If, by a strange quirk of fate, you’re more interested in my random blog posts, feel free to browse beyond this post.

For a bit more up to date information about what I’m doing at the moment, you can check out my twitter feed @kunalbhalla.

Imagine you’re going on a trek with various many interesting people. You slide off an artificial iceburg, and land in a village without electricity. Using a hand cranked torch, you make your way to the Ganga — which you clearly want to avoid, considering the amount of sewage flowing through it. There’s this curtain of sarees blocking your way, and after having a comment about 6 inches etched into your brain you move on to hear beautiful melodies by Kabir. As you drift off into a blissful, melody induced Nirvana, you’re reminded about the harsh reality of India — poverty — and a remarkably innovative solution for it. As you ponder the possibilities of generalized micro-level carbon credits, you’re suddenly exposed to well engineered clothes that you can redesign in a minute (taking the humble button where it’s never gone). Shaking your head, trying to get rid of the feeling that you’re wearing your trousers as a shirt you wander into the crazed, crowded streets and trains of Mumbai, with Dabbawallas rushing around you with more purpose and efficiency than the greatest of multinationals ever aspire to. The thought of all those tiffins and lunches inspires you to do exactly that — have a bit of food, after which you’re suddenly transported to the Khajurao temples where the sculptures remove you from the pleasant, rich food induced reverie you were in. You fidget uncomfortably as you walk through India, realizing that more than 8 million children are dying precisely from lack of what you just over-indulged in — food. Landing up in Delhi, someone throws a few flowers at you — a perhaps purpose-less, but well intentioned project by a man in a sari. Slightly bemused, you’re then shown the latest of technologies merged with one of the most ancient of crafts — to result in one of the greatest recent temples in India. As you admire the beautiful sculptures, you hear melodies crafted just for you. Still not completely satisfied, you dive headlong into an artist’s mind as you see the experiences behind the art. Proud to be able to wear the Indian flag on your lapel, you listen to a lazy man singing some of the best songs you ever heard. Ineffectually trying to match his voice, you gradually wake up and realize that you’re sitting in a huge air conditioned auditorium, and your trek through a completely different world just ended.

And that, people, was TEDxDelhi.

Green technologies, simply defined are those technologies that are environmentally friendly and are at the same time used for commercial gain.

This is an essay I wrote for Honda Yes 2009. I didn’t get selected, but I still liked the essay, and decided to share it.

The developed countries – those that make use of the maximum resources 1 – are not willing to cut down on their usage and lifestyle, which is understandable. Developing countries are not ready to stop growth just for the sake of compensating for the pollution caused by others – which is even more understandable. The only obvious way out – new technologies which aim at sustainable, environmentally friendly development.

Ideal green technologies are those that at one and the same time are environmentally friendly, financially viable and socially equitable. Achieving all three at the same time is a daunting task, indeed, most environmentally friendly technology is found to be financially prohibitive, but the only way we can keep developing and fulfilling the needs of the 6.787 billion 2 (and counting) people inhabiting this planet.

Benefits and Problems

For the environment …

The benefits of using green technology are many – starting with the all important energy sector (over which wars are instigated and carried out). The first point we must realize is that moving away from Fossil Fuels is not necessary only because of their limited availability but also because of the excessive harm that they do to the environment. The US Energy Information Administration has put the peak oil production in May 2005 and July 20063 – dates we have already passed. The emissions of carbon dioxide have been gradually increasing through the years.

By switching from fossil fuels to less polluting sources of energy, we might be able to at the same time avert the impending energy crisis and also reduce the effects of global warming. Possible alternatives provided by green technology are solid fuel cells, nuclear power (a bit controversial as it does generate waste products), solar energy and wind energy.

