• 1.1 – Learn to Modify Existing Code
• 1.2 – Learn to Remove Your Debug Traces and Useless Comments
• 1.3 – Learn Design Skills

1.1 – Learn to Modify Existing Code

A programmer who cannot work with existing code is worthless. Even if you yourself are perfect, your are surrounded by code that is imperfect and un-documented, code written by a co-worker, or maybe from another agency. So, as a programmer, you must master the fine art of modifying code. This is like surgery. You have to learn to poke at the code and make it bleed; you have to learn to experiment on it, and understand that, in all likelyhood, nothing that you do to it will make it worse than it already is. The benefits of learning these skills are endless, not only will others in your place of employment think you are a god, but you can now add on endless hours to a project with a simple reply…”I’m still busy fixing [insert original programmer's name here]’s shitty code. Leave me alone!”

1.2 – Learn to Remove Your Debug Traces and Useless Comments

Traces, ah how I love them. At times you will code a masterpiece of garbage and, after hours of debugging, you realize that your dumb ass left traces in every class, and also left entire paragraphs of useless comments. Maybe you were coding a fancy new Actionscript 3 class which you spent an hour getting to work properly, and one of your lines just happened to include the following:  trace (“f*ck this stupid class”);. Remember – when the project is done, you may have to hand it off to Joe Flash at company Z – you can’t let him see that trace statement in there, or he might suspect you of being less than the AS3 God you so clearly are.

You have just one option here my friend, and here it is… use the delete key! Known less ambiguously as “forward delete”, Del, or ⌦, it performs a function when struck on a computer keyboard that deletes your dumbass mistake. Most programmers conveniently forget  it exists, or we’re just too lazy to use it – but  learn to love it!

1.3 – Learn Design Skills

Now I’m not talking about Design Patterns here, bitches – we’re talking beginner skills here! As a Web Developer, you will need to know what looks good!

Which of the following would you rather have as your website:

Option 1:

Here we have a site designed by none other than One08 – that’s right, I used one of our sites!

Option 2:

Next we have this masterpiece that gave me a seizure :

If option 2 is what you are looking for, because you have some weird fetish for flashing images get the hell away from our blog damnit!

Now I must admit, there may be certain cases where tripping out on option 2 for a few minutes would be an obvious choice, but I would probably still rather be drooling over all the food option 1 has –  to give me an idea how to cure my munchies.

Learn to know what the hell looks good. The creatives in your place of work will not always be there to hold your hand to tell you what looks right. They will give you a vision that you will need to fulfill!

Be sure to stay tuned for Chapter 2, where we will dive into Team Skills like: How to Deal with Difficult Co-Workers.

We’re going to do our best to post interesting stuff in here. Stuff about the projects, experiments, and the overall journey that brings us new clients, new inspiration, new challenges, new f*ck-ups; but the same stuff that always brings that rewarding feeling when it’s over.

Stay tuned.

I would love to say it is time to do something about it… but as programmers, the bottom line is that we will just keep on bitching about this outdated browser, while continuing to write hacks for it. Because let’s be honest – “My boss will shitcan me if my sites don’t work in IE6.”

So let me say that I am officially not banning IE6 from this site and will not be forcing users to upgrade to a new browser. I have decided not to follow the movement to not support IE6, even though deep down I would love for it to die.

I apologize to all those developers out there, but until a client requests that I don’t code for IE6, is the day I stop drinking. Till then, bring on the late nights of drinking debugging for IE6.

Larchmont Bungalow Artisan Cafe

Project overview

One08 was approached by Larchmont Bungalow to develop their brand in the online environment for their new restaurant. Challenges with project began early as development began while the restaurant was still in the process of being built. Working closely with Larchmont, one08 was able to help develop a seamless experience between the physical restaurant and its online presence.

The Bungalow opened its doors with enormous success, with positive reviews spreading across the Internet and local community in record numbers and speed; Larchmont obtained over 3000 unique visitors to the site on its opening day.

Inity Arts and Music

Project Overview

One08 was propositioned by Inity Arts and Music to assist in building their brand experience in an offline and online environment. Currently an ongoing process, one08 has completed some of the print material for Inity as we continue to develop the digital components to the brand.

Look for more interesting work coming soon, as we are very excited about the projects and work we are developing for Inity.

Riders for Road Awareness

Project Overview

One08 approached Riders for Road Awareness, a non-profit organization with the desire to bring their site design to a whole new level and to help them deliver their message of creating a safer road for motorcyclists. The project was a great experience for one08 and was also designed and developed free of cost.