Modern web development takes more than just HTML and CSS with a little JavaScript mixed in. Clients want more responsive sites with faster interfaces that work on multiple devices, and you need the latest tools and techniques to make that happen. This book gives you more than 40 concise, tried-and-true solutions to today’s web development problems, and introduces new workflows that will expand your skillset.

I’m very proud of this book, and extremely grateful to my coauthors for pitching in and making the book even better that it could have been.

My process may not be a good fit for everyone, but it’s served me quite well.

I usually map out my idea using either OmniOutliner or the free online CheckVist app. I used to use mindmaps but I found them just a little too distracting. CheckVist can export OPML formats which you can bring into a mindmapping software or even convert to HTML or Docbook markup if you want.

Once I have my thoughts down I start narrowing down my focus a bit. I think about my audience and think specifically about someone I know who would benefit from this book. It might be the designer who needs just a little help with jQuery, or it might be the Java programmer with years of experience that wants to pick up Ruby. But I’m pretty specific, and I found that the best approach really is to target one specific type of reader, rather than to try to be all things to everyone. That said, you do need to make that abundantly clear to the prospective reader.

Once I’ve gotten a topic and a target audience, I start filling in the blanks in my outline with some good “introductory” text for each node in my outline. If I can’t think of an elevator pitch for each one, I either decide if I need to learn it, and mark it as research, or I evaluate if it’s really in scope for my reader and target audience. Sometimes things we want to teach aren’t what our readers need to know right now.

Andy Hunt’s Pragmatic Thinking and Learningis a great book, and it has a chapter that explores the Dreyfus Model of Skills Acquisition. This model has stages people progress through when learning anything new. I’ve found that the best books take people from one of these stages to the next. I try to do that with my writing.

So, now that I have my topic, target audience, and a good idea about what I’m writing, I start writing. I write about whatever interests me first, which means I may have three or four chapters going at a time. I try to write EVERY day. Even just for a little bit, because having to miss one day of writing due to a kid’s sports game is better than not writing all week, trying to cram it all in on Saturday, only to be hit with having to go to a kid’s sports game. If you do that, you’re now a week behind.

Once I’ve got a chapter completed, I export it to a PDF on my iPad to do some reviewing and editing. This is also where I PHYSICALLY CHANGE LOCATIONS. Using a different medium and a different location puts me in a separate mindset. It seems like a silly trick, but it works. B

When I’m writing books that have source code, I use a Git repository with a branch for each version. I’ll use 0001_start and 00025_refactoring or things like that so they’re sequential. I can then export each branch to a directory structure so I have code my readers can download. This also makes it easier if I discover that I left an important step out in earlier code – I can simply commit and rebase or cherry-pick it through to the later versions.

I tend to write my code at night and my prose during the day. And I tend to write code first and write the prose around it. I’m a better coder at night, it seems.

Once I have a few chapters, I start looking at introductions and conclusions. I usually don’t even try to write these until I have a few chapters because I don’t really see how things fit until that point.

I can average a 20 page chapter every two weeks, and sometimes faster. But you have to keep in mind that faster is better. For more perspective, a 10 chapter book would now take me 20 weeks, or close to six months! So it all comes back to making the time to make this happen, writing every day.

As for what I use for writing, I do everything in either Vim or TextMate, and I use DocBook, which is an XML markup. It’s something I picked up in 2006 and can’t live without, but it’s not for everyone. It’s more important to write good stuff than it is to fixate on tools or process. You’ll find those things will distract you too much if you let them.

So that’s my process. If you have questions, feel free to ask away.

Land The Tech Job You Love

This is honestly one of my favorite books, and I’ve bought many copies of this for people I know looking for jobs. If you’re a college student or just starting out in your career, this is a great guide for getting a great job instead of just a job.

Learn To Program

Pragmatic Thinking And Learning

This book helps you understand how you learn so you can adapt to learn more things faster. It’s recommended reading for my interns, and to pretty much anyone else working in a field that demands constant learning.

Using JRuby

It’s no secret I love Ruby, but JRuby lets me use Ruby on a lot more platforms, and it’s super efficient. This book is a great way to learn how to make Ruby play nicely with Java code, so whether you’re a Ruby developer or a Java developer, you’re going to learn a ton.

SQL Antipatterns

This is a must-read if you work with relational databases, or even if you think you know relational databases well. It’s fun to read, and it has a lot of interesting solutions.

There are, of course, so many other great books there, but these are the ones I’ve bought numerous times as gifts for other people. These are the “go to” books for me.

It was also nice to prove to myself that I had what it takes to actually write some tunes again, instead of just wasting time aimlessly.

