Missing Features

In the spirit of liquidcity’s 50 Ways to Become a Better Designer, here are 50 ways to become a better web developer:

1. Read Alertbox
2. Stay current on new startups: Read A VC
3. Occasionally read A List Apart (when it’s not being too pretentious)
4. Always think about the user all the time
5. Write code that fails well
6. Avoid feature creep
7. Either fix the first bug you open or move it along somehow, don’t just ignore it
8. Catch gracefully deal with SQL errors in your database wrapper functions
9. Write database wrapper functions
10. Write a config file that automatically adapts to the server it’s on: development, staging or production
11. Don’t use frames
12. Fix bugs first
13. Comment your code (on the why, not the what)
14. Don’t burden the user
15. Don’t create widgets
16. Don’t break the back button
17. Don’t use bits as arguments for methods
18. Write and use stored procedures
19. Resist version rot
20. Make everyone at work use a wiki to store usernames and passwords for projects
21. Step away from the computer for a few minutes (don’t go read Slashdot, actually step away)
22. Actually build something with a fun JS platform like Dojo or jQuery
23. Build something using Django
24. Don’t work on a social networking startup
25. Learn LISP
26. Read Paul Graham‘s essays
    
27. Write a spec first
28. Be precise; details matter
29. Be succinct
    
30. Make it beautifully perfect
31. Use FogBugz to track your bugs
32. If you find yourself saying theoretically it should work fine – it won’t
33. Always test your code
34. Seriously, always test your code
    
35. Have someone else test your code
36. Have someone else review your code
37. Don’t major in computer science
38. Use two big monitors
39. Use a fast computer
40. Organize your code
41. In pretty much all things short successful iterations work best (and are more efficient)
42. Test it in Firefox and IE
43. Just accept that the IE team won’t get IT right and deal with it
44. Benchmark and focus on performance… after the first prototype
45. Play XBox 360 (alternative usage of your hands will ease the strain)
46. Use Firebug with Firefox
    
47. Use the web developer toolbar with Firefox
48. Validate all user input
49. Read the spec the whole way through before you start
50. Always have a goal you know exactly how to meet

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