5 Good Habits That Will Make You a Better Coder We all want to grow in the things we do, and in the field of web development, one of the main areas that we spend a lot of time on is our code. This could include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, ActionScript or any other language that you may choose to use for building websites. In this article, I’ll share some practical steps that you can take to expand your skill set and become a better coder. I would like to propose five different habits that you can adapt in order to help yourself become more excellent at what you do. 1. If you are designing and developing for the web, there are often numerous different languages that you will need to familiarize yourself with, and it can be tempting to try to learn them all at once, especially considering how interconnected they all are. I suppose that, to some degree, this is inevitable. Do you need to become better at WordPress development? Pick one and stick to it until you master it, then move on to the next. 2. Example 3. 4. 5. CSS Posters
Dmitry Baranovskiy’s Web Log HOW TO: Organize Web Development Projects Like a Pro This is a guest post from Jay Melone, founder @ DigitalXBridge, which provides web and mobile design + development, SEO, eMail Marketing and hosting services out of the NYC area. While web designers and developers are touted as being the tech-savvy and brilliantly creative types, they also have the unfortunate rap of being some of the most disorganized individuals on the planet. Luckily, most design shops come equipped with overly attentive, detail-oriented project managers. For those freelance designers working solo, or small web shops still operating in cowboy-code-slinging mode, this post is especially for you. Take some notes on the process employed below and begin pitching your services as Grade-A Professional. Note: I’ll be speaking to traditional desktop browser web design and development (PHP). Phase 1: Research & Analysis If you’ve ever heard the expression “measure twice cut once”, this the measuring phase. Phase 2: Design Phase 3: Implementation & QA Phase 4: UAT & Training
John Resig - JavaScript Programmer Four Essential Web Design Tips Designing a website is no easy undertaking. A website is a means of communication first and foremost, but it must also be visually engaging. If a website fails to communicate the ideas contained there then it has failed in its purpose. Advertisement 1.) Perhaps the most important element of any web page is the ability to read it. Choose a font that is fairly plain. 2.) Sidebars are useful for keeping a site organized and they have become the norm throughout the Web. Horizontal menu bars are also quite useful. 3.) Nobody likes a slow website. 4.) Make the site sticky. With attention to these elements of web site design, creating an efficient and effective website becomes much easier. Author : Sally Marshall I am a blogger to the core.
mir.aculo.us JavaScript with Thomas Fuchs Web Development Tips and Tools for Beginners (and Experts) Every great web developer starts with HTML. From there comes an array of tools that every developer can use to create great websites.The basics would be a text editor and an image editing software. But why be content in using those two when there are available tools that can expedite not only your coding speed but also help you organize and learn new things? Expedite Development With the Following: 1. A Model-View-Controller framework is like an architectural plan in software/web development. Now I will elaborate this to the point where even my grandma would understand, because the concept would be very confusing for people who learn of MVC’s existence just now (I was made aware of this gem 8 hours prior writing this). In the second way I mentioned, suppose you have a DropDown for the quantity of shirts to add on your cart and: Every bullet suggests one file each. To make it more simpler, here’s an analogy: Each can function separately and as one, making development more organized. CakePHP
Paul Irish Tips on How to Code Web Designs Better Writing semantic, efficient and valid HTML and CSS can be a time-intensive process that only gets better with experience. While it is important to take the time to produce high-quality code — as it is what separates professionals from hobbyists — it is equally important to produce websites as expeditiously and efficiently as possible. As web designers, we’re always looking for ways to be more productive. Getting more work done in less time while at the same time maintaining (or improving) our products’ quality is a lifelong quest for many of us. This article discusses a few fundamental techniques for writing high quality and efficient HTML and CSS. Use Templates and Frameworks (Even If It’s Homemade) Using templates and frameworks provides you with a solid baseline from which to start from. Even something as simple as using this XHTML 1.0 strict template — a skeleton for your HTML documents — can be a time-saver. Conform to XHTML 1.0 Strict Doctype Use Good and Consistent Naming Conventions
Bruce Lawson’s personal site : HTML5 Evangelia Dendramis asked me “why use role=contentinfo instead of role=footer for <footer>?” role attributes are from the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) spec, and not part of HTML(5), although they’re allowed in pages. They’re developed by different groups, and for different reasons. ARIA is a bridging technlogy for any markup language – HTML4, SVG or HTML5 to “plugin” accessibility information that isn’t part of the host language: WAI-ARIA is intended to be a bridging technology. contentinfo is defined as an ARIA landmark on a page. A large perceivable region that contains information about the parent document. This is a good description of a page footer, but HTML5 allows as many <footer> elements as you want: The footer element represents a footer for its nearest ancestor sectioning content or sectioning root element. The HTML5 <footer> does give “content info” but does so about its parent, which may be one of many <article>s or <section>s. Responsive Images Misc
10 Tips for Writing Quality Code James Schorr, the owner of Tech Rescue has a guest post on the Ruby Learning blog where he asks "Do You Enjoy Your Code Quality?" He makes a strong argument for treating programming as craftsmanship writing that the goal of his article is to help people improve code quality and "transform the mundane into the beautiful." Schorr offers a number of tips for pre- through post-development of projects, and while some of his points may be geared towards independent consultants and independent developers, they're pretty applicable to anyone: Pre-Development Gather all the requirements from clients up front. Development Out-engineer user-error as much as possible. Post-Development Review your code for speed, stability, security, and usability.Have non-technical people do real-world testing on your product.Revisit old code periodically and see what you would've done differently. How do you achieve quality programming?
Divya Manian