I’m constantly changing the way I work and trying to make my workflow as smooth and quick as possible. I’m always interested in how others work, so I thought I’d share what works for me. Feel free to share yours in the comments!

I make use of OSX’s spaces feature, so I have three different “desktops”. One for development, one for surfing/email and one for client/task management.

Desktop 1

My space for development work, I like to keep Coda open on the main window, and Photoshop open on the secondary menu so I can what I’m coding. I also like to keep the entire week’s worth of PSDs that need coding open at once, so I can see how much longer I have to go.

Desktop 2

Used for the browser and email, it allows me to check sites quickly, while clicking on links in the email and RSS without swapping desktops. I now prefer to use Chrome for all browsing and development. The built-in web tools are fantastic, and a lot faster loading than Firefox. When in testing mode, I’ll also have VMWare Fusion open here.

Desktop 3

Used for all the boring business stuff. I’ve got iCal open on the right for my client and personal schedules. I also keep Wunderlist open behind it for personal to-do items. On the right, I keep Billings open to track time, estimates and invoices.

What about you guys? Have you found something that works quickly for you?

There was a lot less sponsor goodies this year, but they were holding some great sponsor activities, including two photo contests. I kissed a gnome in one and threw a canoe with Mitch Canter of Studionashvegas in another.

Some Good Times

I loved hanging out with Courtenay Rogers, who’s I’ve worked with before while she was at Primarily Rye, and has now brought me on the redesign of her new employer’s site, Bone McAllistor Norton. She did a beautiful job of organizing the event.

I also got to meet a Seth Green look-a-like and the guys from Industry Collective, which are a group of fantastic web professionals, who always make the coolest swag and come up with all of the fun Barcamp giveaways. This is where I ended up kissing the gnome. Cross your fingers and wish me well in winning an iPad2…I wants it!

It was nice catching up with some other local freelancers I know well, Brad Blackman and Mitch Canter. It’s crazy how I’m literally 20-30 minutes away from these guys and we never talk!

Build a Native iPhone App in 30 Minutes or Less by Dick Pepper

I got in late to this one, but Dick was just telling us about using hybrid apps, which are apps that are build using HTML/CSS and placed into the Objective C framework, so that you can still have an app in the app store.

If you go this route, he suggested using UI frameworks, like Sencha or Webkit, to get the look and feel of an actual app.

Some frameworks tie into Objective C and are ideal for presentation focused apps. Content rich apps work better in HTML5. The cool thing about doing a hybrid app, is that you only have to support one browser and you can use all of webkit’s features, which makes the code a lot shorter.

UX Leadership: See, Speak Share by Laurie Kalmanson

Laurie spoke of everyday objects that had great UX: like the recent trend for car manufacturers to attach the gas cap to the car so drivers don’t forget it; or when a microwave beeps to alert you to finish food and then stays quiet. She noted that when machines got out of the way and did it politely, that was what a good user experience was. Good UX should be delightful and solve problems. It should also give people things they’ve never seen or imagined before.

Interfaces have beats like songs and in mobile, there are so many ways you can delight and surprise your users. Laurie pointed out some popular apps that have bad UX design, for example, Twitter’s header, Facebook’s privacy settings page and Google’s Gmail header.

The difference between IA and UX, are that IA’s (information architects) create outline focused designs, whereas those focusing on UX (user experience) include the visual design.

Let’s Talk About WordPress by Mitch Canter

A good introduction to WordPress, Mitch talked about reducing WordPress download times. He mentioned that the small additional server load that accompanies permalinks without the numerical date in the URL will be fixed in WordPress 3.3 (yay!). A use of a CDN (content delivery network), while ranging around $40 a month, dramatically reduces load time.

You should also use a caching plugin, which is a static screenshot of the site. He recommended W3 Total Cache. I stopped using WP Super Cache after I redid the portfolio and went ahead and tried out W3 Total Cache with his recommendation. It works right out of the box, which I like.

