SeanBuscay.com - Business and Productivity

7 Tips to Improve Webmaster Productivity

Sean Buscay — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:25:23 +0000

Rapid application and web site development. Increasing demand for web standards. New standards and technologies appear, grow, and morph together within shorter and shorter cycles. Webmasters must be more productive than ever.

These seven tips will help you become a more productive webmaster:

The right tools
The right environment
Patterns
Study
Web communities
Good work habits
A life

1. Use the right tools

Webmasters can find plenty of excellent tools now to:

design and develop faster
meet standards
reduce redundant tasks
automate repetitive tasks

The old saying, "Use the right tool for the right job", remains true today. Invest time today in finding yourself the right tools for the jobs you do.

You have more choices than ever before.

The net houses a myriad of web developer software. Some of the best web development applications and tools are free or open-source. Yes, many excellent web design applications still cost, yet can be worth paying for.

Don't skimp.

Come up with creative ways to buy the software you need. When I started freelancing, my first client bought me Dreamweaver Ultradev and Fireworks (2 then 3 - back in the stone age of web design). I simply built the purchase into the up-front costs of the project, and convinced the client of the need. If you are a professional web designer, build the costs of new software into your next job.

A technical discussion of methodologies for choosing the right software:

http://www.ddj.com/architect/184415067

2. Create the right environment

Create custom environments on your computer and in your office which are designed to streamline and enhance your work quality and productivity.

Optimize your computer desktop

Use a large screen or even two screens.

I currently have Dell's 24-inch wide-screen (Dell 2407WFP) at a 1920X1200 resolution.

I also have a separate smaller screen to put IRC and and chat windows on, so I can keep my workspace uncluttered.

Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP CNET Review

http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-monitors/dell-ultrasharp-2407wfp/4505-3174_7-31899303.html

Create custom screen layouts to match your current tasks.

Make use of tools which automatically open the set of software you use while developing and to automatically move them to a screen layout which you find productive.

For example, here is my "Screen cast Tutorials" layout.

Note I have my web browser visible, which is what I am giving the tutorial on. The browser automatically moves into position and is set to a 1024X768 pixel width and height. Camtasia Studio, my screen casting software, moves in and takes up the rest of the right side of my screen. Then I have a little room below my web browser on the left, so I keep a document open to take notes while I create the tutorial.

In my next posts I'll cover the software tools to make this happen.

Zen-up Your Office

Have everything you need to do your work, within your reach.

This includes any reference books, your phone (if you need one), your drinks (water and coffee are so good), your stereo volume or remote, PDA or iPhone, credit cards for web purchases, headset; basically anything you might use in a typical day.

Having a proper chair and computing environment are of utmost importance. You will work better and feel better, with less fatigued at the end of the day.

See Stanford University's Environmental Health and Safety web site, specifically their Proper Ergonomic Setup of your Computer Workstation page:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/general/ergo/compwork.html

Ambiance

If you are able, it is nice to add a pleasant atmosphere to your office.

A major boost to my own productivity and creativity came after I "Zen-up-d" my office.

I did the following:

Got rid of all extra clutter
Added a nice table-top water fountain (for less than $25 bucks)

Amazon.com: HoMedics WFL-ROCK EnviraScape Illuminated Rock Garden Relaxation Fountain: Health & Personal Care

Began burning scented candles
Began playing nice relaxing music, or really hard (depending on the day)
Splurged with my Christmas money and got myself a massage chair for about $100 bucks

Amazon.com: HoMedics SBM-300 Therapist Select Shiatsu Plus Massaging Cushion: Health & Personal Care

I did have an office fish tank once to help lower my blood pressure, but the fish kept dying, which really stressed me out.

3. Discover and document patterns

Accumulate a list of best practices for the different work you do. As you discover a better way to do something, write it down in a trusted place. Make sure you can retrieve the information by subject, task, or keyword.

If you need to do the same thing again and again, write down a checklist.

