So like the rest of the planet, I have itunes. As you may already know, itunes is an mp3 an application from a little company called Apple.
I’m set to listen to some music and the application prompts me for an update. Sure, why not; let’s see what’s new in this release. The typical Quicktime update is set to take place, but then it asks if I want to install Safari. For those non-mac people, it’s a browser that runs exclusively on a Macintosh PC (unless of course you are emulating it somehow, Anyone?).
Anyways, so I tick the checkbox and wait for the update to finish. After I restart my pc, what do you know!?, there goes the Safari icon! You may say, “Safari?! Why would I need that when I have my trusted Internet Explorer!? Plus, with the new ie8 beta out, who needs anything else!!” OK, you may not say all of that, but you know your thinking it.
Download it anyway. It is great way for developers to see how mac users see their site. As I have said before, not all browsers get along. Having the Safari browser along with the rest of your arsenal of browsers (Opera, Firefox, Netscape) is essential. It’s like batman’s utility belt except without any of batman’s tools.
Yep, you read right. How would you like to be taught by the monsters masters themselves? Google is now offering Google Code University for geeks in the making. They break down into 4 unique categories: AJAX Programming, Distributed Systems, Web Security, and Languages.
The best part, like all Google products, it’s FREE! Hooray for free stuff!
When I’m on the web and waiting for a partial page update (thank you AJAX!) and see a little loading image I think “aww, isn’t that nice”. It’s just good practice to let your users know that they have to wait for a few seconds until their content loads.
The last thing you want is a user waiting for something to load and not know that they are waiting. This will get them off of your page faster than Spitzer can say “They found what?!”.
Here is a site that generates loading images on the fly. You can customize it by choosing different styles and colors. Pretty damn sweet.
As a developer, you want to make sure you are getting paid what you deserve. It’s a pain to try and explain to a customer that a website/project takes time and patience. Did you ever get the “Oh, I want a website, I want to be on the top of Google, I want this by the end of the week, and I also want it done for a good price”. Yeah, right.
WTF?!, people don’t understand that taking on projects and websites take time. And as they say (who’s they, I don’t know), time is money. A we developers’ job is NEVER done. If you are tired of dealing with the id10t’s in upper management and want to look for a (new) job, check out dice.com. It’s a site where developers can search for work specifically for them. Forget dealing with monster, this site gears towards your inner geek (and your wallet).
Good luck. And the next time you get one of these customers that want their projects in an unreasonable time, tell them shove it and go on dice.com; unless of course you need the cash, then take the job, stock up on redbull, swallow your pride, and get to work.
For those of us that aren’t good with time management, toggl.com is the solution. You can keep track of how much time you spend on your projects all in one place. The site has some sweet technology (AJAX I believe) that makes it simple, fast, and intuitive.
