

Do web designers actually use the internet? - Atlas10
http://www.caitlinrivers.com/1/post/2013/05/do-web-designers-ever-actually-use-the-internet.html

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benihana
I wonder if the author has ever actually worked professionally on a real team
with real constraints and real people all with different ideas about what is
right for the product. I'm guessing probably not. Fluff like this is
pointless; if doing it the Right Way™ was as simple as following a rant, it
would have been done already and the reason to pay designers and developers
(namely, to solve difficult problems that usually don't have a 'right'
solution) would not exist.

~~~
prawn
And as a web designer, how often the client completely derails your concept
based on their own stubborn preferences.

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DanBC
> If you have a text-heavy site, please pick something softer than a stark
> white background. My eyes. They burn. If you're taking suggestions, I vote
> gray.

I agree. It's a shame Caitlin's site has mid-grey tiny fonts on a white
background.

~~~
lojack
> Why put a 'contact me' link instead of just listing the email address? I
> hate when I click 'contact me' and my native mail app opens. Nobody uses
> thunderbird mail, apple's Mail is okay I guess, and Outlook is just...no.
> Type out the stupid address and let me choose how I send it.

Please note the lack of an email in the top right.

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rubinelli
> Remind me of your password rules on the login page.

For some sites, I've completely given up on remembering the password. I just
reset it every time I have to log in.

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shrikant
> Why have different features across multiple apps? I love the 'save to
> pocket' button on Twitter, but it's only available on the desktop version.

Twitter on the "desktop" (I assume she means the standard website) has a "Save
to Pocket" button? I'd wager that's a an add-on or extension in her browser
that's putting it there, and has nothing to do with Twitter.

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talmand
1\. This is an UX problem but many designers take on that role for one reason
or another. It is rather annoying.

2\. Different teams maybe? Don't necessarily see this as the designer's fault.

3\. That does seem an outdated concept these days but sometimes the client
wants it that way.

4\. That's a marketing problem, not design.

5\. That's a subjective thing that depends on many aspects of the design.

6\. Because they might work for the intended audience? Kind of depends on the
reasoning behind it to decide whether it was a good idea or not.

7\. Believe it or not, some clients don't want to plan, or want to pay, for
mobile views.

As someone who started out as a web designer that now delves more into the
development side, I am often shocked at the number of designers that know
little of how to design for a web browser. They know all about the rules and
practices for designing for magazines, newspapers, and billboards; but nothing
on designing a web page. Too many designers get through school not knowing
what they are designing for when it comes to web.

~~~
fumar
What do you recommend for learning about web design?

~~~
talmand
The easiest method is to design a web page, then see if you can actually build
it so that it displays as expected across various browsers. If you find you
cannot, then adjust the design with what you've learned and try again.
Eventually you'll learn what works and what doesn't. Once the limitations and
advantages are understood then the design part is much easier.

The equivalent is for a print designer to design something in Illustrator for
a certain size and type of paper and never actually printing the design on
that paper to see how it turns out.

I'm in the school of thought that a web designer should know HTML/CSS and how
browsers render those elements as a web page. They don't necessarily need
front-end developer level knowledge, but if they don't at least know the
basics of how browsers work then they'll always try designs that are not
workable.

Personally, if I ran a web design curriculum, I would require HTML/CSS
education first, then start on design. But it's often the reverse, or worse in
that designers are taught all kinds of different avenues of design, but web
design is that kid in the corner no one picks for dodgeball. I've interviewed
many a designer with nice school projects but not one web project in the
portfolio.

------
greg5green
1\. This is so true. I can sort of remember some of which companies allow
spaces and special characters in their passwords, but 9 out of 10 times, I
either type in 4 or 5 passwords or get myself locked out and have to reset the
password. Frustrating.

3\. Well that is a pretty silly quibble. You can choose how you send it:
either click on it and use your default email client or right click and copy
the link/email address to your clipboard and use it wherever you want. Easy
peasy.

5\. In my experience, designers are the only ones who actually put a softer
white in their designs/pages. It's something the average developer that got
stuck with doing a front-end design wouldn't do.

------
FramesPerSushi
> Why put a 'contact me' link instead of just listing the email address? I
> hate when I click 'contact me' and my native mail app opens. Nobody uses
> thunderbird mail, apple's Mail is okay I guess, and Outlook is just...no.
> Type out the stupid address and let me choose how I send it.

Ummm... top right is a "contact me" mailto link.

> If you have a text-heavy site, please pick something softer than a stark
> white background. My eyes. They burn. If you're taking suggestions, I vote
> gray.

What. The background this was written on was pure white.

------
gcb0
> 7\. Why are some sites still unreadable on mobile devices? It's 2013.

ironically, all the sites that have mobile versions are the ones that prevent
me to read them on my phone.

~~~
CDRdude
I must agree with you. I browse the web on my phone a lot, and the _only_
website where I want to use the mobile version is wikipedia. And even then, I
need to switch back to the desktop view at times.

~~~
graeme
I agree. Does anyone else find that mobile sites lag when scrolling? They do
on my iphone, while normal sites display perfectly fine.

~~~
gcb0
probably some hack to speed scrolling made last year, that now serves the
opposite purpose.

------
jarsbe
The internet is a reflection of the physical world and last time I checked the
physical world isn't perfect. Welcome to reality.

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J_Darnley
Number 3... What? Why would you not have a link? Why is the default mail
client on your system something you hate?

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jwarren
I like the idea of reminding users of password rules, perhaps after the first
password entry failure.

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johnvschmitt
3\. Put the email address raw on a web page. Don't put a contact-us link.

No. That'll get you far too much spam.

~~~
jboynyc
I always find it funny when I see something like this:

    
    
        <a href="mailto:me@example.com">me at example dot com</a>
    

As if spam crawlers always render the site before harvesting email addresses.