Try to follow procedures as you work. They don't have to be the "best" at first. Follow set patterns so you can tweak and improve them over time.

Re-use and improve the same code

Use mature and well tested frameworks and code libraries. I started using object oriented programming, code libraries and classes, early as web developer. As I tested, gained experienced with, and improved my code collection from project to project, I was able to build solid, well-featured web sites, fast. My code library became pretty valuable and contributed much to my building a successful interactive agency.

Following design patterns helped me solve challenges and make design decisions quickly.

Today, there are several mature frameworks which focus on building web sites and web applications.

Doing lots of web sites with similar features? Use a well-developed, full-featured, modular, and open-source CMS with a mature API. This will get you off the treadmill of struggling to add new features to your own code-driven web sites. Follow best practices when tweaking the CMS. Create modules to add custom behavior. Don't mess with the core. This will save you lots of time when upgrading sites.

See Drupal.

4. Never stop learning

The web developer career is one which requires constant learning and change. We have to study and re-study to keep up. Read web developer books, articles, white-papers, and whatever else you can get. Listen to pod casts. Sitepoint.com is one an excellent resource, with books, kits, and training videos. I expect web developers who work for me to spend at least an hour each week (on paid time) to read a developer book, browse a developer forum, or watch a tutorial. I believe an hour of learning can save up to five hours in coding.

I refer to these four books regularly during work (especially the first two) :

Amazon.com: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition: Books: Steve Krug

Amazon.com: The CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks: Books: Rachel Andrew

Amazon.com: The PHP Anthology: Object Oriented PHP Solution, Volume 1: Books: Harry Fuecks

Amazon.com: The PHP Anthology, Volume II: Applications: Books: Harry Fuecks

5. Join a web community

Becoming an active part of a web development community will improve your productivity for years to come. The benefits include:

Solving problems quickly with the help of others
Keeping up-to-date in our field
Becoming inspired
Finding tips and tricks which we might not have thought of
Helping others (and feeling good)

6. Improve your work habits

If you are able, regularly turn off your phone.
Know when to not check email.
Find your own work rhythm.
Do certain types of tasks during parts of the day which fit your energy levels.
Make use of keyboard shortcuts.

Become a master at project management. Hire a great project manager if you can.

Read the book:

Amazon.com: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: Books: David Allen

7. Get a life

Learn when to stop working.
Develop other interests outside your work and field.
Read books on a variety of subjects. History is pretty cool.
Turn the computer off!
Turn off that PDA/iPhone too.
Focus on your friends and family. People last. Web sites only live on at Archive.org.
Forget about your mission at work for awhile and explore and develop your ultimate purpose in life.
Sleep.
Socialize.

Power User Tip: Send Yourself a Quick Gmail from Firefox's Sidebar

Sean Buscay — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:31:54 +0000

Need to send yourself an email quickly, without interrupting your work flow?

Here's a Gmail tip I found on LifeHack.org. It was also published on Web Worker Daily as part of a great article titled, "10 Ways to Pimp Your Gmail."

Here's how:

(Modified slightly from the version on Web Worker)

Quick compose tip:

The Task: Set up a quick compose bookmarklet in Firefox to send an email within Gmail.

From within your Gmail account,

1) Click on "Compose Mail" in Gmail, and then click on the "New window" pop-out button on the right hand side of the compose area to bring it to a new window;

2) Once the new window has opened right-click on any part of the blue space within the opened window. In the drop down menu that opens, select "Bookmark This Page" and save it in your Bookmarks Toolbar folder.

3) Minimize the compose window. On the Firefox bookmark toolbar, right-click on the new bookmarklet you've just created, select Properties and check "Load this bookmark in the sidebar".

Now just click on this bookmarklet at any time when you want to send yourself a new task, or send someone else a quick email.

Bonus Tips:

If you want to have an email address already filled in when your compose window opens, edit the book mark URL to add the "to" value to the email link.

