This article is split to two parts:

• 1: Coding
• 2: Graphics and Design

Make sure you check out both!

Increase the amount of undo levels

By increasing the amount of undo levels in your graphics program, you allow yourself to experiment in designing while you can still come back using the Undo-function. You can increase the minimum amount of undo levels and max undo memory in GIMP by adjusting the preferences.

Save your selections to paths/channels

By saving your selections to paths, you are able to use them again even if you deselected them a long time ago. You can do this in GIMP by simply going to the Select menu and choosing “To path”. You can then access the selections by right-clicking on the path in the paths dialog and clicking on “Path to Selection”.

Always have the project files backed up somewhere

Sometimes your exported JPG/PNG/GIF needs some fine-tuning. Then you’ll remember how you chose not to save a project file (XCF in GIMP for example). Always have project files ready to have access to your channels, paths, layers and who knows what other configurations without having to do all the work again.

Get your designs reviewed

It is always a good idea to get suggestions and advice from other people regarding your design. You can improve your design dramatically simply by asking other people’s opinions. And this isn’t for designs only, this applies to content and back-end programming. Although you might not want to share your custom back-end with people as it might be a security risk.

Use tools that suit you

This is as simple as it sounds. Try out many code and image editors to find the one you like. Here are some free code editors you might want to try out:
Bluefish (Linux), Crimson Editor (Windows, runs on wine), Notepad++ (Windows) and jEdit (cross-platform).

So there it is, I might make another tips collection in the near future as well.