SlideShowPro is basically dead

I used to be a big fan of Slide Show Pro / Director for managing images on a private site (outside of using flickr or things of that nature).  It seems that the developers have completely abandoned that project, especially based on the lack of communication on their forums (in other words, DO NOT BUY).

So now, I’m trying out their other project, Koken (koken.me), and it seems to be pretty cool, especially with the ease of targeting publishing directly from Lightroom.  Provides all the ease of uploading, theming, responsiveness, and device support in a non Flash way (thank the heavens!).

Time to switch some of my clients over to this, and learn their theming framework.  I think I’ll create a custom theme for my photos site with some Bootstrap and Angular fun, but for now just this.

Definitions

It’s been a really long time since I posted anything worthwhile, so I’ll start off again with a thought I had over the weekend:

[quote]Your career shouldn’t be defined JUST by what “sexy” marquee company you work for. It should be defined by what you DO with your intellect and aptitude when put in the right environment. Be known for your results not your badge, that badge isn’t always guaranteed to open the right doors.[/quote]

Distractions

While having dinner with some friends, one mentioned how he has blocked distracting sites like social networks, entertainment, etc. on his systems while he works.  I thought lightly of it, until I sat down and realized how much time I spent perusing these sites when I should be getting work done.

As a test, what I started doing was using multiple desktops for specific tasks, and only using certain browsers for stuff (like Firefox for development and Chrome for browsing).  I close all misc apps like twitter, rss readers, or chat, so I won’t be tempted to check out what’s going on on Engadget.  Using my mac and full screen apps also helps greatly, as I have my code editor fullscreen and browser full screen so I can only focus on code, test, code, test, etc.  Doing all the above, I definitely noticed a big difference in focus and throughput.

I think it may be time to try out one of these pomodoro technique apps that I have installed, to play around with break up tasks and fun breaks to see if it helps mentally.  I currently have Concentrate and Vitamin-R installed, which from initial glance appear to have different viewpoints on how to lock down your workflow.  I’ll report back in a few weeks to see how playing with each goes, as I’m sure there’s something I should be doing now instead of blogging.