how to do efficient web development ?

cretaceous

this is a general question on how to "work smarter"
(and a bit of a rambling moan:queasy: )

I do websites as sole developer/ graphics creator/ javascript meddler/ php-mysql/ html-css

I'm sure a lot of you do similar

my first qualification is design but mostly I build for other designers who have diddley squat technical ability and this is how I make my living

Now I'm sure I could be more efficient in my coding or in the way a site comes together - integrating javascript stuff is the biggest headache I find and getting the damn html to look the same in every browser

clients seem to expect more and more javascript widgets.. which often dont play nice together

I often do a paper plan first but none of it helps much - it is still a slow process

I dont use oop as I still dont think I've created anything where it would be much benefit

I often do half a day on the public part of a site then half on the admin, if its a cms thing, just to stop me going nuts

Anyway there must be a holy grail of efficient development?
I just use DW for basic layout then I'm in phpeditor full time and I run apache on my pc for continual testing - I mean I havent even found a cool way of being able to edit my css and see the result without jumping between browser and editor - even in DW css editing is a pita

Should I use an IDE, how about version control?

An IDE sounds nice but most of my errors are just typos these days - I suppose an IDE would find things quicker

I had to create a small thing in Coldfusion recently and it was kinda cool - but I dont really see it would save a lot of time - so Ruby.. Coldfusion.. I dunno

hasn't there got to be a better way where everything works together?
any ideas?

mpb001

I moan just as much about designers, children in a playpen is my usual favourite term 🙂

"hasn't there got to be a better way where everything works together?"

The web is a collection of technologies stacked up on one another. The only thing that really knows what it looks like is the browser.

If a better working method cannot be found one way then try and find one from a completely different direction. You have to look at lots of different software and analyse what parts of your working methods are costly. Switching from Dreamweaver to Firefox most of the cost is hunting for Firefox then hunting back for Dreamweaver. Apple have now added spaces and I personally use virtual dimension for windows. IDE's go in one window, Browsers go in another etc. Tnen is is hot keyed and everything starts behaving more as one application due to imortant stuff can be kept equally dominent away from email, messanger etc. Bad workflow is like you are a drummer whose drums randomly move around at random moments. Keeping the key things in the same position every time the computer is turned on solves a lot of stuff.

I really could not work for any long period of time without at least 3 desktops if I was going to run email. The spaces thing would be better if the flashy transition stuff could be turned off( maybe it can? ) as that is a distraction.

Look at neck movements, hand movements and deliberations. Reduce those and you have a better workflow, possibly also OCD.

"What is the perfect workflow?" is Koan territory. Designers are the girls(yin), developers are the boys(yang). The answer is at some point unknown in the middle which leads to the question of "What is the point in the middle?".

Any girls out there who are developers, I apologise for calling you boys. But at least you are on the right side of the squiggly line 😉 ( wikipedia says so anyway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang )

Boy designers. Noooooo such apologies. Born good, ended evil.

bpat1434

I feel your pain. I work on a pretty large CMS project at work. I'm essentially the main core developer while there are two other "module" developers. I'm the pretty-face customers see and talk to when their site goes awry (design, content, whatever).

I use Zend (Neon Beta now) as the main editor as well as NuSphere's PhpED IDE. I like both a lot. There are some things that the Neon Beta really needs work on (like showing syntax errors) while there are things NuSphere needs to work on (like auto-closing brackets, syntax checking, etc.). Both are really good products worth the $300. I never used DW to do PHP as I find that DW is very bloated for what I wanted. I also use Edit Plus 3 or e-texteditor to do quick edits via FTP.

The best thing for editing CSS and playing around with it is to use Firefox with the Web Developer extension and Firebug. With those two extensions you can traverse the DOM, execute javascript, modify the CSS & HTML and see instant (and I mean even while you're editing a value instant) changes. I use these all the time.

Version control is nice if you have multiple people working on a project or you have say one core set of code and many modules. Using Bazaar or SVN or CVS or any VCS can help you keep things "in order". If you're going to use something like that, I'd also suggest using a bug tracker or ticket tracking system (like Trac or Lighthouse or redMine) to keep things on target and also to track your progress and note regressions and such.

For an individual, I'd say your own VCS probably isn't necessary; but if you want to dabble, no harm in playing with it.

And there is no "magic bullet" to efficient development. As long as you plan well, that's as about as "efficient" as you can make it. Hiccups come along (updated PHP versions, errors in libraries & classes, parse errors) and can delay development.

Hope that helps..

laserlight

Should I use an IDE, how about version control?

An IDE might help, but then you'll be less productive during the time when you are climbing the learning curve. Version control is useful, and is pretty much necessary if you are working with someone else. Yet, there will once again be a time when you are even less productive when learning the tools, and sometimes it may seem like overkill when you are working alone. No pain, no gain.

An IDE sounds nice but most of my errors are just typos these days - I suppose an IDE would find things quicker

Well, since you want a situation where "everything works together", an integrated development environment sounds like what you want.

mpb001 wrote:
"What is the perfect workflow?" is Koan territory. Designers are the girls(yin), developers are the boys(yang). The answer is at some point unknown in the middle which leads to the question of "What is the point in the middle?".

Any girls out there who are developers, I apologise for calling you boys. But at least you are on the right side of the squiggly line 😉 ( wikipedia says so anyway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang )

Boy designers. Noooooo such apologies. Born good, ended evil.

