Category: Business

Learning to Learn

By choosing to be a developer, you are choosing to learn.

Sarah Drasner
Learning to Learn

I love how much of Sarah’s article is devoted to the methodology of the ongoing self-directed learning and the mindset necessary to keep plugging at it. Having resources available is important, and we never before had so many quality ones, but they won’t help much without a method to use them efficiently.

You don’t need to learn everything and no one knows absolutely everything. It can feel overwhelming, but try to view it less like a race to the finish and more like a continuous journey.

Sarah Drasner
Learning to Learn

Your Clients Don’t Have to Like Your Work

“Whenever I meet with a new client for the first time, I always tell them this: It’s not important that you like the design I’m going to make for you.

It’s always humorous to see the client’s reaction to this statement. Most look inquisitive, others look downright baffled.

I then expound on my initial statement: “It’s a bonus if you like it, but the main objectives are that your business needs are met and that your customers like it.”

This is how the article by Wes McDowell starts, and it’s not an approach I hear of most of the time. It’s easier indeed to follow client’s personal preferences than to explain to them that their customers are more important, although I am not sure that client’s personal approach is more often connected to paying out of one’s pocket as Wes suggests. Nevermind, it’s small details that don’t affect his main point: the project will be more successful if client’s personal preferences are set aside and the focus is put firmly on the needs of people who will be using the finished product.

The Post-PSD Era. A problem of expectations

Something to think about in connection to the hot topic of post-PSD era of web design:

To be fair, I don’t think we’re in a post-PSD era, but I do think we’re moving towards a post-“full-comp” era. I can’t envision a project where I don’t use Photoshop. Photoshop isn’t the problem. It’s a great tool. My favorite, actually. It’s the stigma that comes with presenting a full comp (I define “full comp” as an image of a website viewed on a desktop, typically around 960px wide).

~ Dan Mall
The Post-PSD Era. A problem of expectations

Understanding The Copyright License

The Web is full of creative and practical resources that we can use to improve our projects. Photography, fonts, music and code are perfect examples. Finding stock objects and existing implementations is often quicker, cheaper and more practical than producing your own.

Whether free or not, these resources normally come with a license to ensure fair use. For professionals, understanding the limitations of a license is critical; with this knowledge, you’d be surprised by what’s available.

Fyels – The worlds simplest file sharing site

Fyels is not for sharing confidential information, it does not have user accounts or file repositories, but it allows to share an occasional file really, really easy. All you need to do is to drag and drop a file from your computer into a rectangular area on their page, and a link to your file will be generated along with the password to delete the the file when it is no longer needed.