Web Development Tools

Yes. Do yourself a favor and do not use a GUI for Git. It hides how it works from you, and unless you get into really complex things and find you need a GUI, don't use it. Using the command line version really forces you to learn how it works.

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Being a UX nerd myself, here are a few basics you should learn that go a long way:
- colour theory (complementary colours, contrasts, etc.)
- basics of typography and font-size management
- deconstructing websites you think have a nice design and what sets them apart from your work
- general design concepts (not just UI design!); especially work from influential designers like Dieter Rams
- a content-centered design approach. The content always needs to come first. Design is simply there to make the content more accessible and/or more pleasing to look at.

Some advice from personal experience:
What helped me a lot was learning principles of game design and applying them to UI/UX. A lot of things that make a game 'feel right' also make a website nice to use.

Ditch the RGB colour model. Use HSB/HSV and only when you've decided on a colour to use convert it to RGB. Adobe Kuler is also a nice tool for creating colour pallets...

Create the design beforehand in Photoshop or something similar like GIMP. Make it really detailed so it looks like a screenshot of the website. Yes it is time consuming, but this is how practically every good looking website is made.

And lastly the thing that took me longest to grasp: Design is ALWAYS very iterative. No one fires up PS and creates a perfect UI concept on the first try. You start off and then your improve some things and get feedback. Then you do it some more, and when you're done you go out and do it again. Eventually it will be good work. As you do this more often it will all get quicker so don't worry if progress seems slow at first.

Hope this helps. If you want be to critique some of your work just PM me.

Cheers, Jacob

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