Wanted: Mentor for tests, web projects

A Plea For Mentorship!



Quick Up-Front Summary

So, I’ve been trying to teach myself a couple of things for months on end, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of it.   

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to mentor me a bit.  I’m not asking for full-time teacher, just someone to share some best practices.  (And maybe help point me in the right direction when I’m stuck.  I’m very tired of getting stuck over and over again. ☺ )



What I Keep Getting Stuck On

My problems are mostly centered around:

Tests!
How to write them
which tools to use (there are so very MANY!)
Project organization & high-level management
Keeping organized past a certain level of complexity (it’s difficult to define “certain level of complexity”, since people find different things complex—but I suspect)
How to write project-level XProc, keep lower-level XProc organized and cleanly separated from project-level XProc (I want to have a high signal-to-noise ratio when I look at my XProc, without all the details cluttering up the big picture)
Web-centric projects
My context is strongly centered around web projects.  (Not exclusively, but very heavily.)  
I’ve enjoyed creating websites for over 10 years.  But recently, all the hub-bub around HTML5 and CSS3 has the community creating all sorts of new and powerful tools.  (I’m using the term “tools” loosely.  I mean things like Stylus, CoffeeScript, HTML5BoilerPlate, and the Golden Grid System.)  I have no issue using these tools separately.  Using them in concert to create a website is much more difficult.  This is a big contributor to my issues maintaining project organization and writing clean XProc scripts.

I have read tons about this stuff.  And I think that I have a solid grasp of the basic concepts.  It’s just that when I try to put any of it into practice, without the simplicity found in examples and tutorials, I have a really difficult time doing so.



What’s In It For You?

I’m a broke undergrad, with no money to offer.  

But I can offer help with: 

proofreading, editing, and some writing
enhancing website markup semantics or CSS (I am totally comfy with X/HTML5 + CSS3)
usability feedback on just about anything (I’m very usability-centric in thinking about everything: software, hardware, graphic design, document design, windows that are needlessly annoying to open when the don’t have to be…yep, just about everything.)


I’ve been running into the same walls for so long now, I’m starting to go a little crazy.  If you can help—even if just a little, or just for a short time—I would consider it an act of heroism.  ☺  



Sincerely, 

— Tony / Zearin