The downside is that the amount of effort and investment required to switch to green energy sources is massive. Hydrogen based fuel cells are currently not suitable as handling hydrogen is very dangerous and a massive network will be required for distribution, etc. Nuclear energy produces extremely toxic waste products which must be specially stored separately. The biggest factor that makes switching to Green, rather, any alternative technology so difficult is the massive inertia caused by the world’s dependence on the standard fossil fuels.

… and the companies

Switching to green technology for companies also greatly increases their CSR value and even drives business to the company – green technology is economically viable and the fact that a company is using environmentally friendly techniques drives customers to that company.

As an example, consider GE Ecomagination:  a program started by General Electric to reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency, while at the same time cutting costs – which is highly important in today’s recession. In the some note, they also aim at increasing R&D to $1.5 billion by 2010 4.  As of today, they are working on reducing emissions, water consumption, reducing waste generated, working on improved wind-energy generation, etc.

Considering the revenues of the company in 2008 – the consolidated revenue reached $183 billion while the green-house gas emissions have reduced from 7.50 (2004) to 6.49 (2008) million metric ton CO2 equivalents, operational GHG intensity from 60.58 to 35.58 (metric tonnes per $ million revenue), operational Energy Intensity from 496.69 to 312.75 (MMBTu per $ million revenue) and energy use has reduced from 61.50 to 57.0 $ million MMBTu – an ideal application of green technology.

On the flip side GE has a history of large-scale air and water pollution; based on year 2000 data it has been listed as the fourth largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States apart from being implicated in the creation of toxic wastes; so, at one level Ecomagination can be considered as profitable CSR as well as riding the current “Go Green” wave all over the world – Green Technology definitely makes a lot of business sense.

But what about the people?

What we cannot forget, in all the current enthusiasm about green technology with the buzzwords of “sustainable development”, “business-sense”, etc. that right at this moment a quarter of this world’s population is below the poverty line, too many people do not have access to drinking water nor food. And I would rather not comment on the percentage of people living in war-torn areas.

There is always the urgency of diving in, using whatever resources we have at hand to help. To be able to look at ourselves in the mirror, we must. One fact that must be clear to the world at large and the elite in specific is that only we, with access to all the resources that we have at our disposal can be expected to cut down. You cannot steal from people who have nothing.

Our enthusiasm for ‘saving the world’ cannot reach the extent that we deny development in order to reduce environmental degradation. Everyone must be brought to a common, sustainable baseline – what is too often ignored by media and people in general is that this involves bringing the resource utilization by certain sections of the world up rather than down.

Such a strategy, I believe, in the long run will pay for itself – when we reach the peak of civilization with the world at 100% literacy and awareness, and the basic necessities of life satisfied for all, sustainable development will be a way of life and not a goal.

As a citizen of the Earth,

I will recommend that we use Green Technology as far as possible, even if the short term costs are on the high side in terms of research required and money invested – for otherwise, we will never be able to pay the debt incurred by mismanaging our natural resources.

All of us must realize for a fact that our resources will, at best allow us to maintain our current rate of development for a few decades – at worst, for a few years. We have already seen examples of rising political tension over energy sources; what we may not have yet realized is that if the situation worsens we may even be facing wars over resources like fresh water.

The threat of global warming has been hanging over our heads for years but has not been really been addressed yet; particularly by certain developed nations. The very concept behind Carbon Credits is symbolic of why we have not been able to control Carbon Dioxide emission to any worthwhile extent today – very few countries are willing to give up their way of life for goals spanning many lifetimes, and not simply those of the current generations.

Instead of expecting or bribing other countries to reduce emissions (and thus reducing their own guilt) every country must work towards the common goal of reducing resource exploitation, overpopulation and excessive reliance on fossil fuels; to look at the really big picture – the one beyond boundaries, languages and even species.

The onus of improvement does not lie solely with the governments and large corporations of the world; rather every single person must participate in every way he can. Every small effort, when consolidated over 6 billion people, has a massive effect.