In WordPress, if you change the title you don’t have to change the URL. If you do however, you should use the plugin Redirection to set up htaccess redirects and avoid 404 errors.

Someone asked if the date in the URL was important to SEO, and Mitch replied it wasn’t that important.

Another user asked if there was an issue with having too many plugins – Mitch said a famously fast site had over 40 plugins installed. It’s not how many plugins you have, but how bloated the code in those plugins are. It’s the external calls to things like APIs that slow a site down.

Best Practices: The Worst Case Scenario by Josh Oakes

Josh Oakes did a fantastic talk on best practices. He stated that best practices aren’t what everyone else is doing, a consensus reality or what you call your opinion to end an argument. Instead, best practices is a standard way of doing things that can be used by people in different situations.

However, best practices have three problems:

1. Specificity – What happens if you can’t adopt these practices? Best practices can not account for the unique knowledge required for or details of a problem.
2. Baggage – Best practices bring baggage, for example, if it’s your punch list, you might state your goal, go through your list in a straight line and then bring in the assumptions and constraints that your best practice was designed for.
3. Process – Doesn’t inclue anywhere to see if it actually worked. Best practices don’t help you to improve. It makes you really good at seeing problems that aren’t there and tricks you into thinking your work is good enough and needs no improvement.

To keep best practices from ruining a project, consider them, don’t just implement them at the start of a project.

Innovation is a byproduct: Why you don’t have to be innovative to be a great programmer by Jacques Woodcock

A fantastic rambling of a sem-drunk Jacques (hey it was the end of the day!), Jacques spoke about what innovation was and who had it. He said innovation could be a new idea, method or device or the creation of something better accepted by markets. Innovative companies include Apple, Tesla, Google, Disney, Nike and Whole Foods.

He also discussed a few flots: WebTV, AOL, Blockbusters, New Coke, HP Touchpad and the Zune (my contribution!).

What separates innovation from flops is the creation of a better process that solves the problem and has a great user experience. Apple doesn’t invent products, but instead creates a better product.

The US is no longer a product based economy, but is an IP, copyright and patents country. You used to have to invent something to get a patent, instead now you can just detail it on paper and be the first to file. This, unfortunately, covers software and forces smaller companies to compete in a race against larger ones.

Back to Apple! Jacques mentioned that both Android and the iPhone were innovative, they just solved different problems. Apple focuses on UX problems and providing rich features, while Android wanted to provide solutions, features and a quality competitive item.

In order to have an innovative solution, you need to understand the business goals of a company.

glass.Max() = The Rise of the Female Developer/Leader

Moderated by Kenneth White, this was the first talk I’ve ever participated in! It was basically a panel of me and three other great ladies and we talked about getting into the tech field and the issues with being a female in a male dominated sector. I’m still looking for audio or video of our talk, so if you know someone who recorded it, please let me know!

Did you enjoy Barcamp?

Feel free to share your thoughts and photos!

Images by Dave Delaney and Wonderdawg777

I’ve recently cleaned it up with the launch of WordPress 3.0 and thought I’d give it to you guys for free. It’s basically the core files, cleaned up, with all the nonsense divs removed, a basic structure and some basic CSS.

Have fun!

You can now Download Hijinks Version 2.6 from Github

Any requests or bugs? Let me know and I’ll get on it

Old Changelog

Features in V 2.6

• Cleaned up CSS
• Removed extra HTML
• Indented head elements for easier reading
• Added sample custom post types w/ sample custom taxonomies applied

Features in V 2.5

• Removed Timthumb
• Added Post Thumbnails
• Cleaned up CSS

Features in V 2.4

• Fixed error in search.php template
• Cleaned up comments.php code

Features in V 2.3

• Added comments template into single.php
• Cleaned up/shortened CSS reset

Features in V 2.2

• Basic Comments Styling (Avoids the ugly stock styling)
• Alphabetical ordering of declarations in CSS

