Miss E .D .C

Suggestions……

In need of quick design for a website, if you are like me and you probably developing the website as a favour to a friend or family member but don’t have enough time for drudging out designs your best bet is a free online CSS templates that you can download and personalize for use:

http://www.freecsstemplates.org/

http://www.free-css-templates.com/

http://www.free-css.com/

Else if you need to put together a simple a quick and easy website which you give over to user to take control of the content then your easiest bet is using word press as a Content Management System Mark Kirby has an excellent tutorial on his website http://mark-kirby.co.uk/2008/wordpress-as-a-cms-talk-and-sample-code/

If you want to add an album to your website but don’t have the space or bandwidth I suggest use online photo social sites like and Flickr and use the API’s to retrieve images on demand Or just hotlink from your Facebook albums. A bit dodgy but it works!

I wrote a tutorial on how to use flickr API which I presented at Bar Camp Brighton 3 http://etheldcofie.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/flickr-api-how-to-perform-authenticating-using-php/

If you need to knock out your own custom social netwrok for your friends, family or people with similar interest( chocolate loving geeks perhaps !) then use Ning.com. It is great platform that allows you to create your own social network and even register a domain that points to your customized social network.

This section will be updated as often as i can with short cuts and life hacks… watch this space

I am a developer at work and at heart who had not done much formal testing except to verify that the system I was developing worked [J] .I however moved into a new job which dictated as part of my contract that I had to go through a two month period working as a full time test analyst for the experience .

My reaction: What! No building stuff, no development well at least not at work for the next two months *groan groan* I am going to die before I complete my time I just know [my melodramatic side showing]

So I started my stint praying time would go fast and I wouldn’t realize it. l also acknowledge above my melodramatics that it was probably a good learning experience which will make me a better developer in the long run .

I started out running manual scripts for an online financial system painful yes, by the end of the second week I was fast losing my will to live.

So to keep from going crazy I turned to reading materials on what testing was all about and what made a great tester. There had to be more to testing! Right?

Yes! Right, My perception of testing as developer changed dramatically when I moved to 2 relatively small size projects [less that 10 people ] working as the sole test analyst on the first and as an adjunct test analyst on the second .

So what changed for me?

Being the only test analyst on a project means I had to learn quickly what was required of me , what mentality I was to adopt to be effective in my role and of course how to work smart as opposed to laboriously , what tools would make my work better or not .

Fundamentally I believe I begun to thoroughly enjoy being a test analyst when I bought into the mentality and attitude of a tester.

No it’s not being sadistic it’s the fact that I am the last line of defense for the customer it’s my job to make sure that the customer gets the best product possible [or die trying J]

There will always be something wrong with the system and if it’s big enough to make the users experience or systems substandard then I will find it .oh yes I will ….

..And the love for breaking things especially software

Also automated testing appealed to the developer/programmer in me, I could write/program automated test s that could do a lot of the mundane repetitive tasks and User Acceptance Tests that needed to be done

What I learnt

I took away for my time as a test analyst:

Tact: saying to developer fix this! Fix this Now! Is hardly going to get you anywhere .When to push when to stop when to assert and to smile and let go.

A better eye for detail when I am developing :I have a sort of split personality now when I am working I look at the system through the eyes of a tester and a developer.[I still believe it not right for a developer to double as his/her own test analyst ]

…And a whole new respect for the testers I work with.