June 23, 2004 | View Comments (33) | Category: Design
Summary: The new age of design and blog content.
...it is getting harder and harder to find topics to discuss concerning web design that haven't been touched on a 1,000 times already.
So were my words two days ago. Everyday there are plenty of new “designers” sprouting up. Now more than ever they have an almost unlimited amount of resources to help them learn better design, project management, web standards development and whatever else is required to create a website. Not many more excuses are left for not knowing what to do when it comes to design.
However, to keep the audiences continually coming back you have to write content. Hell, you have to write great content if you wish for your audience to grow and simply not plateau. But if all the topics have already been discussed and many of us get tired of seeing the same old, same old, what are you to do?
Get creative. Easy as that. Andrei did it. Keith is doing it with his “Designing the Band”. I guess now is the time to actually start putting all the words we say into practice. Give the whole experience.
Web standards are good to use and we know because we have been discussing and showing their benefits for years now. Great design produces great results and we know because like standards we have proven it. I am starting to wonder what we don't know right now?
I didn't feel like listing the large number of design blogs that cover design every day, but you get the point. We have become saturated and it is a good thing for the community. For the individual however, it just means you have to step it up in regards to what you offer your audience.
This is why I call it the Golden Age of Web Design. You can call it whatever you want, but know that we have reached a point where there is no turning back. I could talk about how Sprint is almost fully tableless, but Francis does a better job of explaining it. I could ask you for a comprehensive list of all the web standards articles out there, but Cederholm took care of that.
Because of all of this it seems my rapid pace of posting almost daily will come to an end. Nothing wrong with that, plenty of good sites out there to pass the time with. Time for me to go make some money.
7 days left till Version 2 June deadline.
Trackback URL: http://9rules.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/268
Well if you would've clicked on the Sprint link you would be reading Francis' article right now :-)
I will add Dan's.
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
What happens when all the knowledge is already out there for anyone who cares to read and learn? When there are no more concepts or tricks to write about?
Practice at applying these concepts, I'd say. That's what's so great about your Version 2 and Keith's Designing the Band.
But what I think would be the most useful is being able to refine one's designs with the help of others - a sort of workshop-like environment. Like the music composition classes I took in college, where we would all get together once a week and hear everyone's progress from the last week, and critique it and offer suggestions (all guided and directed by the professor, of course).
It was an iterative process, which really made it a great learning experience. It's easier to take criticism for a work-in-progress than a finished piece, and hearing input from others all along the way helps keep things on track.
Anyway, it would be interesting to see somebody develop something like that someday.
Jennifer Grucza (http://jennifergrucza.com)
Mike, you are entirely correct when you say that you knowing CSS isn't good enough. You truly do have to be a good designer.
Like many others I spend a lot of my time reading articles on ALA as they surface, and constantly learning more about CSS. But knowing all of that does not automatically place the word "good" in front of the word designer.
You do have to possess a certain quality and skill that know book can teach, no article can cover, and no software application can generate. Good Web Designers contain 1% knowledge and 99% inspiration, and creativity.
I'm not saying that "good designers" have less knowledge than others, I am merely stating that their creativity is so outstanding, that it makes their knowledge look miniscule compared to their visions.
I myself do not fall into the category of a "good designer," sure I have far surpassed what would be called a grasp on tools such as CSS. But that just isn't enough. I can say that I have mastered CSS and XHTML, and that wouldn't be too far from the truth. But mastering those does not compensate for the other traits you must hold to be considered a "good web designer."
Ryan Latham (http://worldoneweb.com)
I personally would like to see more practical projects going on. It's ok talking about the theory all the time, but unless you can actually walk the walk, then all your talk is useless. I'm glad Keith is doing that "designing the band" thing.
Most people learn from hands on experience and other people's experiences anyways, so practical examples are always welcome.
Although there is a lot of design/development information out there on the world wide web, you still need to know what to look for when trying to find it. A massive amount of designers/developers haven't got a clue who all these "gurus" are, what blogs are or even what xhtml/css is.
It seems only those hungry for knowledge or those who take a wrong turn on google stumble upon this wealth of information that blogs/standards based sites supply - it's similar to finding that beach on "the beach".
To summarise: I really would like to see a lot more workshops, where a community works together to solve a problem and learn together.
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
Robert,
What kind of workshops would you like to see? (The hidden question here is what kind of workshops would you like to help organise? :)
I know that there are many professional organisations that offer workshops (beyond the confines of a conference) at local (to some) chapter meetings. UXNet just did a soft launch, but they plan on getting all the major "user experience" organisations to work better together.
I know many people don't care about (or can't afford to join) professional organisations, but they usually open workshops to non-members, too.
