Back in the olden days just after Al Gore invented the internet, designers designed and programmers programmed. The web was full of slow good-looking sites that didn’t do much and useful busy sites that, frankly, looked like a dog’s dinner.
But every year since then more and more fantastically usable sites that also look great have cropped up. Why? The two previously separate disciplines of design and code have combined and at the intersection point is usability.
Usability
Everyone wants user-friendly websites that are easy to navigate and interact with the user without mess or confusion. A designer is more likely to achieve this when coding it himself. A knowledge of code is a knowledge of how the website works. If you know how the web works you can make it work well.
A designer who codes understands the pay off between clean code and great user experience. They know that if they want the website to load fast they may have to cut out some of the more gimmicky processor-hungry bells and whistles. The user is the winner as the website will do the job and won’t show off.
Less confusion, time and money
The more people involved in a project the more time and money is spent. The interaction between a designer and a developer is so often a compromise between what was wanted and what is now possible. A flexible designer will reinterpret the original design to the practicalities of the project. This is more likely to happen with a designer who codes as (s)he will understand the limitations much better.
With a designer designing and a coder coding the two processes have to run sequentially with one party waiting for the other to finish before they can start. With a designer coding the processes will be sequential the design will grow along with the website with tweaking and improvements being easily implemented along the way.
Better SEO
And while I’m talking about clean code I should mention SEO. The code-savvy designer will know to write good file names and alt text for images, for example, and write standards-compliant code. All good for getting the website higher in search engine results.
In my experience when the designer passes the Photoshop file to the coder it gets chopped up and called “image01.jpg” and “image02.jpg”, etc. Not very descriptive.
Ignore the nay-sayers
The wonderful thing about the internet is that many people are dropping the constraints of old-fashioned thinking that said “this person can’t do that; that person can’t do this”.
Open source CMSs, plugins and JavaScript libraries make it easier for the designer to learn new skills.
People are saying “why can’t I start up a website on my own” or “why can’t I set up an e-commerce facility”. The tools are freely available; you just have to learn how to use them.
Indeed, people who would never have been considered musicians 20 years ago are now successfully creating music online. Others who would never have had the financial ability to buy film cameras are shooting, editing and marketing their own movies successfully.
Don’t let negative thinking from yourself or from others get to you. I used to think HTML and CSS were beyond me. And then I thought I’d have nothing to do with PHP or JavaScript. But I was wrong. I was guilty of listening to nay-sayers.
Now I hope I can carry on exploring new avenues and encourage others to do so.
It’s never too late to learn!
Nice one dear . Great article , boosted with lot of knowledge
As a designer I have made it my mission to keep my self up to date with web coding…. I know it actually makes me a better designer by keeping myself in the loop. Usability and functionality are key to any of my website design.
Cheers, Rajneesh, and Elizabeth, I agree, any knowledge about website code or programming will make you a better web designer.
Great post Rob!
Thank you Debbie
I believe that all designers should know at least some code. Having a better understanding of what it takes to translate a beautiful design into a great and functional website goes a long way and makes you a better designer.
Though I don’t think it’s possible for a single person to know ALL of the ins-and-outs of graphic design, web design, css, html, and all of the technologies available as options on the web in-depth. You’ll never be an expert in it all (there’s just so much out there), but you can try to either be a jack-of-all-trades, or an expert in some things and familiar with others. At some point you will run into a situation where you will need assistance from someone else – but having a basic understanding will help quite a bit in any situation.
I couldn’t have put it better myself, elorg, having an open mind towards other disciplines makes you a better designer.
And I agree, although it would be impossible for one person to know all the scores of languages in programming as well as mastering the design side, I think you should try to understand as much as possible. Hopefully, being a jack-of-all-trades doesn’t mean we’re masters of none. The alternative? To stick with one area of design (say packaging) for one industry, for one client? That would be boring for me!
This is a must read article with useful guidelines on the need for a web designer to learn code
Thank you, Alex.
This is inspiring and just what I needed to hear. Nay to the nay-sayers. I wanted to know the importance of knowing code as a new web-designer and this helped answer my question of whether I needed to learn code. Now, I need to start learning. Thank you.
Hello Devan, thanks for the comment and I’m so glad I’ve inspired you. Good luck with the learning process – it’s not as bad as it seems.
I am a graphic designer myself, and my business partner does most if not all of the web coding himself. I saw the need in knowing code and designing at the same time. Its almost vital.
Hey, Robert, thanks for the comment, sounds like you’ve got great complimentary skills with your business partner.
Hi Rob,
While I agree that as a designer knowing what is possible in say PHP is advantageous, the designer carrying out what is two specialised tasks may not always the best move.
I “play” with both sides, but when it really counts, I get professional help in, they know more than me and its ultimately a waste of my time.
Matt
It’s certainly a good idea for us to get professional help to save time, Matt.