Perhaps I should start a blog category called “rants”? One of my favorite rants that never seems to go away is the backwards approach that many Web design firms still embrace. Many companies still start in Photoshop and then slice and dice their designs as a post process. Today I found this in a job offering:
This position is WEB DESIGN ONLY (i.e. no development needed, just design). We will expect mockups, revisions and other layout work provided in Photoshop only. The final slicing, adding of functionality, and creation of the website will be handled by our in-house developers.
I do not like this design methodology. From my experience, the results are usually inefficient designs where best CSS practices are rarely used. The most efficient and effective work I’ve seen usually comes from Web designers who fully understand how HTML renders and only use graphic manipulation software to build the pieces they need while they are designing the actual page in HTML.
The process of building in a graphic application and then churning out HTML was very popular in the 90’s. Still, even then, it made more sense to first consider your content, then structure your document, and finally dress the page appropriately. With the introduction of modern CSS techniques, the “Photoshop first” methodologies are wearing even thinner. This is particularly evident when working with rapid development frameworks (such as Ruby on Rails). These tools are designed with a build first - dress later process in mind.
Alright, my rant is complete.
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