Just a thought. So do we want to start defining the expectations of a Silver Age designer? :) Get on that, will ya?
Matthew Oliphant (http://businesslogs.com)
I wouldn't feel bad about not posting every day. In my mind, there are three kinds of blogs:
1. Blogs that post all original content, like What Do I Know. Generally, these types of blogs are updated maybe once a week. Original writing takes time, and one original post per week is plenty for most people.
2. Blogs that mainly point to other points of interest on the web, but include smart commentary as well. JD on MX is a good example of this. These blogs contain maybe 10 or so new items per day.
3. Blogs which are merely human blog aggregators. The Scobleizer and Lost Remote are examples of this. Anywhere from 20-100 new items per day.
I think as content overload becomes more and more of an issue, you will blogs gravitate more towards the 1s and possibly the 2s, and away from the 3s. Less posts = better, more relevant stuff.
Mike D. (http://www.mikeindustries.com)
As far as web site development goes: It would be nice to have a variety of professionals working together to offer workshops to a community via the web AND in person covering all aspects of web site design/development.
Having a featured web site where a group learns the process of design (all the stages combined and demonstrated) and then gets to make a mock up from what they've learnt - could be a workshop that runs over a month (every month)?
Also for those that aren't interested in the full process, but would like experience in a particular field it would be helpful for mini workshops to run for that audience as well. (i.e have an IA expert, graphic designer, programmer, communications expert (blogs) etc)
Workshops seem to be limited to "everyone needs to be physically present" - however, if an organisation was set up in a few countries with the resources and teachings also available via the web, it would benefit web designers greatly (courses available online and offline, so that people don't feel left out just because they can't make it to a particular location).
In the end the best way to learn isn't by slamming theory into your head, but having hands on experience and seeing how a "professional" does it.
I wrote that up in about 5 mins so it's very hard to get what i'm feeling across, but if a few people got together and seriously thought about the idea, i'm sure something good could come out of it.
I love teaching people and would absolutely love to be able to give people guidelines, show them a process and see them go on to do better in their career because of it.
I've learnt more through blogs and through people showing me how to do things, than sifting through a book and thinking "god, where do I start".
There's a lot I could say about this, but it's hard to talk about it when it's only me, it's easier to work on projects as a group.
As usually i've blabbered on, i'm sure I made sense somewhere in there lol. Hopefully I haven't steered this topic too much off course.
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
I know there are companies who do offer workshops, but too many of them are interested in slamming theory into peoples heads, not allowing them to have hands on experience and a lot of them don't give people exercises so that they can further develop and understand the skills.
Anyways... back to work for me :P
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
Yeah, for the mac edition redesign. I think it should be put off for another month as the winner of the last competition hasn't even been announced yet.
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
Before you give up discussing design, Paul, (and start using the tagline "Discussing business because we can") how about putting all the words you say into practice and give the whole experience? How about getting creative? Easy as that.
You could do this simply by showing us your Version 2 of April/May that you said you were going to do. You could give us a *high quality* explanation of why you did it this way. And you could explain why the 3 finalists always stood out for you. And you could tell us the winner and why.
Jennifer suggests a workshop-like environment. I thought Whitespace was already like that at times, but free and easy. But discussion of design has been sparse lately. CSS Vault doesn't give any *high quality* critiques of designs. But you have a way with words, Paul, so why not up the quality of your design discussions right here on Whitespace? Instead of starting a topic and leaving it to others, why not lead the topic in a more high quality direction?
It's OK saying there's unlimited resources out there, but people don't want information overload so that's why they look at blogs by clued up people who can guide them through the maze. I had hoped that Whitespace was one such blog but I have been disappointed this last few weeks because of the scarcity of your input re design. Please, do me a favour before you give up using Whitespace for design discussions. Finish off what you started re the April/May version 2.
Peter (http://www.01010.org/)
Can't argue with any of the Peter. Really it's just a question of my passion to put the effort into such things. I feel less and less involved in the design of things and more involved in the overall production of websites. I do however owe everyone my verision of IMDB so I am definitely not backing out of that one.
Guess I have to "up" the quality of discussions here ;-) Nothing wrong with that. Just finding that I am starting to spread myself thin (not complaining).
Scrivs (http://businesslogs.com)
Personally I would like to see someone take a job, probably something small, and do a workshop all the way through. From talking to the customer, through site implementation. What makes the design go in a particular direction, does the client know what they want or only what they don't want. Do you build around the customer or the product or both?
I agree being a newbie to all this web design, that the information available online and in books is overwhelming. But it has been my experience that you can be the best at whatever, but if you don't return phone calls, don't meet deadlines, and and make it a pain in the ass to deal with you then you going to go hungry.