For example, let's say your bookmarked compose URL is something like:

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=22&ik=eff42d89al&view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&ver=uzop0vbpl38b3cissfw9n0fss#cmid%253D1

Then add the following to your URL:

to=addresstosendto@gmail.com&

Right after the:

http://mail.google.com/mail/?

and before the:

ui=22&ik=eff42d89al&view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&ver=uzop0vbpl38b3cissfw9n0fss#cmid%253D1

Your final URL will look like:

http://mail.google.com/mail/?to=name@gmail.com&ui=2&ik=ef89al&view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&ver=uzop9n0fss#cmid%253D1

If you want a quick way to send email to yourself, and want to use Google's alias feature (say, "myusername+mytodolist@gmail.com"), then you can add the following instead:

to=name%2Bmytodolist@gmail.com&

Making your final URL look like:

http://mail.google.com/mail/?to=name%2Bmytodolist@gmail.com&ui=2&ik=ef89al&view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&ver=uzop9n0fss#cmid%253D1

Hope these tips help you in your daily work. You can add several pre-addressed quick compose bookmarklets.

Get Things Done with Microtasks for Daily Work with Well Defined Paths to Completion

Sean Buscay — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:17:01 +0000

Steve Pavlina over at Personal Development for Smart People proposes a solution to avoiding the “enormous blob of complexity” when working on large projects. Many of the regular projects we work on daily have an already well defined path to completion. Steve proposes breaking those types of projects “down into a lengthy list of ‘microtasks,’ planning it all the way from beginning to end if possible”. In doing this preplanning upfront, we can move into the project and just flow from microtask to microtask until completion (next action to next action for us GTD users).

Steve wrote an example list of microtasks involved in writing a new blog article. You can find his original steps here: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/microtasks/

I have modified his list for my own purposes. Below is Steve’s list with my modifications highlighted in yellow.

Writing a new blog article.

The steps are in sequential order:

Define a primary objective for the article (inform, persuade, entertain, or inspire).
Brainstorm topic ideas, or review the list of reader-submitted topic suggestions, starred and shared Google reader items, recent delicious links, article ideas in someday list.
Select a topic.
Do a quick and dirty, free-form writing session to get ideas down without regard to structure.
Decide how to organize the ideas for clarity (chronological, topical, hierarchical, sequential, etc).
Sort the output of #4 based on the desired structure. Define the main sections and subsections.
Identify supporting material to include (examples, analogies, quotes, statistics, images, stories, links, Wikipedia, etc), and add it to the outline.
- Checkhttp://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/where-to-find-g.html
- http://www.sxc.hu/
Refine the outline from #6 and #7 for completeness and balance.
Expand each section of the outline into paragraphs (and bullet lists if appropriate).
Insert meaningful subheadings into the article.
Write the opening.
Write the closing.
Edit the article for content, clarity, and conciseness.
Spell-check the article.
Brainstorm possible titles for the article (clear, interesting, keyword-rich).
Select a title.
Select blog categories for the article.
- Look at delicious for examples
- Look at technorati for examples
Decide when to post the article (now or future-post).
Publish the article.
- Post with Live writer or on-line editor.
- View post on-line.
- Look for display problems.
- Verify tags and images are fine.
Tag with delicious, digg, and other places.
Email and tell people you know who would be interested in the article.
After the article has been online for several hours, evaluate reader feedback and fix any reported typos.
Make sure I am subscribed to all places this article might receive a comment on.
- My own blog
- Digg
- Delicious
- Technorati
Set date to check back on article in one month for stats.
- See who’s linking.
- See where other traffic is coming from.
- See what search phrases land people on the article.
- Evaluate opportunities for further promoting.

--modified from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/microtasks/
--(used by permission)

Steve Pavlina has a number of great articles on his blog Steve Pavlina's Personal Development for Smart People . Another favorite of mine is Freeing Mental RAM at: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/08/freeing-mental-ram/ .