5 Ways Web Designers Can Save tIME

Tips and Tricks: 5 Ways Web Designers Can Save Time

August 18, 2010 in Freelance Tips and Tricks - Viewed 470 times.

Time is always of the essence, and it’s important to make the most of it. Fortunately for web designers and developers, there are a variety of methods you can implement to improve your efficiency.

Everyone has their own way of doing things… but over the past couple months, I’ve been looking for new ways to save time, increase my workload, and decrease the length of my work-day. By combining a few of these methods with your own, you can save quite a bit of time when all is said and done:

Keyboard Shortcuts

Obviously, keyboard shortcuts are nothing new… yet for some reason, people continue to ignore their power. By learning your system’s default shortcuts, and by implementing your own shortcut bundles in your most-used programs, you can maximize your workflow and save quite a bit of time.

Organize and Recycle Your Assets

Throughout time, every web designer purchases, downloads, designs, or develops a massive amount of assets. By archiving, organizing, and reusing these assets, you no longer have to perform the same task twice. Drag, drop, copy, paste, done. Not only is this a great time saver, but it’s also a crucial business process that can add a significant amount of value to your company through time.

Zen Coding

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Some people may not be so familiar with this. Zen Coding is an abbreviation engine that allows you to create HTML/CSS at amazing speeds. It comes in several plugins that can be added to various IDE’s such us Coda, TextMate, Notepad++, Eclipse, Aptana and others.

TextMate

If you’re on a mac, I definitely recommend giving TextMate a shot. TextMate offers a variety of bundles and extensions that can help you maximize workflow. In addition, it boasts a variety of options to help make your life easier… one in particular, is multi-line editing. Be sure to checkout the shortcuts that come with this great application as well!

Code Snippets and Repositories

Code snippets and code repositories are essential to web design and development. This is somewhat similar to the reusing of assets mentioned above… but by utilizing a code repository, you can increase your exposure, share and receive valuable tips, access great code, and cut down on the hours you spend developing.

Do you know of any other charitable websites? Please, tell us about them!