Not a designer? Here’s how to make your web apps look awesome | SaaS Adventures As mentioned before, I am not a natural designer, and my previous design attempts resulted in physical illness for anyone unfortunate enough to view them. This is not an ideal state of affairs when one wants to sell to the general public. Luckily, there are a few methods you can use to stop yourself from visually poisoning potential customers. By far the easiest is to outright cheap and buy a theme. I contacted the authors of the two themes (from ThemeForest) that I use in TweetingMachine, and they agreed to me showing you their themes’ details. Agencia – Theme for the Marketing Pages There are loads of great themes for SaaS apps out there: just take a look at the Freemium SaaS I HTML Theme and its counterpart here – instant greatness for those without the talent or, perhaps, the time. So, I’ve paid for Agencia, downloaded the theme, let’s take a look at what I got: Help Section is simple enough: it contains a help file that explains how to best use the theme: Here’s the header:
You are NOT a Software Engineer! - chrisaitchison.com You are not a Software Engineer. You do not build skyscrapers. You do not build bridges. You grow gardens. You are a Software Gardener. Do you try to plan your gardens in such detail that you know where each leaf will be positioned before you plant a single seed? You probably have a good idea of what your garden should look like a week into the future. If you were building a bridge or a skyscraper and you told me, before you began, that you knew exactly how it would look when it was finished – I would believe you. So why do so many gardens fail, yet so many skyscrapers succeed? Remember that time when someone in your company unsuccessfully used an Agile gardening methodology, and then went around saying that it was horse shit that doesn’t work? Unlike a skyscraper, your garden will grow weeds. In most countries, Engineers need a license to build a bridge. I am a Software Gardener. So are you.
Leveling Up: Career Advancement for Software Developers | Peter Lyons Table of Contents Introduction TL;DR -> Click here to jump to the first real point if you hate introductions This guide explains in detail the three key pillars to achieving success in a large software company. increased salaryincreased non-salary financial benefits such as bonuses and stock optionspromotionsthe ability to pick and choose your own projects and teammatescontrol over your working arrangements flexible timeworking from homeincreased desirability in the job marketthe sense of accomplishment and pride that comes from doing good work(hopefully) the respect and admiration of your peers The purpose of the guide is to help developers quickly become highly valuable to their organization, and to therefore get promotions, raises, and quality of work benefits on an accelerated time line. Audience This guide is intended for professional software developers. Professional software developers...in junior positions...working in large software companies Scope of This Guide Thoughts on Salary
Clean Up Your Mess - A Guide to Visual Design for Everybody 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work « How to get organized, how to be productive, GTD, Swift To-Do List tips and tricks – Dextronet Blog UPDATE July 28, 2011: If you need to trick yourself into writing (blog post, article, book, etc), then read the Accidental Genius summary. UPDATE April 29, 2011: There is a new post Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon if you want to trick yourself into achieving goals. In order to be successful, we have to work hard, no matter what. We can’t always be at the mercy of our motivation. I am lazy. I will mention my own software, a task and notes organizer Swift To-Do List, in 2 of these tricks, but these tricks can be done with other programs (or pen and paper) too. When I really don’t feel like working, and it would take a superhuman force to get me working, this saves me. Actually, I think what follows is the best way of fooling yourself to work, because it works so well. So what’s the trick? I tell myself that I will merely write down the steps needed to complete the task. When I am thinking about how to accomplish the task, I am already actually accomplishing it. Fake relaxation sucks.
How to become an Android developer? Despite the fact that I have partially answered that in one of my earlier posts (Is it hard to become an Android developer…?) – I am still getting a lot of questions asking me how to become an Android developer. It is why I have decided to write about this once again. I know that the hardest in Android development is the beginning. Few (easy) steps… So lets start from the beginning. Prepare the environment – it was really hard to me. And that’s it! Conclusion… It may be looking very straightforward when you look on those six little steps.
