Thread

Im not a community guy, but there are lots of things that i learn through sharing. The key of getting successfull is usually depends on listening to the right source.

Im in to web designing as a hobby since 2000. Im not saying that Im good or experienced but usually i can do what i want to do in matter of hours or days. I see there are many successful webdesigners here and would like to know how they do what they do. Is there any tips that you would share while working on a project.

I for example always take a backup copy for every major edit that went successfully. But there comes a time when things get way to much complicated and hard to figure out. Like coding for hours and you say you would come back tomarow to make the last changes. But when you do comeback later on, you have no clue where the hell you were last night.

I didnt know “Alist Apart” existed till last year. Few days back, it took me few hours to find just a simple sliding menu (i have to emphises, simple) and when i did find it, i have to still clean it from few needless css tags.

So yea, what you do , what are the shortcuts and “have to have one!” s. What are the tools that you use for debug and what do you rely on most.

thanks.

I think it’s kind of hard to answer your initial question about managing the way you work - it’s completely up to you and what works for you. That said, when coding, I find that the best thing to do is to be organized in the file structure and name things that make sense so that it’s easy to find and understand later. Comments in your code is a good way too (as long as you don’t get carried away and bloat your files).

As for tools for debugging, depends on what you’re referring to (HTML, PHP, etc.). For HTML and CSS (and JavaScript), Firebug and the Web Developer toolbar for Firefox are both must haves (although recently I’ve been using Safari 4’s Developer tools which work well tool).

Dont get me wrong, im not saying rate me or give definit answers. But there are people who earn their lifes through such project managements and they might have something intresting when it comes down to working on projects. Though thanks for your tips.

Im using (as well as recommend) Yslow (ff addon) that will show you how long it takes to load your site. But I havent find the feature to change the speed of your internet. (when you come to think of it, its not important how long it takes to load on your desktop, but on others - others with 256k connections especially)

Also firebug did turnout to be very unique script. Helpfull indeed. For all those IE fixers, there is a program called IEtester that will load all IE browser engines in one program and will allow you to test your site on all of them.

So yea, what else is there?!
Ps: I did come acrous project management software topic, but it kinda looks confusing. Is there anyone here that works with these?

So yea, what else is there?!
Ps: I did come acrous project management software topic, but it kinda looks confusing. Is there anyone here that works with these?

My team and I use Basecamp (http://www.basecamphq.com). Been using for a couple of years and works great with our workflow. There are other options but I’ve only ever tried and used Basecamp.

Also, regarding file backups that you mentioned initially, have you considered subversion? I have yet to implement it in my own workflow but I’ve only heard great things from other designers and developers.

The subjects of this thread could be subjects of a half dozen more threads.  This isn’t very helpful but one of the big differences between a hobbyist and a pro developer is that a pro dev probably has more time to build on his/her dev-fu.  A hobbyist is probably doing things at the end of an already long day unless retired.

Please explain dev/fu ? Googled lots of pages, no explanation found. Development, function…..?

ta,
smithy

Please explain dev/fu ? Googled lots of pages, no explanation found. Development, function…..?

ta,
smithy

Dev Fu originates from the ancient art of Kung Fu, somewhere down the line the secret teachings were passed down from master martial artist to geeky web developer.  I may not know how to take your head off with a spinning kick, but I’m still deadly with a text editor.

You can’t Google it because as mentioned above… it’s secret.  You have been inducted grasshopper, don’t tell anyone or the brotherhood will be after you!

LOOL and I thought it would be something terribly straight-laced.

Michael Caine voice: Stop throwing those bl00dy backslashes at me!

Dev Fu is not as good as Tae kode do,  so ner. (Koderat-ee is good too).

PS, before anyone Google’s, I am making this up…

LOL!! That’s all I have to say! Nice, guys. 😛

Lol indeed. Just a moment there i thought there is some sort of a secret philosophy along the way.
Well up and down doesnt matter, This tread is for those willing to share ofcourse. Not to force them. And though its a made up word, it shares the same moto of what ive described above. Any guy who works for hours and learned the shortcuts or how “the way things done” are actually do learn a higher tecnique of Dev-fu.

So in order to learn the master techniques as well as secret ones, we need Shifus i guess :D But i hope we wont have to climb a mountain to find one.

@angie : Would you mind describing a bit more of this “subversion”

Just to guide the topic at hand, I suggest lets start with sharing our sources on web.
Like, Alist Apart , dynamic drive and hotscript kinda way.

Here are a few links to articles on subversion:

http://www.seopher.com/articles/why_you_should_be_using_subversion_and_how_to_use_it_
http://thinkvitamin.com/features/subversion-for-designers/
http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/design/subversion-workflow-for-designers-pt-1-231/

Hmm, this one seems a very worthy feature.
Say angie, if you use this feature, what i wonder is this. Does the server actually save the “parts of the file based on seasion and later on if you ask it to merge, it merges them?” or does it just take a copy of the file just any backup solution would do.

If the first option is what this is, than its mighty indeed because this means less storage consuming, non destructable workflow (which even some dekstop scripts are not capable of doing).

To be honest, I’m not the best person to be asking. I haven’t implemented Subversion in my workflow so I’m not 100% clear on the ins and outs - only that I at some point will need to implement it.

Subversion takes revision control for your files. You have access to all commited versions/milstones from the beginning. If something does not work after hacking some code simply step back. The backup thing is a nice side effect.

Merging is relevant if you are working with 2 or more developers on one file at the same time. After the first commit of the file subversion will show a conflict because the file revision was changed. You have to decide wheter the code should be merged etc..

We are using a custom branded activeCollab (http://www.activecollab.com/) for project managment.