As a single person, I can consciously reduce my energy consumption, perhaps research better technologies; spread the word to my neighbours. As 6 billion people, I can vote out environmentally indifferent governments, dismiss resource hungry companies, change the course of history by choosing the right leaders and making my voice heard.

Of course, that means I must identify myself as more than a Delhite, an IITian or an Indian. I must realize that I’m an earthling – and more importantly, so is everyone else.

You must realize that at no place have I specified that it is the Youth’s prerogative to achieve target X, or that Y must do what they can. I believe this to be one of the greatest drawbacks in today’s approach to development – at no stage should there be any distinction on saving the world. Everyone can be a superman in his own way, and do his own bit to save the world. (Or superwoman; and her, as appropriate.)

As an Engineer,

I must and will push towards a radical change in the current design beliefs – we must do away with planned obsolescence. Everything from the ultra-sophisticated cell-phone to the plastic water bottle must be made to last. We cannot expect to keep harvesting resources indefinitely and expect no repercussions; consider the words (and work) of Mechanical Engineer Saul Griffith – “The business plan for the next century should be to take every object you sell and figure out how to give the service of that object to the consumer with one-tenth of that power.”

Specializing in Structural Civil Engineering, there is a lot of scope where work can be made more environment friendly. Waste material (plastic) is being extensively used in making roads, reducing landfills, etc. Buildings should be designed and constructed on lines similar to those specified by the U.S. Green Building Council, Leadership in Energy and Environment design LEED (an international green building certification system) 5.

The fundamentals behind LEED, and rather, any such system are sustainability – the design must respect the community and culture behind the building, considering all socioeconomic levels; inclusiveness – involve the community in the design; progress – the impact of the building on the environment, community and economy must be quantifiable; connectedness – recognize the relationship between man and nature and give emphasis to it.

From various studies carried out in America, where LEED is being gradually introduced into the standard codes, it has been shown that – as with almost all other green technology – the initial cost might appear prohibitive, but in fact, the payback in the long run more than covers up for them 6.

Better, more efficient methods developed across the world must be open – while intellectual property rights must be maintained and there must be sufficient stimuli, monetary and otherwise for people to innovate – research and results must be open and shared. A single company or country discovering an alternative source of energy and then hiding it/not sharing it with the rest of the world is simply a waste.

The urgency and importance of the current situation requires open collaboration between countries – with the developed helping the developing in implementing these. Making costs of green technology more prohibitive than they must me is the height of foolishness.

In conclusion,

I end by simply reiterating the theme that has been present throughout this essay – we must work together, as people, as countries, as corporations to meet the coming challenges and shortages caused by our own exploitation of available resources. We cannot face them alone, but we might survive together.

In order to complete his work on time, the contractor had allegedly told the workers to demolish the lower portion of the building and start renovation work on it, without considering whether the already considerably weakened, 40 year old structure could take the weight. The inevitable occurred, with the top two floors crashing down and burying and damaging many laptops.

In the words of one of the surviving students (who has requested to remain unnamed) “They were destroying the doors beneath our room and the balcony start moving wildly, deflecting as much as 1 cm. We ran to stop them, but the [expletive deleted] workers refused to budge.”

The maintenance secretary of the hostel was allegedly gallivanting somewhere in East Delhi during the incident, meeting some foreigner. On being contacted he replied that he had an urgent meeting with someone he could not name — a fact that has been noted by the investigating authorities who have taken him into custody. We managed to get a statement from the Chief Investigator, Mr. M. Adi “We have not ruled out the involvement of the maintenance secretary, and are also considering the foreign angle”, obliquely referring to the recent statement by the President of United States of Pakerica, Mr. Obama Bin Bush.

Being a holiday, most of the students were sitting in their rooms during the accident, apparently trying to block their internet access so as to be able to prepare for their upcoming examinations. A quote by one of the IICians from our archives: “Our professors believe that we can obtain everything we need to learn by surfing the internet — in fact they maintain a check to see that all students download at least 100MB of data every day to ensure they are spending enough time on the internet. We have learnt a lot but it becomes difficult to adhere to this rule during our minor exams so trying to outsmart our professors and blocking our internet access is a favourite pass-time for IICians during the exam season.”

