[TxMt] save as copy

[Daniel Stockman]

> I don't know how to use subversion, but it seems bloated to a little  
> freelance developer like me.

Once you get used to it, you'll wonder how you ever survived without  
it. Mercurial makes localhost version control sinfully easy (moreso  
than SVN), though Subversion does have somewhat more advanced bundle  
support.

>>> version control is referring to a type of software that manages the
>>> iterations of your code for you (thats a pretty base description).  
>>> you can
>>> read about one form of version control here: http://svnbook.red-bean.com/
>>
>> I've tried Subversion and Mercurial, but as a solo developer used  
>> to working with folders of files (websites) it's very hard to see  
>> any speeding up of my process.

Shuffling files and folders around ad nauseam is not exactly speedy,  
either. And woe unto you if you want to see how those folders looked  
two weeks ago (including that folder you deleted and those files you  
renamed...).

I am a web developer, and I will never go back to ad hoc, unversioned  
code. Your sanity will thank you, too.

>> often I want a copy of a CSS file so the changes I'm making can be  
>> undone en-masse.
>>
>> I'll also make a myriad of changes to several files to get a  
>> desired result and having to comment each change or commit is  
>> counter productive.

Mercurial makes branching and merging almost painless (for trivial  
changes, that is). Also, collecting a series of changes to multiple  
files in a single changeset (that you can switch to instantly at-will)  
is far more efficient, from my perspective, than even a _highly- 
organized_ heap (heh) of files and folders with byzantine naming  
schemes.

>> If I could get into the habit, it might help, but it doesn't seem  
>> to bring any benefits to me at this point...
>>
>> any other web developers/builders using Version Control Systems  
>> want to share workflow? or point to a step by step?

"Distributed Version Control Illustrated"[1] is a good place to start,  
I've found the "Hg Book" [2] to be informative and easy to read, as  
well. (shame about the pictures, though :/). The Mercurial wiki [3] is  
the canonical reference point.

HTH,
Daniel

[1] http://betterexplained.com/articles/intro-to-distributed-version-control-illustrated/
[2] http://hgbook.red-bean.com/
[3] http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/wiki/index.cgi/Mercurial