I can't tell you how many times I have been told that "wow you returned my phone call right away". Something so simple and yet how many times have we experienced this problem.
Total commitment and responsibility is what makes the cream rise, and those that achieve greatness are those that do both. Great design and great business. Having two companies one for over 15 years, it's just as important to know the business end of the business.
Rick Blanton (http://www.horsetown.org)
If you want a really good three day workshop I'd check out Menlo Innovations High Tech Anthropology (HTA) 101 class. They are located in Ann Arbor and specialize in Extreme Programming and what they call HTA but is basically just a bunch of HCI/usability techniques that they are really good at. I took it about a month ago and it was a great blend of theory and application. Plus they are really open about sharing what they know with interested outsiders.
Their attitude is part of this Golden Age thing where people everywhere are becoming more open about sharing their knowledge and expertise with others. This is what I would call an ideal world that we are putting together here. Instead of ruthlessly hoarding and hiding our tricks and techniques we all share and revise them (look at the variations on Inman's IFR technique) to produce a better Web for everyone. Sounds so idyllic, I'm constantly amazed that it is happening.
Kevin (http://www.infinitewebdesign.com/mt/)
Andy Budd and co do a very nice workshop type thing called skillswap in Brighton - I just wish that it was nationwide rather than only in Brighton, as it seems like a lot of fun. They certainly have the right idea.
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
I have an idea that might suit us all, inspired by the posts in this Golden Age thread. I could use my own web site or it could be done here if Paul likes the idea or I could set up a web space dedicated to the project. It is no more than an idea at the moment but if we were to go with it, it could involve workshops that cover web design from the start to finish and possibly continued development after that.
There is a housing estate in Ormskirk, Lancashire. They've just had a mini-exhibition of photos that show a day in the life of the estate. There were also some stories and newspaper cuttings of the community going back some years. There will be a full exhibition in October in the public library.
As far as I know, there are no plans for a web site. But a good web site could bring many benefits to this community and a community blog could generate long-term interest and involvement.
I doubt if there is much money available, so I would be willing to donate my time for free. My limited experience means I would not be the 'professor' who guides the workshops. I would be a student and look to everyone here for advice. You could all be students, professors or facilitators depending on the topic at the time.
It could be good for this online community to help a geographical community. Both communities could learn and grow stronger because of it. What do you think?
Peter (http://www.01010.org)
Hi Robert,
I'd be more than happy for people to run their own SkillSwap events. I've had a few people show an interest, but as of yet no events have been run outside Brighton. At some stage I do plan to re-launch the SkillSwap site and allow people to register their own events (much like BD4D). However at the moment it's a matter of time and finding people willing to help out.
Andy Budd (http://www.andybudd.com/)
I don't think i'd participate in that idea Peter, although i'm sure a few would. I just feel that when doing a workshop you shouldn't commit yourself to building a real site - I prefer Keiths way of doing things.
I'm up for running a workshop that runs over a month every month helping people through the process of web site design, but also specialising in each specific area of the process (not only offering lectures, but also practicals) - but it will not revolve around a real project, as I want people to go away and create their own mini projects from what they've learnt as well as work together on a "large task".
It would be nice to collaborate with others to form a nationwide/international organisation dedicated to providing free training, bu a lot of people don't have the time.
Andy: I wouldn't mind helping you out with the expansion of skillswap. I was located in York, North Yorkshire - however i'm moving permanently to London soon, so Brighton won't be too far away. I'm sure i'll be able to pop into one of the events to see what it's like and how it's run.
I'm glad there's people like you willing to dedicate your free time to helping the new media community.
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
I like the idea of "mini-projects", since I'm sure all of us are really busy with other things, like paying work. :) Doing a series of small projects would allow people to jump in for those pieces that they feel they need work on, and not worry about getting left behind if they don't have time to work on the parts that aren't as interesting to them. It's also easier to offer suggestions and advice on something smaller in scale.
Jennifer Grucza (http://jennifergrucza.com)
Mini projects are often the way to go for almost any task in life. You are able to offer something to a project that serves a greater purpose without it being entirely dependant upon yourself.
When undertaking a project solo, it is likely that you can become overwhelmed with your obligations to this project. It provides the ability for you to take on the rest of your life without being weighed down by a single chore.
However, for these community projects to be successful, it is mandatory that their be adequate moderation. Often times, in my own experience, one person gets appointed to overseeing an aspect of the project that they are not the most qualified for.
Ryan Latham (http://worldoneweb.com)
You say that we all know about Project Management... well I've seen tons on CSS-this, image-replacement-that, but can't think of a resource on project management. I could go for a link (or 6), if you have one around...
