Reward based tasks are fairly simple. Every time you do a task (or x number of tasks) you get a reward and it can be anything from a new bottle of scotch to a vacation.

Everyone Likes Getting Things

This is the main reason why this works so well. I know if I write that one blog post I’ll be able to enjoy a nice cold beer or go out for a fancy dinner. The potential for reward forces you to complete the mundane task that you’ve procrastinated on for so long.

It Forces you to Break Things into Tasks

When a task or project is too large to complete in a single work session (typically 2-3 hours) people often procrastinate working on it. Assigning rewards helps you break up large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones since the more tasks you complete the more rewards you can give yourself.

It Works for Everyone

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a developer, an artist or physician, whether you’re 10 years old of 80, this method works for all. Find a reward that works for you and stop procrastinating.

1. Inform users of the upcoming change
   One of the most important things about re-designing your website is to inform your users early on so they can get used to the change. Numerous websiteshave completed a re-design only to have their core user-base revolt.If you tell your users early you can use their comments and include them in your re-design. This will help you on launch day because your users will already have an idea of what to expect.
2. Develop new site in parallel
   The best thing you can do while re-designing is to do it in parallel with your current website. If you can afford a second server to handle this then you’re one step ahead and launching it will be much easier (I talk about this below). Developing in parallel lets you test everything as if it’s your main website, allowing you to more thoroughly test before you launch.
3. Make sure all the content is there
   If you’re writing a lot of new content or have a lot of new content make sure it’s all there before you launch. I know this may seem like common sense but I’ve seen a lot of people launch and release hours or days later that they’re missing lots of sections, images or articles.
4. Check for broken links
   There are a lot of tools you can use for broken links. Broken links can make your users not trust you and they’re extremely easy to fix. Here are just a few of the tools you can use to check for broken links: W3C, LinkChecker, LinkTiger
5. URL Re-write old URLs to point to the new ones
   By using Apache URL Rewrite or a WordPress pluginyou can easily re-direct your old articles, images and other content to your new URL’s. This can be extremely useful for keeping old search engine traffic and permalinks.Nothing can be more frustrating for old users (and new) than getting 404’s on your old content.
6. Launch
   There are a number of ways you can do this. If you’ve developed your new site in parallel with your old this can be as simple as changing the DNS entries to point to your new web server.If you’ve been developing on a local machine you can copy over the new files to your current webserver, update the database and anything else that you need. This way is a lot more time-consuming and error prone so be sure to thoroughly test your application to make sure everything works properly.
7. Check statistics (bounce rates, number of visitors)
8. Listen to your visitors
9. Iterate

I realize that I only listed off 9 tips so if you have any of your own feel free to post in the comments. Hopefully by following the above tips you’ll have an easier time re-designing your next site.

if ($("#elemn")){
  // code
}

This however doesn’t work because jQuery’s selectors always return an object. Because of this, the if statement will always evaluate as True and your code will always run.

There are many ways to get around this and to check whether or not something exists. Here are a few of my favourites:

This one is my favourite. If jQuery returns an empty object the length property will be zero (empty objects don’t have lengths) and your if statement will evaluate as False.

if ($("#elemn").length){
  // code
}

This is pretty much the same as above but you’re being a little more verbose. Doing it this way is a little more readable in my opinion, but you have to write more.

if ($("#elemn").length > 0){
  // code
}

jQuery .size() also returns 0 on empty objects so this works exactly the same as the previous two.

if ($("#elemn").size()){
  // code
}

As you can see there are a number of excellent ways to check whether or not an element exists using jQuery, and it’s really up to you on which one you use.

As a computer nerd, I’ve used a number of operating systems for a number of reasons. One of my favourite Linux operating systems is Ubuntu. I like it for its ease of use, its great UI and a number of smaller reasons that are too numerous to list.

One of the things I hate about most Linux OS’s is the fact that the backspace button is used to go up in any documents. Now, I know I’m just used to the Windows way of things but I find it one of the biggest nuisances when moving to a new operating system.

Below are a few steps on how to fix Firefox in Ubuntu (and probably other operating systems) to get the backspace button to go back in history instead of going up the page.

