I found out about Studio 24 after Simon, Managing Director of Studio 24, gave a talk on web accessibility at my college. This made me interested in the work done at Studio 24, so I applied for a work experience placement.
During my three weeks, I was tasked with improving the CASP map and giving it a redesign to improve its accessibility and slow rendering. I focused mainly on the code, but I had to make sure to properly document my code too, so that other developers can understand it.
What I learnt
Throughout my time at Studio 24, I had various inductions to different areas within the agency. This involved:
These were all very helpful in giving me insights into areas where I had limited knowledge.
Since I was working full-stack, I had to learn PHP for the backend, which turned out to be easier than I anticipated, partly due to its similarities with JavaScript.
My progress with the map
I began with an outline of what I wanted the map to look like. This involved sketches, listing the required dependencies, and adding basic tasks to a Trello board.
Then, I moved on to the actual development – the fun part! The tech stack I used:
- JavaScript for the front end
- PHP and Laravel for the back end
I redesigned the map from scratch, migrating from Leaflet to MapLibre. This enabled me to use a vector-based tiling system, which was considerably faster than the old raster tiling.
Moreover, MapLibre uses WebGL, which allows for GPU acceleration and smoother transitions when interacting with the map.
Additionally, I created an accessible fallback page for any non-JavaScript users, I optimised the caching setup, and fixed various loading issues, which resulted in significant memory and bandwidth improvements.
Once I created a suitable demo, I presented it to our clients, CASP. I gave them a presentation on all the optimisations I made and a comparison of the map before and after. They were really pleased with the improvements.
Final notes
I want to thank everyone here, especially Sean, for mentoring me for the entire three weeks. Everyone here supported me along the way, and I have learnt a lot about working in a web agency.
We’ve all been really impressed with what Ben has achieved during his time with us. He was quick at picking up new skills and asked a lot of very pertinent questions on the assignments we gave him.
He made some great progress on the CASP map assignment, and he also did a really good job of presenting the results to the client in person (always a daunting prospect!)
Ben shows great potential and we wish him the best of luck for the future.
