Any Web Designers/Developers?

elderkai

Hello all. I've recently started dabbling with design and development. Not sure why, but all of a sudden I got a huge spark of interest for it. Currently I'm about to start a project for a client which will help me get more comfortable with wordpress and give me the motivation to learn even more.

Basically, I was just wondering if there were people here who did it for a job or just out of fun, and if you do it would be nice if we could talk about it here. Common ways of accomplishing things, words of insight, etc.

paul78

I used to do it for a job. But I haven't in many years. Very recently, (about 2 hours ago ), I started to dabble in it again - but for fun. My interest however isn't web-based application but on CUDA-based applications.

I think there are actually a few developers on TE so I'm sure there would be interest.

elderkai

I'm doing it for fun, too, but I'm helping this guy and his wife out by making a site for them. Money helps the motivation, though.

What is it like developing CUDA-based applications? Can you give any examples? Just curious.

paul78

elderkai wrote: »

What is it like developing CUDA-based applications?

I have no idea I literally just downloaded the platform tools this evening. First hurdle - installing the drivers - doesn't seem to like my funky Linux OS.

I was planning to play around with CyptoHaze to start - https://www.cryptohaze.com/wiki/index.php/Cryptohaze_Multiforcer - if you are interested.

But I had an interest in developing a real-time simple moving average calculator for components of the DOW 30. And I was curious of CUDA processing could be used.

NotHackingYou

I can help with HTML/CSS and JavaScript. If you used Microsoft I could help with C# too.

computer g33k

This should help you out with wordpress.

101 Essential Free WordPress Resources for Building Your WordPress Website - WPMU.org

Slowhand

I started dabbling with HTML 4, CSS2, and JavaScript when I first began my IT journey. I started working with programs like Dreamweaver and tinkered a little bit with Photoshop and Fireworks, but didn't stray too deeply into the design-portion of web technologies. I began tinkering with ASP 3.0 (Classic), and really took to creating dynamic content and finally broken down and learned SQL in order to better work with back-end databases. Once Visual Studio 2005 came out, I was pretty much hooked on ASP.NET. I'd intially started out using VB.NET since I had taken a VB6 class back in 2000 or so, but I quickly moved to C# since it was familiar territory, syntax-wise, to JavaScript and the little bit of tinkering I'd done with C++. In recent years, I've started doing some C++ projects, taken some classes, and it's really opened up my eyes to a whole new world of geekery.

I did some one-off gigs here and there, designing websites for small clients and a few for friends/family, nothing major. I got some good use out of pretty much all my skills, doing everything from revamping existing sites to creating brand-new sales and company sites from scratch. (This book was a life-saver, as was the rest of the Wrox series.) To tell the truth, I'd probably still be doing web-work if it wasn't for the headache of holy-wars when it comes to browser-preferences.

There are two things I can tell you for sure: 1) Learn your fundamentals, and 2) don't underestimate web technologies in the grand scheme of programming and software development. . .


On the first point, don't rely exclusively on tools like Wordpress, Visual Studio, Dreamweaver, etc. to do all your work for you. They're great and they help you organize your thoughts and manage your content, but you HAVE to know the fundamental languages they're writing underneath the hood. XHTML/HTML 5 should be second-nature and you should be able to write it in Notepad if you have to, CSS goes hand-in-hand with HTML. JavaScript and a server-side language are also going to be useful. It's easy to forget how much happens behind the scenes when you're using something like Wordpress, and when the tool breaks the code, you're really, REALLY screwed. Not to mention there's nothing quite like being able to tweak things 'just so' in case you can't quite get it right when working with the front-end management utility. That's not to say you shouldn't use Wordpress, or any other tool like it, as heavily as you can. Just have the knowledge you need in your back pocket so you're not just tinkering with a 'black box' on the back-end.

The second point depends on how much hands-on work you want to do, and how deeply you want to go into things like ASP.NET, PHP, or any other more advanced web-development language. If you want to make the jump to creating web applications and services, (and you strike me as the kind of guy who wouldn't be content to just tinker with a WYSIWYG forever,) then learning to create that software is essential. A lot of people underestimate web development as being 'easier' than creating other applications, but it can be just as challenging. Now that I'm working my way up the compsci ladder, dabbling with objects, algorithms, data structures, etc., I'm looking back at the time I spent trying to create server-side web-code and smacking my forehead. It would have been SO much easier to create some of those web apps back then if I'd had real, solid programming theory under my belt.


I hope that helps. I don't know how far down this rabbit-hole you want to go, but it's just about as bottomless as any other type of development.

elderkai

That was a great post, Slowhand. I'm not using wordpress to neglect anything else. I'm using it mainly because I know it'll be easy for the client to make updates themselves. I'm designing and doing the CSS for it myself and trying to make it act less blog-like, but still having that function. After this project, though, I plan on messing around with Joomla or Drupal to learn them and for fun. That and catching up on HTML5 more. ^.^