Every day when I am surfing the internet I come across a website advertising someone who calls them self a “Web Developer” or “Web Designer”. When I come look at these sites I start looking for core aspects of their website which give off their skills and how much of a Developer/Designer they are.
It annoys me to say that most of the websites I come across offering web design/web development are made by people who are completely clueless about all aspects of building a website. These are the people I call the cowboys.
The cowboys are the people who will build you a website for £50. It may look good but it won’t conform to any web standards. Accessibility won’t even be in the developers/designers vocabulary and it’s more than likely doing to be a Photoshop cutout or Dreamweaver/Frontpage WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get).There both as bad as each other.
5 years ago I have to admit I was one of these people but I didn’t expect to get any clients it was more something I did for friends and for free. But I have come a long way since then and Web Standards and Accessibility are at the core of any website I make. But they aren’t the only things which need to be taken into account when building a website. HCI (Human Computer Interaction) is an aspect which very few designers take into account when building a website. They work on the concept of: it looks pretty or it’s artistic. But that is found in all designers in all areas where they are required it’s why we employ them. It’s then down to the problem solvers to turn it into something which is user friendly.
Recently I came across a website and this person claimed to have built websites professionally for a career. Yet they were working with Photoshop cutouts and WYSIWYG HTML generated by Dreamweaver in tables (Tables are a BIG NO for layouts).
I also found this little gem of a quote:
“Recently I have begun to encode my web sites in PHP and MySQL so I can bring databases into my web sites for catalogues, profiles and more.“
Firstly lets start on the wording of Bringing databases into my website. I’m sorry but I have never heard of bringing a database into a website. You use a combination of SQL and a server side language to retrieve data from within a database table. Secondly “encode my web sites in PHP and MySQL“. Encode: The process of compressing audio or video
I don’t see where PHP or MySQL relates to this definition. And MySQL is the database application not a language. SQL is the language used to communicate with databases such as MySQL, SQL Server and PostgreSQL.
I just feel that too many people are getting ripped off/conned by these cowboy Web Designers/Web Developers. A cheap website will never/rarely be a good website.
Anyone can make a website but it takes skill and knowledge to make a good website!
Just because a website looks good it doesn’t mean it’s a good website there is A LOT more to it than a few pretty pictures!I handed in my last assignment on Wednesday and it’s a good feeling. I have finally finished my second year at University.
The work load was about what I expected but, as I found the first year quite easy it made me cocky with assignments which showed in my grades this year. The problems was also in some of the units which we were made to take which in all honest opinion were completely unrelated to my course or any of the technologies I plan on using in the future. Especially on the career path I want to take.
I have felt that this year University has inhibited my learning process for the area I want to be working in. I understand that it’s good to have a variety of skills but getting Web Technology students to take 2 full units (24 weeks) on Macromedia Director is completely pointless. We did however put pressure on the course leaders to let us use Macromedia/Adobe Flash for the 2nd unit as it is an application which we will come across in the jobs related to the course we are taking.
Summer is going to be very productive. I am going to be doing as much freelance work as possible to pull in some money and gain some more credible clients and experience. I am also going to be working on a few applications which I have been planning with one of the people on my course for the past 10 months. Finally I am going to be working on my dissertation and final year project. At the moment is looking towards being a wiki based code sharing facility for web programming. But summer is a long time and I have a few holidays planned which will create inspirational thinking time for where I want to be going with the final year project.
Also on the agenda is to finish learning how to drive and to pass my driving test if possible by the end of the summer.
As you may have noticed if you look at my site from time to time the design changes every so often. This is about my 8th re-design since getting the domain name a few years ago.
A few factors get me to change my site mainly boredom is the strongest of them. Last night I was working on one of my assignments and got bored and found some inspiration to re-design my site so I went to work hammering away at the HTML/CSS and some of the PHP which was customised for my last design.
I like to keep my sites looking fresh and give people something new to look at every so often. Not that this site is a haven for return visitors.
You may look at the current logo and despise it as much as I do. I am going to have to start playing about with a few ideas for a standard logo which will be consistent across new designs. Which is harder than it sounds especially artistic isn’t a word found often in my vocabulary.
My last assignment is due in tomorrow and I have one exam next week which will bring my 2nd year at university to a welcomed end. For the summer I have a few projects which will hopefully be up by the end of August. I also need to write the first draft of me dissertation on accessibility and plan my final year project.