Real World Web Design Revisited
August 17, 2004 | 
15 Comments
Summary: A follow up to my first post on real world Web design in which I do a lot of backpedalling.
If you’ve not read my previous post, you might want to do that before continuing.
If you have read it already, with any sort of critical eye, you’ll notice that I lost sight of what I was talking about and took the “real” to the “ideal.” I guess when I was thinking about what I thought quality real world Web design was I began to describe what I wanted it to be.
It kind of defeated the purpose. Real world Web design is nothing like the list I gave. That would be “ideal world” Web design. I’m sorry if I led any of you astray. Turns out my real world isn’t so real after all. Try not to laugh. I guess we all make mistakes, thanks to Cody for pointing mine out.
Web design in the real world isn’t pretty like I made it out to be. I went into that post writing one thing and came out writing another. My positive attitude brought out the ideal world I guess.
The reality is that we’ve got to deal with less-than-defined projects, a lack of role definition, tight budgets, micromanagement, ego, browsers with poor support of standards, legacy code, inflexible proprietary software and more.
It’s getting better, and my previous post details what it could be. The “real” reality is that we’ve still got a long way to go.
Sorry for the mixup. My bad.
Filed under: Web Design
Comments
1. Cody Lindley said:
I am impressed with your character! Your perception of yourself must be incredibility down to earth.
Posted on August 17, 2004 05:14 PM | #
2. Keith said:
Cody – Thanks, but really it’s just that I know it’s usually better to fess up when you’ve made a mistake. And, really, I was trying to get a message across and I failed to do that. So I took the opportunity to revisit the topic and say what I really wanted to say.
Thank YOU for calling me on it. Where were the rest of you guys?!? ;)
Posted on August 17, 2004 05:30 PM | #
3. Jim Amos said:
Weirdest thing about web design right now: a lot of us are paid peanuts to create web standards sites that look amazing, whilst other people are hired to churn out a whole bunch of generic crap for much more than it’s worth. I also don’t get why SEO ‘professionals’ are generally earning a lot more than designers, and why site owners are obsessed with tricking or spamming google.
Posted on August 17, 2004 07:40 PM | #
4. Jacob said:
I can’t believe more SEOs aren’t found to be unprofessional, I can’t fathom how so many are underhanded, much like in the Web Design community.
Posted on August 17, 2004 09:03 PM | #
5. Shade said:
I, for one, applaud you Keith. I don’t consider what you made an actual mistake, as it did bring about some pretty interesting concepts from your readers.
-Shade
Posted on August 17, 2004 09:41 PM | #
6. Nick Finck said:
Maybe your post wasn’t the true real world web design… so what? It was helpful and informative and it gives us what we should all strive for in the real world. Sometimes it takes idealists to motivate the realists.
Posted on August 17, 2004 11:17 PM | #
7. Keith said:
Shade – Thanks.
Nick – True, but that wasn’t the point of the post. Had it been an article rather than a blog post I’d have had an editor to tell me something was strange, gone back, made some edits, re-titled it “Web Design In The Ideal World” and had done with it.
I definitely think it made some valid points and is worthwhile, I just felt it needed some clarification and I wanted to point out that it was off the mark of my intention.
I made an honest mistake, because when I sat down to write it I wanted to talk about the real problems, issues, and triumphs of Web design. That’s not how it came out.
This site is still, and will always be a learning experience for me. I want to learn from my mistakes. In this case I feel I made a mistake…
If you can’t admit when you’re wrong, how will you know when you’re right?
Posted on August 17, 2004 11:31 PM | #
8. Kev said:
“Weirdest thing about web design right now: a lot of us are paid peanuts to create web standards sites that look amazing, whilst other people are hired to churn out a whole bunch of generic crap for much more than it’s worth.”
Mate, thats always been the case. Before I ‘saw the light’ regarding standards/accessibility I used to get paid a frightening amount of money for building totally inaccessible Flash-only websites. I think if the blogging community has done nothing else its actually made things better in terms of the amount of designers who are using web standards.
“I also don’t get why SEO ‘professionals’ are generally earning a lot more than designers…”
Well, speaking as someone who does both I can say quite honestly that, just as there are designers and designers there are SEO pro’s and SEO pro’s. The good ones are very ethical in their approach.
I think the general (and quite understandable albiet frustrating) feeling amongst corporates (certainly the corporates I work for) is that you can have the best designed, most standards compliant, accessible site in the world but it means nothing if it can’t be found on search engines :-).
Posted on August 18, 2004 12:34 AM | #
9. Scott said:
Since you’ve discovered that you never wrote the post that you sat down to write, I hope you take some time to complete those initial thoughts and try again. I enjoyed reading the post you ended up with, but I think if you explored the path you started on more thoroughly, you would have the makings of an excellent article.
Posted on August 18, 2004 01:04 AM | #
10. Richard@Home said:
“Real World We Design” can be summerised in ONE word: “Compromise”.
You start out with an ideal (much like your fist post) and compromise design elements, features etc. to get the ideal to work.
Can’t get that layout ‘just-right’ and the deadline is aproaching? You compromise…
Can’t get your javascript to run in some esoteric browser? You compromise…
I LIKE the real world - its much more challenging than coding in a perfect world - how boring would THAT be? ;-)
Posted on August 18, 2004 01:26 AM | #
11. Mike P. said:
Your original post lead me to write The Bottom Line Website.
Personal interpretations can be funny, no?
Posted on August 18, 2004 04:06 AM | #
12. Cody Lindley said:
Being a web designer today means dancing a tight line between an idealist and a realist. Their is no perfect combination of how far, and how much one leans in which direction. If I had to say something absolutely all I could say is both must be wrestled with in order to be successful.
Posted on August 18, 2004 05:37 AM | #
13. Jessica said:
You said what I have been thinking a lot lately. My heart leapt for joy at your list of things the “real” (or ideal) world has for us. My finger even hovered over the print button (for this could be lovely on my cubicle wall).
It’s nice to dream.
Posted on August 18, 2004 08:31 AM | #
14. BlndCat said:
Richard@Home was right on the mark. Thing is the word “compromise” makes us feel kinda dirty :o )
I think that part of our responsibilities as professional web designers is to know just how far to push our ideals. If we push too far (not compromising enough) then we acheive less progress in our desired direction.
Example: Ignoring IE’s broken css implementation and coding for standards compliant browsers while appealing to my idealistic heart is not likely to get many favourable responses from the powers that be.
(Follow on example: not using hacks, filters or work arounds and only using one universal stylesheet is also likely to be too ideal world)
Posted on August 18, 2004 10:47 PM | #
15. s t e f said:
Catching up on reading web-related blogs. Darn. MS-home redesign is troll-like in essence. ;)
Joke aside, I couldn’t have criticised you, I’ve got the same problem. Whenever I begin explaining something that I feel is necessary and down-to-earth, I end up disserting on the communicational virtues of the net, the wonderful people you meet, the passionate debates, etc.
Although yeah, re-reading the list, you were more in the “should’s” than in the “is’s”.
Posted on August 27, 2004 02:09 AM | #
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