Most of the students were taken by surprise as the building came crashing down on them, and more than 50 laptops have been reported missing and are assumed to still be buried under the rubble, while 10 damaged (2 critically) laptops have been recovered. One or 2 lucky laptops survived on their battery life and were discovered as they were playing heavy rock and could be heard through the concrete. Worried students at IIC have kept a candle light vigil outside the laptop repair shop, with the very best technicians of the top laptop manufacturers including Nosy Baio, Sell and Compact working tirelessly to save the laptops. More technicians are expected to arrive from around the world soon. Excavation work to locate the remaining laptops is also underway.

Many IICians are still in shock, with many roaming around in a daze. A particularly sad case is that of a few students, who, being deprived of access to their laptops and the Facebook live feed appear to have devolved to animals — with one imitating a bull, another squealing in French like a pig and the  worst affected keeps trying to fly off the top of the hostel and is constantly restrained by his friends. It is currently not clear whether he has delusions about being a bird or being the Man of Steel (both being able to fly).

What has made this accident even more unique is the fact that there have been various reports of the accident being a complete fabrication and fallacy as people have allegedly communicated with the missing residents of the hostel (using their own laptops). In the public interest, we reiterate that the accident has happened and any such rumours must be disregarded as utter nonsense.

There have been suspicions of paranormal activity at the site of the accident because of these apparent messages and the top investigative news channel in India — IndiaTV — has sent its best reporter to find out the truth. The initial findings of the reporter will be presented on tomorrow’s primetime show at 8 p.m. — “IIC ke khooni engineer”. Insiders (who wish to remain unnamed) have said that such a tragic parting of nerds with their computers can cause their ghosts to linger on till they manage to complete their last wish: to update their status messages. Only then will they be able to pass on to the afterlife. As always, there are many skeptics who have denounced this theory, claiming that the ghosts need to play one last LAN game of AoE.

In a surprise turn of events, famed teen impersonator and actor Aamir K. and ex-IICian and MBA B. Chetan came together in support of the missing laptops. They said that they has put aside all differences to be able to garner even more publicity for their film/book as people had stopped discussing their recent disagreements.

As a log (in case my computer gets formatted sometime in the future — a likely, but not hoped for occurrence — ) as well as a possible guide to others, here are the steps I followed.

Note: I’m using Ubuntu 9.10 with a Reliance NetConnect ZTE AC8710 modem.