The eight songs I ended up with are a varied mix of done. I had two more songs that didn’t make the cut because they had vocal parts that didn’t sound very good at all. That’s probably because I haven’t done any singing in a long time. But I did end up with about 39 minutes worth of some pretty good material.

It’s all electronic music, in a few different styles. It may not be for everyone, but then again, I don’t care because I write music that I like to listen to. If others like it too, then that’s just frosting on the cake.

So, without further ado, here are the 8 tracks that make up “26 Days”.

1. Out Of The System
2. Louder And Faster
3. Put It In Drive
4. Missing
5. By My Two Hands
6. New Day
7. Sleepwalking
8. Broken Promises

I don’t have to write the material during the contest, but I am not allowed to record anything. Still, I need to practice, and so I spent the last few nights doing some drumming in Ableton Live and I thought I’d share the results.

I’ve exported some drum loops for you to use in your compositions, and I’ve created both wav and rex versions of each loop. The Rex files contain midi data which many software programs can use to make looping, stretching, and beat chopping easier.

I’m making these available for both commercial and non-commercial use. It would be great if you let me know where you used these loops, but it’s not a requirement.

The first set of loops are 8 or 16 measures long at 100bpm.

100bpmAmbientLoudPunchLite-Stick

wav
rx2 (rex)

100bpmBrightRoomLite

wav
rx2 (rex)

100bpmBritishVintageLiteFunky

wav
rx2 (rex)

100bpmBritishVintageLiteStick

wav
rx2 (rex)

100bpmCarobnized

wav
rx2 (rex)

100bpmMinimum

wav
rx2 (rex)

100bpmSessionDryLite

wav
rx2 (rex)

100bpmLoops.zip contains all of the above files if you want to
download them in a more convenient method.

I’ve spent the fall continuing to work at the University on some relatively unimpressive stuff while my student interns get to have all the fun. I also wrapped up the HTML5 and CSS3 book which is now shipping to homes, offices, and bookstores worldwide.

I’ve been working on four books as a development editor over the last few months, and the first one, Crafting Rails Applications, came out on December 8th. It’s a wonderful book, and I’m very proud of the author for the effort he put in during the writing process. I learned a lot about hte process in a very short amount of time, and I’m excited to help launch other books this year.

In December, we tried to have our annual Christmas party, but nature had other plans. We got about 22 inches of snow dropped on our town that weekend, making travel almost impossible for anyone.

But now it’s a new year, and there’s much to do. We’ll get a chance to go on our first family vacation with both kids, and while I’ll be at a conference for part of it, I’ll still be able to spend at least some time with the three most important people in my life.

For those unfamiliar, a Development Editor works with an author to help guide the book’s progress. It’s part content editor, and part project manager. I’ll be reviewing chapters, making suggestions on content, ensuring that things are clear, easy to follow, and are written in the appropriate “house style”, but I’ll also help set short and longterm goals for the book’s progress. I’ll manage the technical reviews and help the book along in the production process. Best of all, I’ll be able to share what I know about book writing with other aspiring authors. It’s all very exciting, and it goes hand-in-hand with my love for teaching and mentoring people. I won’t be responsible for copy-editing the book though. Spelling and grammar corrections happen at the end of the process and the Pragmatic Bookshelf has an absolutely amazing copy editor who makes everyones book better.)

I’ll be starting off with one book, and picking up a second very soon. I have no idea what this means for my consulting business long-term, but after 15 years of coding for money, I’m excited for a change. I’m extremely grateful to Dave, Andy, and Susannah for giving me this opportunity.

From the site:

HTML5 and CSS3 are the future of web development, but you don’t have to wait to start using them. Even though the specification is still in development, many modern browsers and mobile devices already support HTML5 and CSS3. This book gets you up to speed on the new HTML5 elements and CSS3 features you can use right now, and backwards compatible solutions ensure that you don’t leave users of older browsers behind.

I am having a blast working on this book, and I’ve had great support from the publisher and my technical reviewers. If you haven’t considered writing a book before, you really should give it some thought. It’s a very difficult but rewarding journey.

Obviously the first thing you could do is just ask someone who currently works there what you should wear for an interview. Don’t ask directly, but perhaps inquire during the phone screen what the dress code is, and then dress a bit higher than that.

Another great piece of advice I’ve heard is that you should “dress like you’re going on a first date.” I like how that one sounds.

But another thing you could do, which I did, is just turn it over to Twitter. I asked my followers what our peers are wearing to job interviews, and I got some great replies.

So, how do you think you should dress for your next interview?

P.S. Thanks to everyone for chiming in!