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so you want to be a web designer? »

web designer (common state of being)Spending hours hammering a site into submission, to be valid code, yet look the same on IE6, 7, 8, FF, Opera, Safari, Flock, Netscape, Camino, and god forbid, AOL. Yeah, it’s what we do.

Dealing with slow paying clients, clueless clients, and the dreaded “I know how to make a web page” clients. Signing a contract with specifications for a web site, then having the client ask for more and more, and think that it was included in the original specification. Yup, all part of the profession.

Having a client send you chocolate. Having one send you an extra $100 in their payment, with a note saying “thanks for all the hard work”. One nice part of the career you have chosen. Rare, but nice.

Reading and reading and surfing and reading some more, just to stay on top of the “latest”. Learning to code properly, learning the latest CMS, learning scripting code. Learning to say no. Learning to set business hours for clients to contact you (you learn this early on, they WILL call at 11pm if you answer an email at that time.) And then… more reading. Blogs, tweets, books, pdfs, videos.

Advice? yeah… I’ll be dispensing some here on these pages, links, business advice for web designers, especially those noobs who are getting laid off from their jobs these days, and figure, “hey it’s not all that hard, I have a copy of frontpage or dreamweaver, let’s hang out a shingle!”. Yeah, you people.

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If your WordPress gets hacked »

This recently happened to Chris over at CSS-Tricks.com (a great site awash with tutorials and other helps; subscribe by RSS and also in iTunes). It looks like it’s caused him some Google problems at least temporarily, but his action steps are a great guide for if your WordPress site is hacked or otherwise security-compromised. In his case, it was a database attack.

45 Incredibly Useful Web Design Checklists and Questionnaires | Developer’s Toolbox | Smashing Magazine »

45 Incredibly Useful Web Design Checklists and Questionnaires | Developer’s Toolbox | Smashing Magazine.

Web designer or want to be one? »

I came across this excellent post the other day on Twitter, dragged it off to read on my break, and just find it perfect. Are you thinking of making a career in web design and development? Read it. Are you currently a professional web designer and frustrated with prospective clients who want it all on the cheap? Read it.

Just read it. And tell me your solution — how you address this phenomenon — in the comments (please).

Wordpress 2.8 And 10 Things That You Should Know Before/After You Upgrade »

Wordpress 2.8 And 10 Things That You Should Know Before/After You Upgrade.

Poll results: WordPress 2.8 is released »

A random sampling of web designers was asked to react to the news that WordPress 2.8 was being released 10 June (2009). Here are the results:

Question 1: Will you immediately download it and upgrade existing sites?
100% answered “no”.

Question 2 asked (if replying “no”) why not? (One could check more than one box.)

4.3% don’t use WordPress currently
87% like to see a new version in use for a while for any bugs to work themselves out
4.3% will wait to see if clients contact them about it
21.7% will advise clients of the upgrade and then wait for clients’ contact
4.3% don’t like what they’ve heard or seen about the new upgrade

Freeform responses (”other”) included these observations:

  • Upgrades aren’t “knee-jerk automatic” as the upgrade needs to demonstrate that it’s going to really improve their (the clients’) sites or offer maintenance and/or security improvements.
  • Plugins are a concern. Will the new version break any?
  • Several mentioned that they’ll install it in their own “sandbox areas” to see any changes/improvements for themselves, but won’t necessarily move beyond that (for reasons mentioned above).

Thanks to all who participated. We hope to make this a regular feature.

New Screencast: Building a Photo Gallery »

New Screencast: Building a Photo Gallery.

oooooo good stuff since someone on the list is always asking about a gallery or such

WPtouch: Mobile Plugin + Theme for WordPress ↔ BraveNewCode Inc. »

WPtouch: Mobile Plugin + Theme for WordPress ↔ BraveNewCode Inc..

Now this one looks good.

Top 10 Tutorials for Converting PSDs to HTML/CSS »

Top 10 Tutorials for Converting PSDs to HTML/CSS.

» 30 Essential PDF Documents Every Designer Should Download :: Positive Space Blog »

» 30 Essential PDF Documents Every Designer Should Download :: Positive Space Blog.

meh

WordPress Developer’s Toolbox | Developer’s Toolbox | Smashing Magazine »

WordPress Developer’s Toolbox | Developer’s Toolbox | Smashing Magazine.

Soe excellent things here, some that those list members who always require others to do their research for them might well want to read.