Features in V 2.1

• Removal of container div – now harnessing HTML/Body tags as container & cleaner code!
• Shortening of  CSS Reset
• Added more elements to CSS

Features in V 2.0

• HTML5 compliant!
• HTML5 header components
• Cleaned up code
• Removal of some branded areas
• Timthumb support
• WordPress 3 menu support (functions file)

Features in V 1.1

• Bug Fix – PHP errors in Search template

Features in V 1.0

• XHTML 1.0 compliant
• CSS Reset
• Stripped Loops, Divs
• Custom search form w/ javascript text remove on click
• Built-in functions: Multiple excerpt lengths, except removed [...],  sidebar

I’ve never been a big fan of video on the web either, since I’m never at my computer unless I’m working so I never have time to watch. However, upon learning that Think Vitamin created a new membership service, called Think Vitamin Membership, I was immediately interested.

Read the rest of my post on FreelanceFolder

There are certain things this nerd goes really nerdy for – books, stuff in antique stores, dresses, interior design, Apple products and — notebooks. Yes, I have a strange attraction to notebooks.

I enjoying trying out and collecting different kinds of notebooks. I’m not talking about the plain ruled kind you’d use at school, although those classics always work in a pinch, but I’m talking about the classy kind that make you feel like an intellectual just for owning one.

I will say my nerdiness is slightly redeemed by admitting to that fact that for all of my time spent collecting and money spent buying, I never keep the notebooks once they’re filled up. As a matter of fact I’ll often get bored of a notebook and want to move on about halfway through, relishing the moment when I finally fill up that last line so I can pitch it in the trash and try another.

I’ve traditionally used my notebook for two main things and have recently added a third item to the list.

1. The main thing they’re used for is when I’m busy developing a site. I tend to fill up a good two pages with the names and dimensions of the necessary image and div sizes as well as text sizes and styles. This has sped up my development time so much, I never code without it.
2. The second use I’ve found is for a to-do list. There’s nothing more satisfying than handwriting those tasks and drawing a huge fat lime trough them when I’m done. To-do apps just don’t do it for me in this area.
3. The new use I’ve found for the notebooks actually involves writing. I’ve been doing a lot if writing lately, as I’m currently working on one printed book and just finished two ebooks.

Writing articles, books and use the notebooks for dev is really easy. I don’t even have to have a lined notebook. Finding something perfect to write a to-do list on, however, is a bit more difficult. Recently, I’ve been going around purchasing some popular notebooks to see how’d they work for writing my to-dos.

Moleskin

The traditional notebook of all artists, the Moleskin has always been one of my favorite (I’ve got the Limited Edition Pacman version you see above). While I love writing in this book, it’s definitely the most expensive out of all the notebooks I’ve ever bought, making it uneconomical and wasteful to just write to-dos in. Fantastic for your blog posts and dev pages though.

Field Notes

Inexpensive and tiny, Field Notes is great for carrying around. The brand sells these tiny notebooks in three different papers: graph, lined and blank, and a myriad of colors. The make the colors collectible and you can even subscribe to them. While I like their look and feel, the pages start falling apart once you reach the lsat quarter of the book. Also, I still think the notebook size itself makes it wasteful for a to-do list, which is typically one column long. This notebook is ok for doing dev work on, but definitely too small for writing articles in. I probably won’t buy anymore once I run out.

Behance Action Runner

My first impression of the Behance Action Runner? This is gonna be one sexy to-do list! With it’s velour black on black cover and surdy design, I can’t wait to have something to write in here. You can order the spiral notebook in three different Pantone colors, and the front of the page is the checklist while the back has Behance’s dot matrix grid for writing or sketching. A little pricey at $8.50 for each notebook (of about 30 pages), but looks like it’ll be well worth it.

Muji

The Muji memo pad, cheapest of the notebooks at $1.75 for 40 pages, is a paired down version of the Behance Action Runner. It’s small, but sturdy, has has a see-through plastic cover. The Muji seems to be better fit for longer lists than the Action Runner, although it includes a regular bound, so it may end up being less durable.

