---
comments: true
date: 2011-10-25 18:47:50
layout: post
slug: build-along-testing-the-water
title: Build-along (testing the water)
wordpress_id: 3257
categories:
- Web Development
tag:
- Build-along
- CSS
- HTML
---

**N.B.** The build along [went ahead](/2011/11/build-along-1-reflection-and-reasoning/).

I’ve been toying around with this idea the last few weeks. I’ve decided to do a quick _testing-the-water_ blog post to gauge interest and see whether anyone else would be into the idea. The story goes thus...

A few weeks ago I was building a page for my good friend and awesome chap [Nick Payne](http://twitter.com/makeusabrew)--the page had been designed by another swell fella, [Ian Thomas](http://twitter.com/anatomic). We’re all pretty good friends and all excel in different areas, Ian designed Nick’s site and, [as designers _don’t_ need to code](/2011/09/do-designers-need-to-code/), I built it. Nick sorted all the back-end and is building it onto [JAOSS](http://jaoss.org).

**N.B.** Ian can and does actually code, but for this project we all wanted a slice of the action so, in this case, he didn’t...

Anyway, I always build static HTML files in my [Dropbox](http://db.tt/9mQuY9k) _public_ directory as people can have a quick look at it if I need to share it, plus I can test it on a variety of browsers on different devices. I gave Nick the URL early on and told him I was about to get to work...

An hour or so later I got a text from Nick saying that he was loving seeing the progress with every refresh, which I also thought was pretty cool.

Enter my idea... a live build-along!

The idea I’m toying with is that people (it could be pretty much anyone) get in touch (somehow) with PSDs they need building; a PSD that they were going to get their staff in their agency to do, or that they were going to give out to a freelancer, anything, and I will pick one and build it for free on the provision I can build it in my public directory and that people can watch along as I code away.

There are obviously some massive requirements:

* People would actually want to watch me code a page up; I feel I may be being terribly big-headed in assuming people might actually want to watch me code.
* The PSD is all above board, doesn’t break any NDAs etc.
* Whoever gets ‘picked’ doesn’t mind their work being made wholly public from the outset.

The outcomes would be:

* Someone gets a free template (one page) built.
* People who wouldn’t die of boredom get to follow along as I build a page (I seriously think the idea of seeing how someone tackles a build would be really cool, it’d be like watching TV and yelling along: ‘Clear your floats!!!’)

So basically:

<ul class="numbered-list">
    <li>People submit PSDs.</li>
    <li>I choose one.</li>
    <li>I pick an evening to build it.</li>
    <li>I share the URL on Twitter and in a blog post.</li>
    <li>People can keep the tab open and keep dipping in-and-out as I build, watching the progress.</li>
    <li>For people not in the right time-zone I could potentially record the screen.</li>
    <li>I finish and hand back a fully coded single-page.</li>
</ul>

Naturally there would be some informal terms and conditions that I’d iron out nearer the time but for now, anyone interested?

Lemme know!  
_Harry_