1. Connect to the net using some other, temporary connection
   1. Get usb-modeswitch. Those with access to a repository can simply do
      [bash]sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch
      [/bash]
      Others can get the latest version from http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/ .
   2. You will also need (do an apt-get as required)
      [bash]lsusb, libusb-dev, wvdial, modprobe
      [/bash]
2. Connect your modem and run
   [bash]lsusb
   [/bash]
   You should see one of the usb ports having your modem — it will probably be classified as ONDA and have a vendor/product id specified. Along the lines of
   [bash]192d:fff6
   [/bash]
   The fff6 indicates that it has been detected as a flash drive/cd rom and not as a modem.
3. Also do a
   [bash]dmesg | tail
   [/bash]
   And observe where the modem has gone — usbtty0 / 1 / 2/ 3 etc.
4. Edit the usb-modeswitch configuration to make your computer recognize it as a modem
   [bash]sudo vim /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf
   [/bash]
   Navigate till you find the settings for your vendor id/product id.
   [bash]########################################################
   568 # ZTE AC8710
   569 #
   570 # Two ID variants known; check your default
   571 #
   572 # Contributor: Michael Khurtsiya
   573
   574 ;DefaultVendor=  0x19d2
   575 ;DefaultProduct= 0xfff5
   576
   577 ;TargetVendor=   0x19d2
   578 ;TargetProduct=  0xffff
   579
   <strong> 580 # No. 2
   581
   582 ;DefaultVendor=  0x19d2
   583 ;DefaultProduct= 0xfff6
   584
   585 ;TargetVendor=   0x19d2
   586 ;TargetProduct=  0xfff1
   587
   588 # only for reference
   589 # MessageEndpoint=0x05</strong>
   590 <strong>
   591 ;MessageContent=“5553424312345678c00000008000069f030000000000000000000000000000”</strong>
   [/bash]
   And remove the ‘;’ before the required lines. Save and exit.
   Run it.
   [bash]sudo usb_modeswitch[/bash]
5. Check whether it’s worked — do another
   [bash]lsusb
   [/bash]
   and see that the product id has changed to fff1 (or whatever your target product was).
6. Now we need to do a modprobe
   [bash]modprobe usbserial vendor=0x19d2 product=0xfff1
   [/bash]
   Replace vendor and prodcut as you require.
7. Once that’s done, you need to make your wvdial.conf file. To edit the file:
   [bash]sudo vim /etc/wvdial.conf
   [/bash]
   Copy paste the following in it.
   [bash][Dialer Defaults]
   Username = &lt;enter your 10 digit modem number here&gt;
   Password = &lt;enter your 10 digit modem number here&gt;
   Init1 = ATZ
   Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &amp;C1 &amp;D2 +FCLASS=0
   Modem Type = Analog Modem
   Phone = #777
   ISDN = 0
   SetVolume = 0
   FlowControl = Hardware (CRTSCTS)
   Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0 &lt;modify based on the results of your dmesg&gt;
   Dial Command = ATDT
   Baud = 460800
   Stupid Mode = 1[/bash]
8. Once that’s done, you should be good to go. Simply run
   [bash]sudo wvdial
   [/bash]

And you should be connected. Hopefully this helps someone and prevents them from wasting as much time as I did.

Sources:

• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1333535
• http://travisneotyler.blogspot.com/2009/07/back-on-wireless-web.html

It may be because I have nothing to do; or I’ve lost interest in what I was doing for some reason — it being too repetitive, etc.; I have too little to do; what I’m working on doesn’t seem to have any apparent purpose; or even if only some senses are occupied and others left alone.

I try to get over this foible of mine by listening to music — hence the headphones hanging around my neck or on my ear, 24 by 7 by 4 by 12 by ~20. At least, by keeping my ears occupied I can relax, and possibly not get bored. This has also resulted in my having a 70GB music + video collection on my iPod.

But I digress.

I have come to realize that if I did not get bored so easily — I would have achieved less than half of what I have today. There would be no reason for me to tread on the fine line of just enough work to do; I could have relaxed a bit more — and perhaps enjoyed a bit less.

On the other hand, I have abandoned certain projects because I found out that they were no-where near as challenging as I’d imagined and hoped for, and were rather achievable — and no longer interesting; because I no longer believed that the work I was doing served any purpose.

What pushes me — and also stops me from working — is my characteristic of getting bored so quickly. Paradoxically, it makes me give up and move ahead at the same time.

And ever since I’ve had more to do — or more that I want to do — I lose my patience with other things even more quickly. I can no longer comfortably watch a film in a cinema hall — my hands are unoccupied, and depending on the film — perhaps even my brain.

Doing only one thing at a time is possible only if it is interesting enough to merit my full concentration. Hence the rabid multi-tasking — reading a book with lunch while listening to music or maybe watching television. Coding while watching a film or having a conversation. Social Networking while reading a comic. etc. etc.

What about you?

The Golden Rule, The First Commandment and the Code by which every IITian must live by is never do anything before the last minute. If the presentation is due at 13.00, completing it before 12.30 is blasphemy and before 12.00 means that the concerned IITian has been abducted by aliens and replaced by a doppleganger. Lab reports — even those involving 30 pages of writing, 10 pages of calculations and 20 graphs each with atleast 50 points (all of which must be drawn exclusively by hand) must never be started before the night before it is due. You get my drift, I assume.

