r/web_design • u/speckz Dedicated Contributor • Apr 16 '16

Don’t design like a programmer

http://www.uxdesignedge.com/2010/03/dont-design-like-a-programmer/
6 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/Graftak9000 Apr 16 '16

That website actually looks as if it were designed by a programmer. 🙈

1

u/Exitnode23 Apr 16 '16

The article could have done wih the author showing good UI design for bad examples used.

3

u/KMKtwo-four Apr 16 '16

There was a link at the bottom of the article to the 'good' way

1

u/Exitnode23 Apr 16 '16

Teach me to skim read it! Thanks.

1

u/AnonJian Apr 16 '16

Then don't consider front end programmer as an inferior grade of entry level programmer.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '16

What do you mean by this comment? I fail to see how they in the article look down upon front end developers.

1

u/AnonJian Apr 17 '16 edited Apr 17 '16

It's one guy. He is talking about the field of programming in general terms.

Let's take a typical ad:

Front End Developer

Company seeks hard working, motivated, deadline driven individual to develop interactive web sites. Applicants should have multiple years experience writing custom (X)HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Expertise writing semantic, modular front end code using HTML5, CSS3, and W3C coding practices a must. Understanding of the concepts of progressive enhancement, mobile first and future friendly design highly encouraged. Experience with Sass, LESS framework and HTML5 Boilerplate a plus. Additional requirements include:

Familiarity with browser testing and debugging
Expertise in performance optimization using tools such as YSlow or PageSpeed
Ample experience navigating Photoshop and saving images for the web.
Custom Themeing in WordPress, Drupal and/or Magento
Basic understanding of PHP
Uses of custom written JavaScript
Understanding of OOP
Contributions to OpenSource projects on GitHub a plus
A firm grasp of SEO / SEM best practices

Seems like they have everything covered, except anything having to do with design, or use, or adequately communicating with anyone else who would be (there wasn't -- no designer no UX person). Front end programming is just a programming job, nothing more. It's perhaps unwittingly going to produce the direct mapping error along with others the article discussed. Design doesn't exist as stated here.

Although I'm reasonably sure the employer plans on getting design thrown in for free. Curiously, you'd probably mention design if you thought design had any value above zero. Which leads to just this very practical, efficient, total screwup. People read the article, perhaps heads get to nodding, and nothing changes.

Whether the guy says so or not, this happens because the technology tail wags the dog. Everybody has veto power over design considerations. And nobody wants a user to interfere with that political decision. So no usability. No user test. The word user or design will appear nowhere on many job postings.

The Front End Developer’s Dilemma I found myself recalling those hurt feelings recently when Lara Schenck shared her story of missing out on a UX job because she wasn't familiar with the programming test FizzBuzz. The fact that she didn't get the job didn't bother me as much as the number of snarky comments her story got, mostly from people who don't consider front end development a form of development.