Why is the Web starting to look like a magazine where the editors are on strike? Because, anyone who has ever touched a mouse thinks they can design pages for the Web.
Print design is the antithesis of Web design.
People who don't know Web need a website. People who don't know Web get hired. People who don't know Web wonder why their site is a dud. It's a vicious circle. People who don't know Web approve their work.
How do you avoid the big, bad Web monster?
Creating killer websites is not a skill you learn in class. Who wants Web? You do. You do. HTML is not a religion. Nor is it a useful tool. It is a necessary evil. You need to find a person who looks that Evil in the face and says "sit down." WYS isn't always WYG. What he gets or what she gets depends on more factors than a quadratic equation. Color palletes, fixed-width design, backwards - compatibility, image sizes, overlapping tables, style-sheets, animated .gifs, server-side includes, progressive - loading, push - technology. are you gonna bark, little doggy? Some buzzwords are just that - buzz. But some of these buzzwords can sting, too. Unless you've got a big bottle of calomine lotion handy, get wise. Get someone who eats the Web for breakfast. Someone to do all the nerdy things for you. You probably don't have time between lunch and your handball game to take geek lessons. How the Swiss deal with the browser wars. You might think the Swiss are neutral, but the truth is they have their hands so deep in everybody's cookie jar that they don't have to take sides. Picking a "recommended browser" is like building a bridge that only works for red pickup trucks. Don't play anybody's game - play everybody's game. How? Master all browsers. Nothing can replace firsthand experience. The author thinks that if Oppenheimer had done his own testing, we would have never known the plague of nuclear energy.
This is a rant in progress. If you stop back later, I'll probably have added more sniping. I had originally intended this page to be a hook for my employment search, but now that I'm gainfully employed, this is just more of a bitch session. (not that I wouldn't be prepared to entertain offers ;)
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