Website Design Blog: discussion, Inspiration and More…

April 16, 2010 in Identity by Designussion

There is so much information available to us as web developers, whether it is from blogs, articles, books or publications.

It’s obviously a brilliant part of our industry, and will undoubtedly remain that way. Every now and then it is important to take a step back and realise what we do wrong.

Some things can have a negative effect on our progress as a developer, even though in the short-term they may help pay the bills. Sometimes it is important to look at the bigger picture for the long-term.

Much of this should be considered hypothetically and I would encourage you to think about what I have written and comment with your thoughts.

Anyway, here are some key factors that could be conducive to failure in the long-term.

You Can’t Say No to Any Client

This may sound stupid, as after all, every client puts money in our pockets and adds to our portfolio. As I’m sure all of you would have experienced, it doesn’t always turn out this way.

Some projects, I’d rather not publicise, not because of my personal work, but the fact the client didn’t take on board any of my suggestions regarding design and usability, and as such, the final result was not as I would have hoped.

Of course, we don’t all have the luxury of choosing our clients like some of the bigger firms do. But we have to at least be able to understand for ourselves what type of client we might be averse to working with. There may be circumstances where we simply can’t afford to turn a client down, so that’s acceptable.

If we are able to identify some characteristics in clients or projects that we find undesirable, then it’s likely we’re making some progress as developers, and we’re not so much concerned about making money but are primarily focused on making the web a better place.

You Try to Do Everything

This is one of the debateable points I mentioned earlier. But consider this scenario: You are a web developer who does it all: You can create a logo in Illustrator, design a website in Photoshop, are able to work with a range of back-end frameworks, can program in multiple back-end languages, can code valid XHTML and CSS, can create raw JavaScript, have learned to play around with 3 or 4 JavaScript libraries, can do copy writing, content strategy, IA, UX, and even dabble in SEO and SEM.

How realistic is it that you’ll be able to keep up to date and be on the cutting edge of all of those different technologies, concepts, and languages? It’s not realistic at all, so it’s best to pick a few areas that you can keep up with and focus on, and if a particular client requires other services beyond your focus, well, that brings us to the next item on this list.

You Don’t Network

One of the best ways to ensure you keep up with all the current trends in the industry and even stay ahead of the game, knowing about events before they occur, is through networking – whether it be on or offline.

Of course, some of us might be limited when it comes to personal networking, whether because of geography or personal reasons. But we can all network and build relationships with quality developers online. Just interacting with bloggers or posting in webmaster forums could help build relationships.

Another brilliant way to make contacts and keep up with recent happenings in the community is to attend any events or conferences in your area. Many of these events are put on by some of the biggest names in the web design industry, and the information shared is always up to date and often ahead of the game.

As discussed, this goes back to the previous point about avoiding trying to do everything. If you have a solid network of available professionals, you can pick and choose work and specialise in a field – outsourcing to more experienced people in a particular area.

My best advice with networking is to ensure mutual benefit. Don’t just leech ideas, contribute and share your own thoughts. The only way an equal and long-lasting exchange can take place is if greed and selfishness is left behind and you are willing to be just as helpful to those from whom you expect help.

You Don’t Think About Progressive Enhancement

If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? Even if it does, the sound is irrelevant, because it didn’t serve a purpose.

This can happen with a website that isn’t backwards compatible and lacks wide accessibility. This is where progressive enhancement comes in, and it needs to be considered during the planning stages, as it considerably more difficult to implement further down the line or once a design is live.

Progressive enhancement (which is one of the key ingredients when implementing accessibility) ensures a website’s content is SEO-friendly and is available to all site visitors, including those with older browsers, assisted technology, or those browsing the web with JavaScript and/or Ajax capabilities disabled. If your site’s content is not accessible to search engine spiders, then it’s like that tree that falls and nobody is there to hear [see] it.

Thinking about progressive enhancement in your web projects is a good sign that you are trying to maximize the reach of the site’s content and, by extension, maximizing the site’s ability to turn a casual visitor into a sale.

You’ve Already Thought Up a Response To This Article Explaining That I Am Wrong

Much of this article will be dismissed by readers as inaccurate and presumptive. Of course, there are points I have not included, and details I have not expanded on. But before you decide these points are of little importance to a “successful” web professional, take the time to consider what your goals are in building web sites, and where you see yourself in a few years.

I’ve had the unfortunate experience of working with and for people whose only interest in web design was business-related (that is, their goals were mostly financially-driven). Because of the potentially far-reaching effects of what we do as web professionals, our goals should go beyond such superficialities and we should be constantly assessing our personal values to ensure that our progress as web professionals is helping making the web a friendlier place.

Putting focus on reaching such goals, and not always on “making the sale”, is what will eventually make you a successful web professional.

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