Python is my favorite programming language because it has a low barrier to entry, shallow learning curve, and multitude of practical applications. If you have a Mac python is already installed on your operating system and you can begin just by open up the terminal application and typing python at the command prompt. Some practical applications of python include but are not limited to:

• task automation
• web development
  • Requests
  • Beautiful Soup
  • Paramiko
  • Flask
  • Django
• software development
  • Odoo
  • Tryton
  • wxWidgets
• science + math, machine learning
  • SciPy
  • Pandas
• education
  • Google’s Python class

Whether you are just getting into programming for the first time or are an experienced developer python will be an invaluable tool for you. If you’re wondering how python could help you, start with Automate the Boring Stuff and start accelerating your productivity today.

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A great tool for use in rapid prototype development is placehold.it, which can dynamically create images on the fly using the URL query string. While creating your model, you may want to see what the design looks like with a 960x400px hero image, only to determine 960x300px would look much better. Instead of creating mock assets in photoshop, or putting a border on a div and treating it like an image consider placehold.it.

Placeholdit allows you to generate images on the fly. Want an image 350x150px? Set your background image url (or img src) to http://placehold.it/350×150.

There are also options to change the background color and the text overlay.

<img src=”http://placehold.it/350×150/333333/fff&text=nifty!”>

Tips: the first color represents the background (333333), and the second represents the text color (fff). Everything is optional except size, which always comes first. Specifying only one dimension will create a square.

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The trick is then to use css to display the appropriate image within that sprite. This is typically done by setting the sprite as the background image, along with a width and height. The key is then to find the offset of the image you want, which can be difficult even with Photoshop, particularly when the image is not rectangular. As a result, sprites are often not utilized because of the extra effort needed to position each background image.

SpriteCow allows you to upload your sprite, and select images within the sprite for which you need positions and sizes. It will automatically select the boundaries of the image you click, or allow you to select a group of images (useful for separate letters in a word). It then gives you sample css:

.sprite {
background: url('imgs/example.png') no-repeat -433px -51px;
width: 33px;
height: 33px;
}

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When you are prototyping an idea or time to market is your top priority Bootstrap is an invaluable tool. It provides a CSS framework and some javascript tools which allows you to quickly build and attractive site without much thought to the UI. It takes some upfront investment in time to get familiar with the provided components but it pays off over time as you find yourself able to build sites in minutes. I’d recommend skimming through the documentation to familiarize yourself with the available features so that you can dive deeper when you find a need.

Responsive design is built in, and you’ll find common elements look great out of the box- forms, button, dropdowns, tables, modals, and more are built in.

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