1. Type about:config into your browser
2. Find browser.backspace_action
3. Change the value from 2 (or any other number) to 0

Once you’ve done the steps above, your browser will now function like it would in Windows with the backspace button going back in history instead of up the page.

If you have any other tips or tricks for us, please feel free to post them in the comment section.

When you find procrastination starting to hit you and your projects there’s a number of things you can do. One of them is to find someone who will hold you accountable for your projects. Another is to simply take a break.

Taking a break helps you focus your thoughts

Programming takes a lot of brain power and anyone who tells you differently has never programmed. It’s not easy to think of simple solutions to complex problems. When you’ve been programming for a long time it’s often beneficial to take a break to focus your thoughts. Whether this means you go to a cottage, read a book or simple close your eyes and have a rest, when you think about other things than programming you’ll be amazed how refreshed you are when you come back to it.

Taking a break is often the best way to solve a problem you’re stuck on. There’s been countless times where I haven’t been able to figure out a problem but as soon as I close my eyes for bed the solution comes to me. Simply taking a break allows your mind to focus on the things that are important to you and this can, in the end, help you program better.

Taking a break helps you stay healthy

Developers often sit for long periods of time and according to a Canadian study this can have adverse effects on your health. Sitting for long periods of time not only hurts your body but it also hurts your mind. Taking a short break to go walking, running, bicycling or anything active can make you feel invigorated and help with programmer procrastination. Doing vigorous activities release endorphins which makes you happy and can help you beat procrastination.

Taking a break helps you sort out your priorities

When you’ve been programming for a long time your priorities can get muddled. Sometimes projects will look more important than others purely based on the fact that you’ve put more time into them. These projects may not be the most important nor the most fun but because you’ve but so much time into it you don’t want to give it up. Taking a break from these projects can let you re-evaluate your priorities, helping you drop the projects that may not be worth the time and re-focus on projects that are more interesting and valuable to you.

Final Thoughts

Everyone falls for programming procrastination at some point or another. Taking a simple break can help you beat it and make you carry on programming.

Hi there 4620,

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. I hope i was able to help you with whatever you were looking for, if found my site to be interesting i would be more then happy if you consider subscribing to my RSS feed.

Emailing can be the only personal interaction that you have with your readers. Sure they hear you talk in your posts but when you email them you’re talking directly to them. The problem with sending out a bad email is that it can actually send them away, and not bring them to your site. Here are a couple of tips to create a good email.

Make it Personal
One of the most important things about an email is keeping it personal. In the email that I received the first line was “Hi there 4620″. This doesn’t make me want to read the rest of the email. Because they didn’t use my name I immediately wanted to stop reading. This could easily been fixed by either a) use my name or b) don’t use anything. If you’re going to use a bot to email people make sure it does it in a friendly way.

Give them something else
If you’re replying to a first time reader (which was the case for my email), give them something else to read. Provide a few links to your recent articles and tell them whats coming up. You could even give a link to your RSS subscription. This makes the email more interesting and helps the reader see what kind of content your site has. It also helps convert a one-time reader into a potential life-time reader. Giving links to your different articles also makes the email a little more interesting. Plain text if often boring so additional links and interesting article titles will make a previous plain email into a more interesting one.

These couple of tips can help your emails become more personal and more interesting. More importantly they’ll help make sure that you never write an email like the one that was sent to me.

Throughout this blog I’m going to be posting numerous tips on procrastination. This is the first in the series.

Accountability helps you with procrastination because you don’t want to let down the people you’ve talked to. Here are a few things you can do to be accountable for the things you’re procrastinating on.

Tell a Close Friend

Talking with a close friend or family member can help you stop procrastinating because you don’t want to let them down by not following through. If you let them know what you’re working on they can help remind you to continue working on it. These reminders can be the push you need to stop procrastinating and get things done.

Write a Blog

The main reason for starting this blog was to force me to be accountable for the projects I start and never complete. When you put the things you’re procrastinating on into the public eye you’re more motivated to get things done and more ashamed when you don’t carry out what you wanted to.

Throughout the next couple of weeks I’m going to start a new project. I don’t know what it is yet, but I promise I’ll start something and I’m going to write about it. Hopefully by writing about it I’ll have a drive to finish it. We’ll see what happens.