Jeff Croft Writes:
But there was a mindset created in the 90s that anyone could make a web page. That line of thinking led bosses to direct secretaries and copy editors to produce corporate sites and a whole wave of self-proclaimed “designers” to start selling their services as web professionals.
That is so true. And like Jeff, I was one of them. Fired up my copy of Frontpage or Adobe Go Live and I was good to go. He also states that “many people never made that leap from hobbyist to professional”, which is so true.
I think it’s absolutely awesome that my 11-year old daughter could make a personal website if she wants to. Where I have a problem is when these people start to sell their services or get senior-level jobs in the industry.
I must say this is a bit of an over exaggeration. I don’t think that a lot of the “professionals” who sell their services can be grouped into this category of “hack” as he puts it. I feel that if someone is searching for a web design professional a simple look at that person’s/company’s portfolio should give a clear indication of what their skill level is.
they buy a copy of Photoshop or Dreamweaver and call themselves a web designer. This is a little baffling to me. No one thinks if they have a hammer they’ve got the skills to be a professional carpenter. No one decides they don’t need a doctor if they’ve got a stethoscope of their own.
This is a a bit funny, I must say. But again I believe that it’s only true to a certain extent. I say if some “hack” can get Dreamweaver and Photoshop and slap together a good looking Web page that is functional then let them. I say if they do a good job let’s call them “professional”.
Mark Boulton recently wrote about the idea of a professional body for the web design industry in which memberships would be based on peer review, creating a sort of “union†of serious, quality web designers.
This might a good idea, but as Jeff states, that may never happen since clients usually don’t have a time or experience to properly evaluate Web designers. I know that this happens for a fact. I, a “hack” myself, have gotten projects where some clients don’t understand “what’s taking so long” after the initial design. They don’t understand XHTML standards; they don’t understand that saving 4 seconds of load time by using CSS over tables is a good thing; they don’t understand why I need to optimize the MySQL calls. And the thing to remember is that most of them don’t care. As a Web designer you have to consider what the buyer wants. I usually try my best to steer them away from a “slap together” job but they don’t understand and further more they don’t understand why they are paying me for SEO, etc. So sometimes as a Web designer you have to simply cut certain costs based on what a client wants, understands, and is willing to pay for.
I don’t yet have the financial stability, like Jeff, where I can tell a client “if you’re not willing to pay for proper CSS design, Table-less design pages then got to a ‘hack’”. I’ll take whatever job I get and do the work that amounts to the amount of money being paid.
I have run into this problem when using open source 3rd party scripts. No one is willing to put up the money required for a custom shopping cart, therefore I slap on Zen Cart and make everybody happy.
I’m really, really stumped by some of of your points. Let me just ask you:
1. What makes you think you are a hack? You don’t seem to be to me.
2. What in God’s name makes you think I would tell a potential client, “if you’re not willing to pay for proper CSS design, Table-less design pages then got to a ‘hack’â€Â. I would NEVER do such a thing, and find it a little bit offensive that you put those words in my mouth.
3. What do you know about my financial situation?
You really seem to have misunderstood my post. When I referred to hacks, I was referring to people who weren’t capable designers. Whether or not they had “tableless code” is pretty irrelevant. I was talking about design. I was talking about people who know nothing about graphic design and call themselves a designer. That has nothing at all to do with code. It seems to me that you are a web developer, not a web designer. (based on the fact that you didn’t design your own site — you’re using a theme). So if you aren’t a web designer, does any of this even apply to you?
Please Jeff,
No disrespect of offense was intended, first off. On point 2, that is the impression I got from your post. I found it to be quite general in classifying anyone who doesn’t fit into the “Professional” category as a “hack”. I have re-read your post and came to the same conclusion. My apologies on putting words in your mouth.
Point 3 was a general statement, relax. My point was that clients often send a budget to you before even hearing a word about design. I have never and will never refuse a job because it is “too cheap”, that’s not the way I work. I also will not put in more work than the job pays. As a “professional” you have to learn how to balance the two.
You are right, I am a web developer, but not for the reason you stated. It’s WordPress, and I find that a lot of the WordPress themes suit their purpose ideally. To me, and a lot of others design of a blog is irrelevant. The majority of my readers read by feeds and don’t even remember what my “theme” looks like. I am however, part of a web design team. As I stated, each member of my teams has a specific purpose. I could design if I wanted to, but I usually leave it to the person with more experience.