The Education of a Web Designer
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When I was in school, there were no classes offered on the subject of Web design. Sure, there was a multimedia class that focused on Flash and Director, but nothing that taught the basics of designing for the web.
I learned by looking at sites that I liked and trying to copy what they did. The early versions of CNET were a big deal back then with their 3 column layout. I tried and experimented. What prompted me to learn HTML was the limitations of the AOL Personal Publisher system that was used by AOL customers to build homepages. I bought a book on HTML (WROX Instant HTML Programmer’s Reference, 1997) and started writing my sites in Notepad. To this day I still hand code my sites because of the control I feel I have over the language.
During my college years, I was able to work as a web designer. First as the “HTML Editor” of my school newspaper, publishing a new batch of articles twice a week by copying content from Pagemaker layouts into a template in BBEdit. Second as the web designer for a local IT firm. This allowed me to stay “in the loop” and sharpen my skills, while also applying the design ideas I learned in my graphic design related courses to my site designs in real world situations.
Now, of course, you can go to just about any school, whether it is a major university or a 2 year technical school, and take a cource on Web design. These classes usually consist of learning the WYSIWYG interface of Dreamweaver, or in worse cases, FrontPage, and bookmarking sites where you can get clip art for free.
What most of these classes don’t teach is theory. Web design, although a relatively new medium compare to graphic design, does have some rudimentary theory behind it. Most of this theory is a combination of usability, accessibility and IA. There are certain ideas already developed about where navigation elements should go, how big they should be in relation to the content of the title of a site. Color theory also plays a big role in Web design.
Many of these Web design courses do not even look at the code under the hood. They don’t convey the importance of knowing the code whether you use it every day or not. Even when they do, it is usually an older flavor of HTML or DHTML and Javascript tricks to make your site look “cool”. Rarely do classes seem to focus on the latest trends in Web design, the latest versions of HTML/XHTML, or the importance of CSS.
Back in 1998, I taught a class on Web design to the IT department of the local division of a large company. These were people who were used to working on mainframes and writing cobol. A few of them had small personal sites that they had tinkered with, mostly using Frontpage. I taught them only HTML, and only using Notepad. I wanted them to know the importance of being able to go in and troubleshoot a problem without having to rely on a piece of software to do it for them.
There was a book published a few years ago titled The Education of A Graphic Deisgner. It was edited by Steven Heller and was essentially a collection of essays from some of the more respected members of the graphic design and advertising community. Each author wrote about a different area of graphic design and how the profession had changed over the past 10-20 years with the invention of the personal computer. They also attempted to outline how the education process should change to accomodate these new techniques without losing site of the older techniques that made design work.
Maybe the Web design community needs a book like that.
June 24th, 2004
No doubt. I think that’d be a great book, and I’d love to write a chapter for it. This is a “hot” issue for me.
My main issue with “formal” Web design education is that there is not enough theory — and what theory that is taught is mostly limited tographic design theory — in my opinion a totally different discipline on many levels.
I’ve often explored the idea of writing a book that is a real world Web design primer, that gives a road map for the self-taught Web designer. Let’s face it, that’s how most of us get anywhere now adays.
Anyway, you may have seen this, but I wrote an article on this subject awhile back.
June 25th, 2004
That was a great article Keith. I have been thinking on this subject for a while and that article was definitely a primer that lead to me wanting to write this up.
I think that some basic graphic design theory can be applied to web design, especially in the area of colors. Beyond that, web design has its own set of theory that revolves mostly around usability and IA.
June 25th, 2004
I totally agree. The HTML class at my school teaches the kids how to use Dreamweaver 4’s WYSIWYG interface. As you might expect, I don’t have any plans to take that class.
June 30th, 2004
I think it’s easier to type out the HTML than use a WSIWYG. Once it becomes part of a person’s everyday language, there’s no need for a “translator”.
And a person who is hired to create websites should know now to fix any problems that occur. WSIWYGs often create coding problems rather than solving them.
July 6th, 2004
I thought that “The Art and Science of Web Design” by Jeff Veen was a good beginning point for “web design.”
At least, it gave me much to think about.