[thelist] Are Web designers a dying breed?

[Rachell Coe]

At 12:14 PM 7/20/00 -0700, you wrote:
>For me, a good designer finds ways to discover what people need... the
>things that underlie what they *think* they need... and the things that
>will eventually be needed by those in a relationship with the client (site
>visitors, etc). Once they know those dynamics, it's a smaller task to
>implement and test something which satisfies those needs.

John brought up a very good point.  Do the people who sell the templates 
provide the market research to show their potential clients which designs 
work best with which target audience?  Do they explain the pro's and con's 
of going beyond the web safe palate?  Help their clients to add additional 
graphics to their site and tell them how to optimize them? Do they inform 
about page weight, and how fast a page needs to download before you risk 
loosing viewers?  Do they let you know approximately how long a 'page' 
should be? Do they talk about screen resolution, and the difference between 
a 'static' or 'liquid' site?  Most of these questions should be addressed 
when creating a web site for a business, but when you buy a template 
design, do they even get asked?  Even if these template design sites 
include the questions and answers on a FAQ's page, could they really do a 
good enough job?


Thank you!

Rachell Coe
<http://www.coeville.com/>www.coeville.com
<mailto:rachell at coeville.com>Rachell at coeville.com
(541) 434-8007