It was great to see that the Bellingham Herald Tech Guys published an article entitled Right developer can craft an attractive, functional Web site in which they describe the process of selecting a Web designer/developer. In my opinion, however, the article brought up a few points that could contribute to the overall confusion in regarding web projects.
It is often the case that a customer knows they need a website but has little understanding (or interest in thinking about) what is actually involved in creating a website. (That's like opening a business, then turning it over to someone else to create your business plan.) First time customers tend to overlook identifying the basic reason they need a website in the first place. In other words they may think they need a website but haven't answered the question, "why?". Is it essential to business to have a web presence? Is it a component of a marketing plan with an identified end objective? Is it intended to gather data or conduct sales? Many people lose sight of the fact that just having a website does not guarantee anyone will visit the site and it is not immediately intuitive that it takes more than pretty pictures and animated flash objects flying around to help their website be successful, i.e., drive more business, more readership, etc.
Content first! Creating a great website is all about having great content. The site needs to be created in such a way that it can be easily indexed by search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. It needs to be Search Engine Optimized (SEO) and it should be written in a way that is accessible so that people with disabilities can access the content. Because websites are interactive, they differ from print brochures in that they speak to individuals rather than to a broad/generic group. In addition, there are multiple types of viewing platforms that need to be considered in the design, such as mobile devices, screen readers and printable versions. How can the information be presented in order to encompass all the different methods of viewing a webpage?
The authors suggest that one should try to figure out what type of website they are going to need and choose either a Web designer or a Web developer. They describe the choice as one that would be determined by the volume of dynamic content the site contains and the frequency it is updated. One cannot look for either a Web designer or a Web developer, instead they need to recruit a team that has all of the skills that their project requires.
"When it comes to the Web, there are no clear lines in defining a programmer versus a designer, and in general, any Web developer worthy of setting up your store will have a smattering of knowledge on both sides of the Web developer divide. Designers should know less rigorous programming skills like Flash and JavaScript, and programmers should understand the concepts of aesthetics, graphic design and layout."
I agree that most people do not know the difference between a designer and a programmer. In our industry, you don’t have to have any sort of credentials, and there is no licensing board. You can simply throw out your shingle and call yourself whatever you please. I found the Tech Guys description of the two skill sets totally wrong. Designers may or may not know Flash and JavaScript (at least very well) and still be great at Web design. Further, in my experience most programmers have very little to no aesthetic sense or any sort of proficiency with graphic design and layout.
By the Tech Guys' definitions, I would be both a designer and a developer. I have been building websites since 1995. I can create graphics (and think I have somewhat of an aesthetic eye, although our designers would cringe if you asked them), do server side programming, JavaScript, some Flash … yada, yada, yada … but I call myself a web developer and more specifically a server side programmer. I am a very necessary part of a bigger team. If you look for a single person to build your website you are likely to find the “Jack of all trades, master of none,” because the longer someone has been in this industry the more likely it is that they have specialized in what they are the most interested in, and there are just too many skill sets for any one person to remain suitably proficient across the board.
To their (Tech Guys') credit, I strongly agree with the checklist provided (see below) which outlines points for clients to consider prior to approaching a Web Design & Development team. At Mindfly, we use a lengthy survey that helps our clients think about these issues in depth before we start working on their project. The more information the clients bring to us at the beginning, the faster we can be on track to a successful project.
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Site structure – check!
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Materials - check!
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Site copy - double check!
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Ability to update site - check!