Heh, something like half of the professional designers I know are boys (or men, rather).

mpb001

"Heh, something like half of the professional designers I know are boys (or men, rather)."

Short:
That something like is half has gone to the dark side.

Long:
I work for a design agency and my boss who is a designer is very big boy( man mountain, earth shaker, 340lbs+ of designer man meat ). Makes it more fun calling him a girl as I am so much smaller( not hard, that is 2 heavy weight boxers ) 🙂. We are deemed a married couple and I am not the wife in that relationship.

My jibe was at men designers, hence the apology to girl developers. Someone who does not understand the texture they can work with is not a designer. By understanding the texture they then can move the design forward and be a designer. Unless they move things forwards they are a copier, their title may be designer but that is just HR.

It is just one of those pokey sticky things which is fun when socialising. After a few years of no-one knowing what you do you will get sensitive and start poking sticks at people who claim all the credit.

The joy of the web. The developers make make hydrogen and oxygen. The designer only then makes H2O.

cretaceous

thats some really, really useful ideas mpb, bpat and ll
and takes it in directions I hadnt considered

I already have two monitors hooked up so ergonomics is good..
browsers, word files etc on one, editor on the other
and I try and put my windows in the same place but preset virtual desktops
looks very interesting - Mac virtualisation looks handy but I'm an ex-mac person (the design roots) and I'm happy on windows now

Havent tried Firebug - looks a life saver
I use FF dom inspector of course and the web developer plug in which is very useful

next step then is Firebug and will also try next version of PHP Designer (that's the editor I use not 'php editor') - but I use the 2005 version, whereas current 2008 version has some IDE functionality - (tried 2006 version before and hated it)
and if that doesnt work out I'd better look at throwing some money at it

[I wouldnt dream of usng DW for php editing - I just use it for the first stage css/ html]

as Laserlight says it can be difficult changing a method of working but it has to be done

of course I see both the designers and techy side of it all - I can talk both languages - and if any of you were doing this ten years ago in the "new media" days, you'll know a lot of designers did the technical work as well then

In some ways its bad that designers can ignore the technology as they may come up with unworkable ideas but in other ways it's good as it can free them to use their imagination and let others worry about how to make it work (which gives us the challenges we like)

If we stick to what we know. nothing changes much

bpat1434

[I wouldnt dream of usng DW for php editing - I just use it for the first stage css/ html]

You probably shouldn't rely upon it for that too much either.....

If you're still looking for a good IDE, I'd like to suggest a few:

Zend Neon - yes, it's still in beta; however, it's going to be the next version of Zend IDE, and it's good. Not great right now, but it's good.

NuSphere PhpEdit - This is running a close second to Zend. There are some issues that I have with it (like syntax checking speed) but all-in-all it's a good program. Very useful and very easy to use.

ActiveState Komodo IDE - This is a beauty. If you haven't tried it, try it. This thing is like a shotgun to kill a fly. It has everything you want, for any language you need. It's fantastic. There's a 21 day trial, use it.

I used to use PHP Designer; however, I just couldn't get used to it. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Of course, that was like 3 or 4 years ago when it was free :p

rulian

I use DW to integrate client with PHP, is there something I should know?

bpat1434

DW used to not create the most pretty code, nor the most correct code for HTML or XHTML.

piersk

rulian wrote:
I use DW to integrate client with PHP, is there something I should know?

Just don't use any of the automated stuff. Or the design view.

rulian

Oh yeah, when it tries to generated anything more complex then a table it creates horse crap. What I do like about it is it's search & replace w/ regEx to update files.
Which isnt the best idea, but it has come very useful in some HTML sites I've had to update.

bpat1434

hmm... if that's it's best feature, I've got that in EditPlus as well as e-texeditor :p

NogDog

Interesting how this thread has ended up concentrating on tools for creating the actual code, while ignoring the other issues referenced in the original post. So here are a couple non-IDE-related thoughts:

Gather the requirements as completely and correctly as possible. Nothing aggravates you, your client, or your bank account more than spending days or weeks of development time only to find you've created something that is not what the client wants. (We've all seen this cartoon, right?)

OOP, done well, can ultimately be a big time saver, both in terms of code re-usability along with the ability to make quick changes when the client's requirements change or when adapting one application to be used for another client's needs. It also makes it easier to break up a development project into separate pieces when you want/need to have multiple developers work on it concurrently.

rulian

I agree with NogDog,
The biggest obstacles I've come across have never been technical issues, but strategic error and poor resourcing. The biggest project killers are clueless client (who dont know what they want), and people who should not have any final say in projects having over-rule authority.

Projects work best when you spend adaquate amounts of time both planning with the client and planning with developers. Clients more often then not dont know what the process involves and will change their minds and hinder development. So it is vital for them to understand what can and cannot be done at certain points, and be happy in the direction your going.

Internally, I dont konw about other places, but it seems to be a common problem that the "bosses" that handle neither creative or production, have no background in them, often dictate how things get designed and developed.

Now, it's a classic phenomenon that IT departments are incredibly controlling of everything and mistrustful having to do with technical aspects, as I've encountered having to manage several IT's in different companies to collaborate to get things up. So I dont want to say "keep them at a distance", nor could you since its their names on the checks you get. However, I find that the hardest part of the job, both as a designer and developer, is managing the people. And when it comes to people, preperation and planning goes along way.