Can I get away with not being a designer

Question

Hi, I want to get into web development but that fact of the matter is I don't really enjoy doing the design work and IMHO CSS and the like seem overly complicated and not something I'd really feel like investing my time in, it simply does not capture my interest the same way the business logic side does.

Can I get away without doing the design work? The biggest problem I can see is that to a lot of people you might work for a web designer and a web developer/programmer sound like the same thing. How do you make it clear to them the value you can add and that to get the best of both world you need a good programmer and a good designer?

=====Update=====

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback so far. Does anyone have a website or book that has a concise guide to CSS, that just teaches you what you need to know for mostly simple div based layouts?

Answer 1

I think it's possible, even in a very small staff without a designer, as long as you make attempts to improve usability, e.g. using hallway usability testing. Then you won't have to put lipstick on a pitbull as long as you have a greyhound.

Answer 2

I recommend you try some books out there to see how you would go. CSS is fairly easy - infact very, if you avoid the browser compatibility problems while learning.

You could use open source type web designs ( see http://www.oswd.org ) and use them as a template. If your strong point is developing content etc, then do that.

If you would like to point that out to a client, let them know that you would prefer to have a mockup or professional artist to design the look of your website for you. This is to ensure their image is consistent and professional to an outside user. I can understand they will likely balk at that idea though, so you might need to work directly with an artist in order to get that done.

If you would like to point out the value of having a dedicated developer, mention things an artist would not be able to do by themselves. For example, setting up a CMS, letting them add/edit their own content, grabbing data easily from them.

Answer 3

You have to know CSS to be a web developer. Not knowing it is like programming Winforms without knowing how to place buttons or menubars in the GUI. Designers decide where each button should go and create the imagery, but usually programmers end up placing things where designers decide to.

If you are lucky you could get a CSS-able designer, but you can't demand it. Many web designers deliver PNG shots of their design, and make you imitate as best as you can in HTML/CSS.

That said, designers have obvious value to give a professional image to the work, you can use the architect/engineer analogy... the engineer builds the house and makes sure it will not fall, the architect considers human factors/lighting/decoration and so on.

Answer 4

Its very difficult to convince clients that don't know a lot about websites that you can actually offer them something worth while that they can't see. That said, a lot of people manage it, but in my opinion with disastrous results. A good web site/application requires both good design and good development. If you don't want to offer one your best bet is to find someone else who can, and partner with them.

Very few people are genuinely good at both design and development, so don't be discouraged if you can only do one. However, you will have to understand a certain amount of HTML and CSS to do your job well.

In an ideal world, each project would have 3 people (well actually a lot more, but I'll forget about project management etc.):

1. Designer - does the graphics, knows about usability etc., good at communicating with client
2. Front-end developer - converts the graphics into HTML and CSS and integrated with the back-end. This person has to understand both design and back-end programming, but only be an expert in HTML, CSS and often Javascript.
3. Back-end developer - does the programming/database work, doesn't have to understand design at all and only really requires a limited understanding of HTML and CSS.

Of course thats in an ideal world, you're only likely to get that if you set up your own company or work for an agency. I think the bottom line is that yes you can get away with it, and if you're not very good at design then you definately shouldn't try. Think of how many horrible websites are out there, chances are they were built by someone who might be a decent developer but didn't know squat about design, HTML or CSS. Tables galore...

On an aside, CSS is complicated, but then so is programming ;o) If you want to go further, here would be my book recommendations:

• Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug, nothing to do with CSS but an absolute must read on web usability
• CSS Mastery by Andy Budd
• Transcending CSS by Andy Clarke
• Web Standards Creativity: Innovations in Web Design with XHTML, CSS, and DOM Scripting by the Andys above
• Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird
• CSS Zen Garden and the accompanying website

Answer 5

There's plenty to do on the back-end where good people are needed. Database development, web services development, etc. don't require that you be a "designer". There's great value in being able to construct a system that's maintainable not only by you in the short term but by others once you move to a new assignment. This takes great skill.

There is a paradox though: the design is the first thing people will see and will be the first thing that they will judge a system by. If you are to be the sole creator of a site then you will have to develop the skillset for CSS/HTML peppered with a little Javascript. Unfortunately after people are used to the design and the system is slow, they'll quickly forget that the loved the look and feel and say "this system is slow".

You might to target the shops that divide the duties up. I currently employ some wonderful developers who "understand" HTML, but can't put together a screen to save their lives. That's ok - I also have people who are really good at the front end development but I wouldn't put them in charge of the database.

Answer 6

The good news is that the design part of web design is almost always given to someone who has talents in that area, preferably someone from a graphic design background. Experience has shown that developers make terrible designers, so its always handled by someone else (I believe StackOverflow was a case in point).

