Version controllife
Speaking with a fellow flash developer the other day I asked if his company had any form of version control or backups for their work. The short answer was no.
Developers where asked to keep files on their local boxes. This had caused problems in the past when the designers lost a week’s worth of work when 2 hard-drives failed.
What is version control and why is it important? Why do I use it and is it really that useful for freelance designers or small businesses?
The term Version control is somewhat non-verbose.
(how ironic that the term verbose isn’t verbose)
Imagine this… you are working up until the deadline on a big php application. You work on version 2.0 of the file for about 3 hours, and then you decide to move on to the next part of the problem. You get to about version 5.0 of the file and push it up to the server only to realize that almost everything you did tonight won’t work and you need to go back to version two…but you only have just the one copy of the file…
In steps Version Control. If you where working with version control you would probably be able to “rollback” the changes you made and save the file from it’s 2.0 state. Your life is saved.
This can be applied to graphic artists as well. Various version control systems allow you to save just the updates you have made to graphic (binary) files and not just text files (php, xml, xsl, jsp, asp, txt….).
Most designers and programmers who don’t know any better would typically rather save 5 copies of a file and fill up their hard drives. Doesn’t this begin to take up space?
Avid film editors, can you imagine saving 5 different edits of a movie that are 500 GB each? No. Of course not. That’s what the bin is for. You have a master tape and then various edits that get spliced together from the source footage in the “bin”.
I believe using a systematic approach to file handling and version control. A computer program assists with this tremendously.
Because vast majority of agencies/companies do not listen to the suggestions of their employees it becomes the empoloyee’s responsibility to install a version control system.
Installing a version control system doesn’t neccesarily mean loading a computer program.
In an enviroment where the employee is forced to use clever methods to keep files from being overwritten, the employee can “install” version control into how they work:
- Use layers, layer comps, and history snapshots in photoshop instead of saving copies of the psd file
- Create some form of a development server (often reffered to as a dev server), and save a copy of the file there. This can be a a folder that gets copied automatically by your computer on a nightly basis, a cheap networked computer, or even a sub directory on your web server. Dev servers are great because they allow you to work and test before bad files go live. (Often reffered to as “going to production or pushed to production)
- My friend Aaron Post Suggests a file naming convention that uses _ underscores to denote file directories that are subject to update often. _img, _style, _dev
- If you do need to save multiple copies of a file, use a file naming convention that is strict and is immediatly recognizable. I have used dates behind the file name (cjb_05012006.psd), versions (cjb_08.psd), and even “the unix Z” (zzzzcjb.psd, typically denotes a corrupt file in unix but still very useful). These work fine but it is imperative to remmember that the newest version of the file should ALWAYS be the file with the newest date, version number, or lowest amount of Z’s. If you have a higher version number in your directory than the version you are working on, rename the file, delete it, or put letters behind it (cjb_08a.psd, cjb_08b.psd…b) should be the newest file. Naming conventions aren’t always right but when you implement a rule, good or bad, work becomes easier when sticking to that rule.
- And always follow the mantra: “Save backups, Save often, Save your life.”
So is version control important for freelancers and small businesses?
Yes. Extremely important. Big business can sometimes care less about the cost of 2 weeks. Developers sometimes spend years working on projects only to have it scrapped by the client because it has lost it’s value and the client is interested in other venus. Small business can not afford this cost.
Can you?
Posted on : January 12, 2006
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Speaking with a fellow flash developer the other day I asked if his company had any form of version control or backups for their work. The short answer was no.
Developers where asked to keep files on their local boxes. This had caused problems in the past when the designers lost a week’s worth of work when 2 hard-drives failed.
What is version control and why is it important? Why do I use it and is it really that useful for freelance designers or small businesses?
The term Version control is somewhat non-verbose.
(how ironic that the term verbose isn’t verbose)
Imagine this… you are working up until the deadline on a big php application. You work on version 2.0 of the file for about 3 hours, and then you decide to move on to the next part of the problem. You get to about version 5.0 of the file and push it up to the server only to realize that almost everything you did tonight won’t work and you need to go back to version two…but you only have just the one copy of the file…
In steps Version Control. If you where working with version control you would probably be able to “rollback” the changes you made and save the file from it’s 2.0 state. Your life is saved.
This can be applied to graphic artists as well. Various version control systems allow you to save just the updates you have made to graphic (binary) files and not just text files (php, xml, xsl, jsp, asp, txt….).
Most designers and programmers who don’t know any better would typically rather save 5 copies of a file and fill up their hard drives. Doesn’t this begin to take up space?
Avid film editors, can you imagine saving 5 different edits of a movie that are 500 GB each? No. Of course not. That’s what the bin is for. You have a master tape and then various edits that get spliced together from the source footage in the “bin”.
I believe using a systematic approach to file handling and version control. A computer program assists with this tremendously.
Because vast majority of agencies/companies do not listen to the suggestions of their employees it becomes the empoloyee’s responsibility to install a version control system.
Installing a version control system doesn’t neccesarily mean loading a computer program.
In an enviroment where the employee is forced to use clever methods to keep files from being overwritten, the employee can “install” version control into how they work:
- Use layers, layer comps, and history snapshots in photoshop instead of saving copies of the psd file
- Create some form of a development server (often reffered to as a dev server), and save a copy of the file there. This can be a a folder that gets copied automatically by your computer on a nightly basis, a cheap networked computer, or even a sub directory on your web server. Dev servers are great because they allow you to work and test before bad files go live. (Often reffered to as “going to production or pushed to production)
- My friend Aaron Post Suggests a file naming convention that uses _ underscores to denote file directories that are subject to update often. _img, _style, _dev
- If you do need to save multiple copies of a file, use a file naming convention that is strict and is immediatly recognizable. I have used dates behind the file name (cjb_05012006.psd), versions (cjb_08.psd), and even “the unix Z” (zzzzcjb.psd, typically denotes a corrupt file in unix but still very useful). These work fine but it is imperative to remmember that the newest version of the file should ALWAYS be the file with the newest date, version number, or lowest amount of Z’s. If you have a higher version number in your directory than the version you are working on, rename the file, delete it, or put letters behind it (cjb_08a.psd, cjb_08b.psd…b) should be the newest file. Naming conventions aren’t always right but when you implement a rule, good or bad, work becomes easier when sticking to that rule.
- And always follow the mantra: “Save backups, Save often, Save your life.”
So is version control important for freelancers and small businesses?
Yes. Extremely important. Big business can sometimes care less about the cost of 2 weeks. Developers sometimes spend years working on projects only to have it scrapped by the client because it has lost it’s value and the client is interested in other venus. Small business can not afford this cost.
Can you?
Posted on : January 12, 2006
About »