Learning something new is scary. For me, the biggest issue with picking up a new skill is that I don’t know what I don’t know. Given that, it’s often useful to find a plan for learning whatever you’re interested in. That’s what this post is: your blueprint, your roadmap, your plan of action for learning JavaScript! You don’t have to worry about finding the best resources, sorting out the bad ones, and figuring out what to learn next. It’s all here. Just follow it, step by step.

Assignment 0: Understand what JavaScript Is and Isn’t

JavaScript is the language of the browser.

Before you actually begin learning JavaScript, take a minute to understand what it is and does.

JavaScript is not jQuery, Flash, or Java. It’s a programming language separate from all of those.

JavaScript is the language of the browser (not exclusively these days, … Read More »

Designers are makers who craft solutions to problems that plague customers, clients, and at times, society as a whole. The specialized tools and jargon (leading? kerning? cognitive load?) often understood only by other practitioners are a designer’s hallmarks. How we actually design and arrive at viable solutions is a mystery to most. Some believe this mystery helps us maintain the perceived value of design in our organizations. In today’s world—a world craving more and better design—however, this mystery is actually holding us back as a profession.

Mystery is empowering

Mystery is powerful stuff. It feeds the ego and creates a perception of control over a product’s end state. Mystery places invisible barriers between designers and the team that only those versed in “Design” can traverse. Non-designers often feel unqualified to enter our world and many won’t attempt to participate in the design … Read More »

Dropbox is a free service that allows you to store all of your documents, photos, and videos online. It is an excellent and free tool for helping you securely store files that are crucial to your business or your life. It allows you to store just about any type of file you can imagine, and Dropbox gives you a generous amount of storage space to keep your files.

Before you start using Dropbox, there are two things you need to do:

First, you want to sign up for an account. It’s absolutely free. (If you decide later that you want to upgrade your account, you may upgrade and get even more storage. Just check the website for further details.)

Now … Read More »

Do you set goals? Some people swear by it, others hate it. But the important question is: does goal-setting work for bloggers?

It depends on whether you set static goals or dynamic goals

Here’s an example:

My first blog, Goodlife ZEN, grew very, very slowly. I got so frustrated after languishing with only two subscribers (my son and my best friend) that I subscribed my cat – just to get a third subscriber! When I got to 10 subscribers, I set my sights at 100 subscribers, then I eyed up 1000, and now Goodlife ZEN has over 15,000. But I don’t use such goals anymore.

Why? Because they are static goals – and static goals sap motivation.

Static goals are focused on outcomes that are outside of your control

Many people tend to think … Read More »

We are again excited to present you with special, more exciting prizes. This time we’ve teamed up with the awesome team at Wix, a free web publishing platform, to give away five $50 discount coupons for a yearly WixMobile premium subscription.

The new WixMobile site builder is an easy and cost-effective way for anyone and everyone to get an HTML 5 mobile compatible site up and running in under 10 minutes and as it is HTML 5 based it works perfectly on all mobile devices.

So Hurry up, read the rules, drop a comment to enter this contest.

About WixMobile

Wix, a free web publishing platform serving over 14 million users worldwide, has recently launched its free mobile website builder.

The new WixMobile site builder is an easy and cost-effective way for anyone and everyone to get a mobile compatible site up and … Read More »