I work as a client-side developer and accessibility consultant. My role in the team is to design web page layouts and, using web standards, to code these layouts after the client approves the design.

We splitted the logic [PHP] from presentation [XHTML/CSS/JS] by using template classes from PEAR. The main advantage of this technique is that the pages I work on are templates that do not contain any PHP or other server-side technologies. So, the files I have to deal with are templates, those with “*.tpl.html” extension.

I like to describe myself as an organized person. Thus, when my boss asks me “What is the project stage?” [referring to my role in the project] I can give him a straight answer. But how to keep a track of the stage my pages are?

Trying to aswer this question, a simple method came to me. I opened a new spreadsheet in Open Office and I designed something that I call “The DNA of project”:

As you can notice, each file of the project, can have three possible status:

• 0 [red] - not completed
• 0.5 [pink] - half completed
• 1 [green] - completed

Also, the files have stages of completition:

• First stage: phisical file [weight - 10]
• Second stage: the design of the file [weight - 60]
• Third stage: template blocks and variables [weight - 30]

The weight represents the time needed to complete the stage. Saving the file [creating it phisically] is the stage that weights less than the other stages, second stage being the most time consuming task of the project.

The project completition row has two percents: first is the project completition when I take in consideration the weight of the stages and the second when I leave the weight out.

The biggest advantage of this method of keeping track of the project evolution and completition is that I can see exactly what pages I do have to work on to finish the project.