Web Design

[pziecina]

I knew there where advantages to helping out in this forum, and other on-line help for web development, and at lunch time today one arrived in my mail box that I think is worth posting about, especially now Muse is EOL.

I had been sent a free, (complimentary) copy of an ebook - Learning web design by Jennifer Robbins, ( 5th edition) .

I know that we all think that we do not require to brush up on the basics, but what caught my eye from the first chapter was that Dw is mentioned as a code editor, and the question of must a web designer know code, (the answer was yes) was also answered. It also goes into many of the newer html/css features such as srcset and css grids, (so is up-to-date).

I'm not trying to promote the book, (just as I did/do not think I should promote Dw or extensions whilst an ACP or now) but if anyone has time it may be worth downloading a free example of the book, (first couple of chapters) from Amazon, as a quick read of some subjects showed me how much I take for granted in knowledge of web design and development, without stoping to think how much those asking questions may not know, (but should).

At least now I can tell those who say they are web designers but do not know code, (and should not have to) what to read.

[Nancy OShea]

A leopard doesn't change its spots.  I don't think there's much we can say that will influence devout non-coders to change their ways until it directly effects their income. 

What's most troubling to me is how ill-informed many  designers are about other essential aspects of the web.  There's a great deal more to web design/development than creating pretty pages including web accessibility, GDPR/e-privacy, PCI compliance, server security, regular  site backups, SSL certs, SEO, upgrades, etc.... It's a dog eat dog world out there.   And clueless web designers are just putting themselves and their customers at risk for failure.  All I can say is ignorance is bliss until it comes back to bite you in the rear end.

[pziecina]

What made me think the most about the book, was that the first three chapters are essential knowledge and do not even touch code.

As you say 'ignorance is bliss'.

[osgood_]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Nancy+OShea  wrote

All I can say is ignorance is bliss until it comes back to bite you in the rear end.

Unfortunatley that doesnt happen regularly enough. Over the years I've lost many a website I used to maintain to someone/something who/that can do it cheaper.....the websites are still all going (bar a couple which died a death).......albeit a bit more roughly presented but in my experience unless you have a multi-national client then local clients don't really consider the presentation too much as long as the information exists in some kind of format. Only a few have ever mentioned GDPR, accessibility, site-back-ups etc

It IS a dog eat dog world as you say unless you have exceptional clients with a serious marketing department or at least someone within the organisation that understands the value of presentation. Once you start cutting corners to save a few shillings that's when the website generally starts deteriorating in terms of management etc.

I'd like to know how many websites contain code that isn't being used any longer or multiple images that are not required because someone isn't a very good house-keeper - deletes the page/s yet doesnt delete the images or js code which is associated with the page/s deleted........in  a few months/years a well mangaged website becomes an unruly beast, in the wrong hands.

My services by default include a well managed website with each image carefully following a set naming protocol, js gets deleted, images get deleted where they are not deleted automatically BUT obviously management takes time and costs money whereas non-exist or little management costs nothing.

[pziecina]

osgood_  wrote

Unfortunatley that doesnt happen regularly enough. Over the years I've lost many a website I used to maintain to someone/something who/that can do it cheaper.....the websites are still all going (bar a couple which died a death).......albeit a bit more roughly presented but in my experience unless you have a multi-national client then local clients don't really consider the presentation too much as long as the information exists in some kind of format. Only a few have ever mentioned GDPR, accessibility, site-back-ups etc

As you know I am used to dealing with those 'multi-nationals', and its still a dog eats dog environment, but with bonuses when it comes to the work involved.

There will always be someone who can do something cheaper, especially when it comes to those doing it as a sideline, or who does not worry about reputation. As many have pointed out over the years, the client is only interested in how the site looks and how much it costs, (that is where multi-nationals do differ), the code, site managment and accessibility are not of any concern to them, and even if someone should complain, they will blame the software, framework, or anything else they can think of, just so long as it is not them.