Coding. It’s the word that deters many a
journalist, designer or business owner from even attempting ‘proper’ web
design. Programming, as we used to call it, is, after all, a highly skilled
specialism; surely no good can come of trying to wing it?
Perhaps not, but the counter-argument is
that without learning how languages like HTML and CSS work, not only will you
be unable to tweak code that you acquire from templates, themes and the output
of visual web design apps, but you’ll be unable to understand why some things
work and others don’t; how to anticipate and fix the glitches that will
certainly arise when you send out your design into the big world of real users
with their messy array of devices, browsers and behaviors; and, more
fundamentally, what kind of thing is going to be a good idea to attempt and
what isn’t.
HTML
& CSS: Design and Build Websites
May be you can get a site built without
ever working on the underlying code – ‘but in doing that,’ argues Kirby, ‘you
don’t understand the limitations imposed by the medium.’ ‘Being able to code
makes you a better web designer,’ says Stocks, ‘especially given that designing
responsively is [excessively] laborious in a static design tool such as
Photoshop.’ Like Boulton, Stocks advises that you should move to the browser
fairly early in the process, and doing so is only really possible if you can
write your own code.
‘Ultimately, what you’re making is a
website, not a picture of a website. So static mock-ups are becoming
irrelevant.’
Woods is less convinced by the coding
argument, however. ‘Learning code is hugely beneficial, but I think that’s more
from a theoretical than a practical perspective. I know a lot of print
designers that are reluctant to step into digital design because they are
terrified of code, and that’s a shame because you don’t need to be able to code
to be a digital designer. What’s important is you at least understand the
possibilities and limitations of HTML and CSS. Being able to do it yourself is
not entirely necessary.’
Of course, the extent to which you need to
do it yourself will depend in practice on how you’re working and who with.
A designer/coder split is still very common
in web development teams, even if it would be unusual to have no crossover at
all. If you can find someone to handle the technical side while you focus on
look and feel and content, you may be able to discuss the practicalities in
layman’s terms, taking their simplified advice on what will and won’t work, and
leave the detail to your co-worker.
Equally, although we’ve focused here on creative
pros moving to the web, if you’re from a technical background and relish the
prospect of mastering code and wrangling content but don’t feel so confident
about the visual and interaction design, by all means pick yourself up a
designer. Try hanging around the MacUser shelf in your local news agent,
looking geeky.
But Coady, a designer by training,
thinks anyone working on the web who isn’t willing to immerse themselves in
code is probably doing it wrong. ‘It’s not like HTML and CSS is the same as learning
a programming language like PHP. It’s simply a way of semantically describing
the structure of a site. Learning how to render your designs in the browser
will make you a better designer and enable you to communicate with other web
developers when you collaborate on more complicated projects.’
Anyone
working on the web who isn’t willing to immerse themselves in code is probably
doing it wrong
And for Boulton, coding is simply part of
the territory – much like an understanding of presses, separations, dot gain
and overprints was required for old media. ‘It’s important for a designer to
understand the material they’re working with,’ he says. ‘The technical aspects
aren’t always glamorous, but HTML is not difficult. It’s not
programming, nor [in the programming sense] ‘coding’ – it’s just a language
used to mark up content. As such, it’s actually not much different from type
setting.’
Before DTP, Boulton explains, a compositor
would receive a manuscript with squiggles on it from the designer to tell them
what font to use where, and would then create the printed content according to
those instructions. ‘Writing HTML is not much different – telling content how
it should display,’ he concludes. ‘So it’s not programming, it’s
content-setting. And as such, it’s part of the designer’s job.’
