Lesson in Diagonals

So, I have a lot of projects in the works right now, one of which involves using a diagonal edge (or triangle shape). I understood the concept, decrease at the beginning and end of each row, but it just didn't look right at all:

The edges are very bumpy and not a nice clean diagonal.

So I went to work, reinventing the diagonal.

I searched online and could not find a tutorial of any kind on how to make a diagonal in double crochet. I found one in single crochet, but let's face it, single crochet takes too long!

I then discovered a simple trick to make a nice clean straight diagonal line working in rows:

Here is the BIG secret:

At the beginning of the row, you ch 1 (instead of 2). Then you double crochet across the entire row, except the last two, which you do a double crochet decrease.

That's all there is to it! and you just repeat that and it gives you a NICE looking diagonal!