Those who actually buy books are an endangered species — fast dying out. Books are arranged by jugaad, through seniors, not returning books to the insti library, from the hostel library, photocopies, not buying at all. And so on.

Class Notes are an alien concept conceived by the same alien dopplegangers I mentioned earlier. And are photocopied and distributed throughout. Repeatedly.

Reading room is a euphemism for something else involving socializing, ornithology, etc. Ex(hibition) Hall is often mentioned with an extra s appended on the right word. The only way to actually accomplish anything is  to sit facing the wall, with a pair of headphones. And maybe blinkers.

Another phenomenon often observed is that group study is extremely popular. I always doubt the efficacy of this method, though people I know are extremely successful in following this method. Including my room-mate and batch-mates. I have failed miserably in earning marks through group study.

And of course — time devoted to study. If we did devote as much time to studies as the 5(!?) pointers did, we would’ve been 9 pointers. Without the (excessive) blessings of the Gods and daily devotion periods. Self study is something you fit in between extra-currics, video games, sleep (4 hours or so) and classes. If you do.

Hope that helps. Yours as always.

–Me.

My answer for the above questions:

I love gVIM (graphical VIM). I’ve set it up to work over SSH in Windows (I work on a different box and merely use my laptop as a convenient interface), hidden all menu bars and installed a colour theme pack of which I’m currently using “Evening”. And I’ve started using VIM for every code related task I do. In defence of my choice, allow me to introduce some of the basic functionality included in VIM and some practical use cases: (Not intended as a tutorial, but a quick glimpse at the great functionality on offer)

1. Simple Editing
   Typographical errors are the programmer’s bane. And if they’re not shown as errors (occasionally the case with various Javascript libraries), life becomes hell. Quick correction options in vim:
   • dw, dd, etc. Basically, both for deleting and cutting text. dw deletes till the end of the line. d2w deletes 2 words. dd deletes the current line. Entering %d on the command line (i.e. using : ) deletes the full file. D deletes until the end of the current line. Considering standard equivalents, I’m always astonished by what I can accomplish so quickly in VIM.
     I really tend to use d…d to quickly get rid of large chunks of commented code. Or simply for moving code around very very quickly.
   • r, rw, etc. d was for delete. r is for replace. Need I elaborate?
     I tend to mis-type certain words a lot. Really easy for me to just go over the offending character and type in rx, where x is the new character I want to replace it by.
   • o, i, a, A, etc. Single keypresses for: 0: add a new line after current one and start editing, O: add a new line before the current line and start editing, a: start appending after cursor, i: start inserting before cursor, A: insert stuff at end of the current line.
     A is the forgetful programmer’s boon. Really useful for adding ; at the end of lines.
2. Editing over scp/ftp/etc.
   Vim comes with a special plugin (NetRW) that lets you quickly edit files over your protocol of choice. I regularly use
   :e scp://<username>@<host>/path/
   to get a directory listing of all the files in that path; choose your file and edit away.
3. Search and replace
   Ever changed a variable at the last minute and had to change it? Easily carry out regular expressions over very simply defined yet complex range of lines using /<pattern>/ or :s/<pattern>/<substitute>/flags. You can even carry out commands on matching portions. One of the most useful features I’ve used once I got the hang of it.
4. Ranges
   Vim’s flexibility in terms of defining ranges for substitution/deletion/anything you’d care to mention is amazing. One of the features I most constantly use is ‘marks’ that allow you to mark certain positions to be easily referenced later.
5. Too many colour themes
   The amount of possible colour themes available is astonishing. And allows a UI freak like me to be completely satisfied with what I’m coding in. And switching quickly when I want to.
6. Registers
   Registers allow you to cut/copy and store stuff in different named “registers and then paste where and when you want. Anyone who’s shuffled through various files can easily comprehend the huge help this is.
7. Buffers and Tabs
   Tabs are essential to any decent program today. Buffers are tabs without the graphical interface indicating their presence. The best part is while using Vim in linux I tend to use
   gVIM –p *.php
   and other such commands to quickly open all files of  a single type in tabs in a single window. Really makes finding the right file much much easier.
8. Sessions
   Using :mksession and :source allow you to quickly open all the files you had open the last time you sat down to work. And as you get to choose where the file containing the session is saved, handling sessions becomes really simple and easy.
9. Abbreviations
   How many times do you find yourself using common stuff like console.log() or error_log() while debugging? Just use the command
   :ab cl console.log
   and every time you type cl( (followed by a space/newline/./(/etc.) it will be automatically expanded. I imagine you can see the possibilities. Interestingly, abbreviations can be saved in sessions so if you don’t want to keep an abbr. around for a long time, or have something specific (such as a class name) just use and save it in the session.
10. Key Mapping
    Map keys to carry out your most often used commands.
11. An awesome community
    There are thousands of sites out there with pointers on using VIM as well as an excellent Vim tips twiki. Be sure to check out the VIM tips twiki and this presentation on VIM for PHP programmers by Andrei Zmievski to get a much better idea of what VIM is capable of.

