Front-end vs back-end developers, Working Together strategy?

Question

Right now im in the middle of a product (WebApp) release, we are working with ASP.NET MVC. Im a BackEnd dev, but now i must implement the front end with the design, is this the way to do it? code all the basic HTML and then re-implement the final markup.

NOTE: *in one of the MIX videos i heard that when the MVC team work on the Nerd dinner WebApp, they did all with the default theme (the blue one), and then passed that to a very good designer to do the css magic BUT he SAID: "We pass the Views to SOMEONE and told him to put a pretty design WITHOUT messing the MARKUP"

Answer 1

It sounds like you have too much View specific logic in your M&C. Your View should be 100% responsible for presentation, and get a blob of useful data that is presentation agnostic.

Answer 2

What @DVK Said, plus..

Planning, the prope team mindset, and constant communication during the development process could have avoided this...

You could have also minimized this by breaking your work up into smaller units, working on a small piece, handing it off to him to do his work, see how the pieces play together rather than doing ALL of the back end work while he's doing ALL of the front-end work.

I never did understand environments where there is a solid line between back-end and front end. I work with a bunch of mainframe programmers, some of whom have no idea how to program for the web, and as an Asp.Net developer, I haven't ever coded to the mainframe. Yet by planning, communicating, and just working like we're on the same team instead of opposing units of development, we get our work done without hassles.