As of writing this, we're mid-way through week 3 (week 3.5, if you will) of the UK Lockdown, and I have to say, it feels a whole lot longer.
But that's besides the point. A lot of people are feeling the pressure, a lot of businesses are. People have lost their jobs, work has slowed down significantly and people are adjusting to the "new norm".
I've always worked from home, not much has changed in that aspect, but it is difficult to see people struggling in these times, whether it be friends, family, my clients or just strangers on the street.
It doesn't help that people are treating this like an extended holiday.
Yes... sorry, my mind started to wander.
Essentially, it's important to be productive.
Perhaps there are some DIY or home improvements you've been wanting to do, perhaps it's time for a spring clean (trust me, it is rewarding to be able to clear the clutter and sit down in a fresh, clean, tidy home), or (hear me out) it's time to start working out, or even try your hand at a new/favourite hobby (cooking, baking, reading, etc.).
I've had a few projects which I've been working on, and since I've had more "free time" lately, I've been picking those back up.
One of which is Distraction Tactics.
Distraction Tactics is a small "indie" game development studio which focuses on working with freelancers and self-employed people in order to come together and make games.
There are a few games in development right now, and the outlook is optimistic on these.
This project really was a delight to work on. I learnt a lot by working on the site, and I think I am actually proud of it (which is a rarity for me, being a perfectionist).
The funny/annoying thing is that whilst finishing up the site (and I mean literally, as I was about to hit "deploy"), I had a bold, new idea... "why don't I used CSS Grid for this problem I faced? Why don't I rebuild the site with CSS Grid?"
No. Just no. Don't ever do this, because you'll get stuck in an endless cycle and nothing will ever get finished.
If it works, great, stick to it, and use your new idea for the next project.
Anyway, please go check out the site (I'll be adding it to the portfolio at some point), and constructive feedback is welcome.
And as per usual, shameless plug below.
It doesn't matter how long you've been a "developer" for, you always need to test things.
I say this coming off the back of spending this entire morning (yes, the same day as I am writing and publishing this article) going through this very site and fixing things with the theme.
I had recently been doing some updates to the parent theme, and without realising, inadvertently affected the site's child theme.
This essentially made my the responsiveness null and void. Developer error.
How long this was the case, I don't know, but it's only because some random person on Curious Cat sent me a "question" saying that my site wasn't very mobile friendly.
And I was shocked to find out they were right!
Even now I am still working on the theme.
Sure, I could have rolled back the themes or even just found old code, but in hindsight, it's better to re-write the code, to make it cleaner and up-to-date with modern technologies.
The main time-sink is the testing; going through each page and seeing what works and what doesn't on each of the browsers and devices; and there is even more testing afterwards.
So a huge thank you to the Anon user on Curious Cat for bringing this to my attention.
And it just goes to prove how you cannot just assume.
Some things are a given ("this should work first time", or "this works here, so it'll work here") and some things need to be put through the ringer, but everything should be tested and depending on how complex, all the more so.
The simpler, the better, IMO.
Update: A few hours after I wrote this, I broke the site. Luckily I had a backup of the working file that was causing the issue.
See, this is why testing and backups are important.