Also, for those of you who edit a lot of stuff on the web (using text boxes), install It’s all text to edit any text box’s contents using your favourite editor (VIM, anyone?). This post was written in gVIM, opened via “It’s all text” on the excellent blogging platform provided by WordPress.

For those of you just beginning, I would seriously suggest http://www.w3schools.com . Don’t be concerned about the staid look of the website. The content is solid gold; you get complete references, accurate information and short and sweet tutorials with loads of examples. Again, for the beginner: try reading/coding HTML — xHTML -> CSS -> Javascript -> PHP & SQL -> AJAX. This is roughly the order I went in (though I learned Javascript before CSS). Stuff I know that you (& I) should cover, but have no idea about where to fit in: XML and Flash. When (and if) I learn more about these, I’ll edit this post.

A few tips while coding up websites:

• From the beginning, ensure cross browser compatability. Whether or not you consider IE6 worthy enough to be included in the list of browsers your site appears perfectly in, depends on your personal opinion. There are those who would argue much more for all round accessibility, and those who consider the 8 years old (malfunctioning) browser obsolete. Personally, I agree with the latter. (Very few websites I design work completely in IE6).
• Write code as if someone else will grade it. Do your best to keep stuff well commented, neatly tabbed and avoid unsightly hacks put together at the last moment. Remember, unlike coding a program, where (in most cases) the code is a secret you can carry to your grave, clicking “View Source” does allow everyone to see your sloppiness. And it ain’t easy to find bugs in messy code either.
• Keep everything W3 compliant. Always ensure that your websites are xhtml, css valid. Don’t forget to put in a !DOCTYPE.
• Try to use the best Search Engine Optimization practices from the beginning so that you get into a habit of using the proper elements at the right places. I’m afraid I still struggle and accidentally use [code]h1[/code] where I should have put an [code]h2[/code]. (If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, you will, later.)
• Use sprites while handling images. One of the worst impressions I can get of a site is having non-preloaded roll-over images.
• Look at the source code of sites that you like. Wonder about how certain effects might be created and then check from the source code.
• Use Firefox and its excellent plugins: Firebug (for looking quickly through a page, editing to find those pesky bugs on the fly and making your life much more comfortable) and Web Developer Toolbar (to do the few things firebug doesn’t).
• At all costs, never use GUI based webpage creators. Hand-code, use libraries, whatever. Don’t use something which doesn’t even give you a glimpse of the code.

Apart from the above, it’s always good to read stuff all over the web. I’ll keep putting up links here to interesting websites which give useful information, but it’s better if you search for yourself.