Whether you are a budding web developer or a professional, having a few tricks and tips in the back pocket, always helps boost existing web development skills. Web development basically refers to creating a website, either for the intranet or the internet. But we know that, the definition does not do justice to the amount of thought process and work web developers put behind creating beautiful websites. Read through these tried and tested tips, tricks and tools to enhance your existing know-how:
1. Always Follow the Single Responsibility Principle
“I will have a great time, going back through my codes just to figure out, that one tiny mistake that has broken everything,” said No Developer Ever. If you plan to skip the whole tedious and time-consuming process ensure that every single object in the code – has a single function to perform. This way if anything goes wrong, you won’t have a difficult time figuring out what isn’t working.
2. Put Together Your Very Own Collection of Typographic Palettes
Web developers are aware that the most important aspect of their designs is the fonts. Fonts have the power to raise a mediocre design to great heights, when done right, or also to make really good web designs appear average, when done wrong. So, having a collection of your own and constantly expanding on the same will always help amp up your design skills. There are so many resources out there which you can explore, including FontPark and FontSquirrel, offering thousands and thousands of free fonts.
3. Organizing Right: The Way to Go
For developers who are working in teams at various website design companies, it becomes imperative that their files are organized. The PSDs, FLAs and other files need to be organized, the layers should be named and the codes should have comments on them. This makes it easier for anyone else who is taking over, to understand what you had been up to. Not following these simple steps, would result in time being wasted and the projects delayed. Make it a habit, to follow these minor steps that have a big impact on the flow of work, especially if you are a part of a team.
4. Enjoy the Freedom
In the world of internet, in today’s day and age, there are plenty of resources available for no cost at all. Don’t forget to go out and grab them and make your designs look great. To start with, you could include in your virtual suitcase, free photo-shop ready options which will save you a lot of time. Whether it be really cool images, icons or backgrounds, you can trust the web to provide it to you. Needless to say, you could also avail of free code-snippets along with a little inspiration for your designs. When used right, these resources can make a great difference.
5. Get Insights into the Use of Color
As a web developer, Adobe Kuler, is your go-to resource, to create and get the best color palettes and take your designs to a whole another level. If you are looking for more inspiration in the color and design department, you could make your presence felt on Color Lovers. The community is about patterns, palettes, colors and truckloads of ah-ha moments!
Attempt to keep yourselves constantly updated with what’s new and what’s available, to save yourself the sweat and those precious hours, which could be wasted on going about things through the tedious path. Simple hacks and tricks make it easy and get you the results you desire. Go ahead and splash your designs for the world to see!