was simply ‘that’s it.’ It might take me a while to build my own ice cream parlor, but I still hung on his every word.”
Johannes: “The presentations were all great, but if I had to choose, I’d say the lectures on webpack and the live coding in Designing Components in Vue. For me, the visually most impressive was Vue.js for L’Oréal – A Case Study by Tim Bennkis.”
Marcel: “There were some very good talks. With his talk on Designing Components in Vue, Damian Dulisz showed quite elegantly how useful slots can be, resulting in cleaner code. In terms of visuals, I agree with Johannes, Tim Bennkis was quite impressive. Super-interesting and well-explained. In general, the question of performance was a hot topic at the conference, coming up in almost every other talk, especially in regards to code splitting. For example, they explained and demonstrated what tools are available out of the box, how it works with lazy loading in terms of not only routes, but also components – which is at least as interesting – and how this affects loading times.”
Thomas: “I agree with Marcel. With the talk by Damian Dulisz, I took away a lot that I can use in my everyday work, but when it comes to great inspiration, Tim Bennkis was the clear winner. It wasn’t just his presentation that impressed me, but also the project behind it. Besides the design of the L’Oréal site, there were also its augmented reality features, and of course the insane ability to use the same basic foundation when producing websites for 3,000 different brands and products – amazing!”
What else did you take away from the Vue.js Conference? What else stood out for you?
Axel: “Above all, Plans for the Next Iteration of Vue.js, Vue.js 2.6 SSR Revolution and Create a Vue CLI Plugin. This is new and coming stuff that we should all know about. Fantastic new features and improvements are on the way.”
Do-Yeung: “Not only were the talks great, the entire setting in which everything happened was also impressive. An enormous theater with the largest screen I’ve ever seen (using three video projectors at once), along with incredible sound. If you want to check it out for yourself, see theateramsterdam.nl/theaterzaal. What’s more, every speaker was introduced with a cool animation, and the moderators were also quite entertaining (beyond being speakers themselves).”
Johannes: “I agree with Axel, it’s useful to learn about Vue 2.6 and 3.0, as well as SSR. This is also something we’ll be incorporating into our projects. Beyond that, also Designing Components in Vue.”
Marcel: “The location was a great choice, with an impressive screen that was cleverly used. Some of the speakers were almost like entertainers. The way they conveyed their subject matter was not only fun, but also captivating. Vue 3.0 and Nuxt 2.5 are both bringing some great new features. It never hurts to take another look at your ingrained design patterns 😊”
Thomas: “Besides all these looks at ongoing developments in Vue and the ecosystem as a whole, it was also great to see talks on accessibility during both days. Here too, you can see that the community is really interested in including everyone and removing obstacles.”
Thinking beyond the conference, what do you see as the greatest strength of Vue.js?
Axel: “For me as a developer, it’s the rapid learning curve. Even as a total beginner, you can quickly start working with Vue. Since I’ve yet to use other frameworks like Angular and React, it’s hard for me to make a direct comparison. But what helped me a lot with the learning process was the ever-growing community, along with the extensive, well-designed documentation. The Vue.js paradigm is based on presenting individual components, and not entire applications at once. It makes Vue.js very fast, and if you believe all the tests and articles, this has also been proven in the real world.”
Do-Yeung: “I agree with Axel. The learning curve with Vue.js is very rapid so you can start quickly, and there’s a very very strong community that’s driven by a great energy.”
Johannes: “A really cool community, a strong focus on a well-functioning ecosystem instead of just growth, and great flexibility combined with very consistent components.”
Marcel: “I’m still a Vue beginner, but was able to get into the framework faster than with any other before. Vue makes it really easy for you. On the one hand, there’s very good documentation, and on the other, a great group of people that’s always ready to help. It’s hard to resist! 😊”
Thomas: “Developing with Vue.js is fun and gives me complete freedom in terms of markup and CSS. The Vue.js community is super nice with everyone helping one another, and I feel like there are very few posers there, if any at all.”
Many thanks to Axel, Do-Yeung, Johannes, Marcel and Thomas!
Selected presentations from Vue.js 2019
- John Lindquist: Unlock the Proxy Power (Vue.js)
- Guillaume Chau (Akryum): Vue 2.6 SSR Revolution
- Filip Rakowski: Modern Web Apps Performance Tricks with PWA and Vue.js
- Sara Vieira: GraphQL + Apollo + Vue.js = Magic
- Maya Shavin: Media for Everyone – How to Make Your Vue Apps Accessible for All Users
- Natalia Tepluhina: Desktop Applications with Vue
- Damian Dulisz: Composing Components
- Guillaume Chau: Create a Vue CLI Plugin
- Sean Larkin: Everything’s a Plugin: Understanding webpack from the Inside Out
- Eduardo San Martin Morote: Making Your Vue Apps Faster by Being Lazy
- Thorsten Linusborg: Building Libraries with Vue CLI
- Quique Fernandez Guerra: Empowering Vue with Typescript, Inversify, Vuex and Some Other Super Tools
- Sébastien Chopin: Nuxt.js 2019 – Don’t Miss the News!
- Filipa Lacerda: Vuex Patterns – Why Actions Matter
- Chris Fritz: Visualizations Using SVG, Canvas, and WebGL