The Most Critical Hour of Your Day: How to Set Yourself Up for Success Every hour lasts sixty minutes. But not all hours are really equal. Sometimes, those sixty minutes will pass almost unnoticed while you’re racing through work, “in flow”. Sometimes, those sixty minutes will drift away while you surf the internet, flick from channel to channel on the TV, and struggle to get started. The really critical hour, though, is the first one of your day. Why Hour One Matters So Much Bad days tend to start off poorly. Hour One matters because it sets the tone for what’s to come. Conversely, if you spend the first hour of your day bogged down in trivia or rushing to catch up, you may well find that you get more and more behind. Getting the first hour right will set you up for success – and keep you on track towards your goals. The First Hour: Life Your day starts when you wake up. Doing some exerciseSpending a few minutes sitting quietly, perhaps meditatingEating a healthy breakfast, ideally involving protein (e.g. egg or milk) and wholegrain The First Hour: Work
Fragrant Home: 13 Simmering Pot Recipes Simmering potpourri is a lovely way to make your home smell warm and inviting, especially during the holiday season when you use fragrant spices like cinnamon and cloves. Cinnamon Sticks, Orange Slices & Spices How It Works: Just fill a pot with water, add your favorite ingredients and simmer all day. This also helps humidify the home a bit. The recipes below are just guidelines, you can use different amounts and mix up ingredients as you like. Save: Orange, lemon and lime peels, apple skins (dry them out first before storing in a container) and add assorted spices. Directions: Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Caution: Set your timer for 30 minutes so you remember to top up with water. Recipe #1 Cinnamon sticks Apple peels Orange rinds Whole cloves Apple juice Cinnamon sticks Whole cloves Vanilla (a few drops) Orange peels #4 – Christmas Potpourri Simmering Pot 2 TBS whole cloves 2 cinnamon sticks 5 star anise 1 orange peel Whole cloves 1 tsp nutmeg Winter Freshener: For the Oven:
How to build discipline and brainwash yourself with the Greatest Secret in the World At the beginning of 2010, I started reading a book called The Greatest Secret in the World which is basically a motivational book that teaches you to brainwash yourself The book was originally written in the 1960s as a motivational tool for salespeople, and was titled The Greatest Salesman in the World. It was republished later as The Greatest Secret in the World, due to its wide appeal beyond the world of sales. Despite the title, the book bears no resemblance to The Secret; you won’t be conjuring up your dreams by invocation of the “Law of Attraction” or any such nonsense. The basic idea is pretty simple, actually: to repeatedly read some short passages about important concepts like time management or avoiding procrastination. The book is made up of ten “scrolls” which are 2-3 page sections based on a principle, like “Today, I will be master of my emotions.” or “Today, I will multiply my value a hundredfold.” So would I read this book again? I know what you’re thinking: “Well, duh.
The first step is to start Many people ask me, “How can I get started in web design?” or, “What skills do I need to start making web applications?” While it would be easy to recommend stacks of books, and dozens of articles with 55 tips for being 115% better than the next guy, the truth is that you don’t need learn anything new in order to begin. The most important thing is simply to start. Start making something. If you want to learn web design, make a website. Start with what you already know If you want to build something on the web, don’t worry about learning HTML, CSS, Ruby, PHP, SQL, etc. You probably don’t even know what skills you need, so don’t worry about it. You can do a lot of the work with simple sketches or slides. Avoid self doubt Many times the reasons we don’t start something have nothing to do with lack of skills, materials, or facilities. “The beginning of adolescence seems to mark the abrupt end of artistic development in terms of drawing skills for many adults. Do—there is no try
Andy's Most Useful Knots Before we start, one word about orientation: on the left, there are links to the multiple pages in this series. This first page contains my selection of "essential knots"—those that I recommend for anyone to learn if they would like to acquire a "Swiss Army Knife" collection of knots for every purpose. If you'd like a list to orient yourself, you can always visit the Knots Index. The page called "optional knots" presents knots that I also count among the most useful, and the other pages contain other material (such as less common knots or alternate ways of tying common knots) for those who would like to dig deeper into the world of knots. I hope you enjoy your visit. If you do, I always appreciate it when someone shares the site, links to it or adds it to their bookmarks. What Knots Should I Know? I needed a collection of knots that was like a Swiss-Army knife. Learning how to tie a few knots is probably one of the best ways to invest your time. Knot References Ready? Best Sliding Loop
Build a BBQ Smoker for Under $50 I have gone to great lengths to build a smoker like this and have failed. The temperature control (and thermostat that cuts the plate on and off) is on the hot plate which is (surprise) in the bottom of the smoker and very inaccessible. It's just just a matter of setting the hot plate to "7" or whatever and walking away. I found that the temperature varied greatly as with sun, wind, and ambient temperature. The other issue I ran into was that hotplates just aren't made for this kind of work. Long story short, it's a great idea, but the hot plate is the biggest weakness.