~bc (http://recently.rainweb.net)
Thanks for your comments about my idea (#18). You're probably right, it might not be very practical and overseeing it might become complicated.
Peter (http://www.01010.org/)
I'll consider doing something along the lines of "mini-projects for professionals", but i'll have to see if anyone else wants to get involved in the running of it.
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
Matt (fajalar!) wow, how corporate is that site? (PMI) Any one know any more like the chill sites we learn they latest and greatest for CSS... I'm talking small dev firm projects, not "I work for GE"-size. (although, I'm sure the pay would be nice!)...
~bc (http://recently.rainweb.net)
fajalar? fajalar who? ;)
I put a link to PMI because it is the project management organization. If you get a PM certificate from them it is internationally recognized.
I am just starting the process of certification. Guess I can blog about it.
In any case, here's a strange site. Ugly and not helpful with the links, but plenty of them.
I haven't seen a site like you are talking about. It's probably out there though. Maybe we need to make one...
Matthew Oliphant (http://businesslogs.com)
I'm still pondering over the thought of creating a pure standards based training web site for all levels.
Fair enough we have A List Apart and Web Page Design for Designers, but they're all too articles based (both are excellent resources though).
I want a site where I not only get a professionals advice on seperate areas, but detailed tutorials on the various aspects of standards based design, with a section for workshops.
I don't want all my resources in seperate places, I want them all in one place that can help the community grow.
It would be nice to have the 3 essential things that help people learn in one place, taking people from the beginning, to the end of the process:
1. Tutorials which guide you through anything from XML, to PHP to Information Architecture - with information placed under various levels within each category (beginner, intermediate and advanced).
2. Articles which will enable them to refine those skills, but that will also enable them to take a deeper look at web design/development through the eyes of the professionals.
3. Mini-workshops to enable everyone to have hands on experience with their new found skills. This is the section that I want to run in person as well as on the web.
Whether any of that will happen is another story..... but i'll continue to work on it in my spare time.
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
re #29, That sounds like a massive task, Robert. By the time you had finished it there might be a completely new set of standards! But if you are keen to do this, perhaps your first thing would be to review the existing material. As you do this you could perhaps organize links to those materials in an order like you suggest in your no 1. Many articles may be fine as they are or some may want some rewriting, but even if you need to write fresh material, you could focus on where it is needed most, if you have existing material organized and close to hand.
Just my 2p
Peter (http://www.01010.org)
Well, I am sure most of you have seen this, but for those who haven't, and in answer to Robert's tutorials request the is available the w3schools.
I have used it to lean and brush up on things in the past. Pretty decent resource.
Matthew Oliphant (http://businesslogs.com)
Yeah, I used to use that many years ago, however it still isn't offering what I was looking for in a site. Seems to have had a redesign since I last went on it :)
I'm not really looking for tutorials myself :), this isn't me trying to find the perfect site to learn from - i've done all my study on languages etc and only need to add to my knowledge every now and then. I just want the ultimate training web site for others to use, giving something back to the community that I spawned from if you wish.
If someone is aware of a web site that meets all the criteria I set out in comment #29, then i'll be happy that such a resource is out there and i'll leave making a competing site/organisation.
I want a site where I not only get a professionals
This was just me trying to be motivational ;). In a way I was saying "people want a site...blah blah" rather than "I do". I just want to make it for them :P
Robert Lofthouse (http://www.ghxdesign.com)
Go for it, Robert! I hope you will also include an option to download the Internet as w3schools has done :-)
Peter (http://www.01010.org/)
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#1
Speaking of money, feel free to drop Paul a line at our BusinessLogs contact page, and have us do some work for you :)
*cough* shameless plug *cough*
But honestly, you're definitely right. Kids nowadays (wait, I'm only 21...) can point their browser to Digital Web or ALA and just suck the web design information straight out of the window, directly into their head, and PRESTO! You're now a web designer! Congratulations!
I've heard a few people complain that there are *too* many web designers out there. I'm of the complete opposite feeling.
I want the market completely saturated with designers who have CSS style rules coming out of their ears. I want to forego the task of Viewing the Source of a website to see if it's XHTML, because all the new sites will be XHTML, and no one will remember the glory days of writing 73 nested tables to achieve similar results.
Will that mean it's tough to get work? It all depends on your skillset. Just like any profession, the cream rises the top and will always be making money, and the crap will fall by the wayside.
You know CSS and XHTML and XSLT and PHP and Section 508 and some more buzzwords? Great! But we are now in the golden age of web design, where simply knowing CSS isn't good enough, you actually have to *gasp* be a good designer!
Mike (http://www.businesslogs.com/)