The bad news is that with 'rich clients' being all the rage and AJAX etc. the flavour of the moment you cant work in the web development area without acquiring in depth knowledge of the DOM, CSS, JavaScript, HTTP protocol and so on... The main thing I would look for in a pure web developer would be in depth knowledge of these things...

Answer 7

Believe me, there are lots of web designers out there who have ZERO talents for programming even the simpliest of forms. Most of them think that the prettier the site, the less they need a programmer to do that "cody cody crap".

All projects need both, I have never met a brilliant designer who is also a great coder. You usually find people who do both are weak in one or the other.

The thing is that by saying you are the business logic guy you will still have to understand CSS. CSS is integral to how the site will end up looking. You can have data bound items generated entirely from a remote system, etc, but the final look and feel should go through CSS. That is where a good designer will pay for themselves. You can give him a site that looks plain jane, but is well constructed and they can turn it into a site to behold just by changing CSS. But in order for them to be able to do that the site must be built out correctly.

So you are going to have to learn CSS no matter what, even just to work with it. Does not mean you have to know what shade of green matches that red lipstick though. :)

Answer 8

I would check out the w3schools. It has a nice general overview of things.

Answer 9

Book Recommendation: I really liked sitepoint's "CSS Utopia, Designing without tables"

Answer 10

Yes you can.

If somebody else is going to do the design, try to keep your HTML as clean as possible, use DIV tags around meaningful texts and use meaningful and consistent ID's. Don't even try to write a CSS file.

For instance: Each time you display a username, surround it with a DIV or a SPAN with the id "username". A (good) CSS designer/programmer can then make a meaningful CSS file which will render all your usernames consitently throughout the application.

The CSS designer/programmer will love you for it, and it will minimize changes on your end in case the look and feel needs to change.

Answer 11

As mentioned, it is important to learn the fundamentals of CSS wt al in terms of how to actually present something on like.

But the next thing you should do, especially for back end applications, is simply find a style that you find appealing. Perhaps find a CSS/Designer friend to help you deign it, or get one of those zillion free templates from the web. Basically, put a little effort in to getting a nice generic design that's basically pleasing, perhaps find an icon library, or learn the skills to make simple buttons (color matched with your theme) in a free tool like the GIMP.

And once you have that theme, just always fall back on to it for your demonstrations etc. That way, you only need to design "once", and leverage it from there. This works best for back office apps that aren't public facing, because, frankly, that should be run through a more skilled designer anyway. That's a marketing task more so than a development task.

But the back office stuff, where you need a dozen CRUD screens, some nav, tables, and reports, a single design can take you far and work for a lot of different clients, yet if you follow reasonable guidelines in its design, it can all be readily skinned by a skilled designer.

Answer 12

Almost every development model for web development defines several roles, e.g.

• web designer
• business logic developer
• DBA (Database Administrator)
• ...

This is based on the fact that there are precious few people who can do a good job in every of those roles.

The important thing is that all team members (all roles) work together and worship each others work.

Just pick Your role, it does not need to be "web designer".

Answer 13

A couple thoughts.

Web design can be divided into two areas:
1) the aesthetics
2) the technical

Many programmers have tried to handle both but it's just impossible for all but few like Leonardo Da Vinci who have both engineer and artist types of minds.

In order for a project to go smoothly programmers need to have a solid HTML/CSS foundation and the same applies to designers. They can then meet somewhere in the middle and communicate efficiently.

In conclusion, do learn HTML/CSS but never try to pull off the visual aspect of the design on your own.

Answer 14

I'm learning web development from Opera Web Standards Curriculum(http://www.opera.com/wsc/) now, i use it as the tutorial,and the W3C standards as reference,I feel it a rather good way to learn front end web development. As to backend web development, i decided to use Google App Engine, so I learned python, and will learn python web development and App Engine skills after i've finished the front end stuffs (HTML/CSS/Javascript) and AJAX etc.

Answer 15

Can I get away with not being a designer?

My answer is a resonding yes!

In my former job, one of the services we offered was as website backend developer. We marketed ourselves directly to graphic designers who had no coding expertise or resources specifically to do the backend programming of their website designs.

The graphic designers would provide us with the layouts of the site, and any graphical resources that were required to develop the site, we would produce a backend design document which they would then sign off on, we would develop the website to their exact design specifications using whatever technology was appropriate for that particular project.

They had no coding to do, we had no design to do, and the clients got a website that they were extremely happy with. It was a match made in heaven :)

So yes, if you can build a working relationship with a graphic designer then you will never need to learn even the least little thing about design, as long as they are good at it.