Predictions

I’ve yet to try out any of the to-do list notebooks yet. I regret deciding to take the weekend off the week these arrived. However, I’m already starting to think the Action Runner is going to be my favorite. It’s just too swanky looking. Somebody give me some chores to write down!

Know Of More To-Do List Notebooks or Just Some Cool Notebooks in General?

Please share with me!!

I’m going to break this article into three sections: on the web, on the Mac and off the Mac; which will allow me to explain the various different ways you can make sure to get your website or application working perfectly on any browser, no matter what the crappy IE throws at you.

On The Web

I’ve tried a few different web applications that allow me to check out how the site looks in IE. Although web applications give you more browsers you can test in for free, it also has the set back in being that they’re only screenshots. But a lot of times you only need to get a quick screenshot anyways, so web apps are the fastest way to get them.

BrowserShots

Browsershots isn’t the prettiest web app, but it’s the most extensive way of testing your site without having to own and install every single browser known to man. It’s one of the first apps I found for testing, and was pretty useful for awhile, especially when you’re in a pinch.

Basically, you put in the address of the site you want to test and then select which browsers you want a screenshot in. The major downside to this, is that there isn’t a computer running the screenshots, it’s people taking the shots for you. Which means you’ll have to wait anywhere from 10-30+ minutes for the screenshots. Not helpful when you’re in the middle of developing.

Adobe BrowserLab

Adobe BrowserLab is was my favorite way of testing my websites before I found VMWare. It requires an Adobe account (which is free), and while they claimed this wouldn’t be free for long over a year ago, it still is.

You can create custom browser lists that will automatically check the website you input in. These are also screenshots, but are automated, which means you get your shots in less than a minute. This service is the next best thing to a real browser.

On The Mac

Being able to test in Internet Explorer is pretty much the best way to do it. You don’t have to leave your computer, you get a real browsing experience versus screenshots, and you can test animations and rollovers.

VMWare Fusion

VMWare Fusion has to be the coolest app I’ve ever come across, and the best way to test your sites. The allow a 30-day free trial and the app is on sale right now for $45. I’m still in the free trial period, but I can definitely say that I’m going to purchase it as soon as the trial’s over.

Basically, VMWare Fusion allows you to install a virtual version of Windows on your Mac. That means in addition to purchasing Fusion, you’ll also need to have a copy of Windows.

I was able to install VMWare Fusion and a copy of Windows 7 Home Edition in less than 30 minutes with no problems at all. The OS runs very quickly and smoothly, and feels like I’m actually using a Windows machine (besides that fact it doesn’t, you know, crash every 5 seconds). You can then install any Windows programs you like and be able to test your sites in anything.

So far, I haven’t installed any addition software since IE8 allows you to test in IE7 as well. But who knows what crazy browsers you’re forced to support.

Off The Mac

Sometimes you have an old crappy Windows laptop laying around (last count, we had 3!) that really isn’t good for anything. If you can at least get it running somewhat, you can use that as a testing machine, if you’re not wanting to spend the money on installing a virtual version on the Mac. This is probably the next best way to test your sites next to VMWare, but it also comes with it’s drawbacks. Mainly, you need a Windows laptop lying around, and you’ll often have to leave your desk or move around to use it.

IETester

IETester is a very  helpful (yet somewhat crash-prone) app that allows you to test several versions of IE all from one app. That means you don’t have to install multiple versions of IE or anything.

It’s free to download and use and pretty easy to set up. The sites look and act just like they would in a real install of IE.

Multiple IE

I used Multiple IE for the longest time at my old places of employment. It’s pretty useful, although now that I know there’re better options, I don’t really recommended it anymore, simply because it’s a pain to get working right. You also have to install several versions of IE, and last I heard it doesn’t work on any operating systems newer than XP.

Your Thoughts

What do you use to test in IE on a Mac?