As I have been growing as a developer something major has occurred to me. It is not about how much you know that makes you a great web developer but more of what you have experienced being one. For example, if you have a task at hand that requires you to do something you have done in the past, remembering the obstacles and what made it work will give you an edge. A website like CSS-Tricks makes me think of this as its inception was so Chris could keep up with common things he found while becoming better at CSS. For myself, this spreads out to all different types of projects as a freelance developer.
I recently started keeping snippets that pertain to what I do too commonly. Ironically as I do enjoy SEO so much that if people find it and use it great but if not fine too as I am using it for me. Book fo secrets normally seem to be magical but really its the worth to the people that know how to use it. I think all developers and marketers should consider doing this.
Why More Work?… Not Really!
I have heard a time or two that if you read it, write it, and explain it then you know the subject. This means as you are developing your book accomplishing those three things is just going to happen. This is about the same as going to a conference coming home and blogging about it. The difference this is from that is you are just writing down what you normally do, and instead of the recall pause, you have the source right there.
Satisfaction Of Progress
I recently did this for a hero image and the HTML, CSS that is commonly being used by myself was improved because when I was documenting it I saw improvements. I have used this 3 times in the last month no joke! I am about to move the “Snippet” thought into reality on this site too. I can see how much is there and it’s worth that easy access for me and my fellow developers and marketers.
Examples Of What’s In My Book of Secrets
- Google analytic dashboard templates for specific clients
- Citation lists for local businesses
- Webdev tools on inspect element
- CSS for (buttons, images, hero images, etc)
- WordPress Templating Hacks
- PHP snippets to aid in content flow
- EMMIT shortcodes to help my development speed
- Server Configurations
- Common command-line codes
- and some other awesome items
Conclusion
I am just sharing my ah-ha moment with the world and hope that maybe some other people’s development lives will be improved. Also if you are looking for some great tips on how to become a successful freelance developer this link has it all. The examples above are just some and building by the day if you might be interested check back and see what I have to offer….or what I offer it is my book of secrets. I really do think that we all grow as a team and no by ourselves and by reading other blogs this is what inspired me.