[thelist] Are you designing with CSS and web standards?

Chris Johnston fuzzylizard at gmail.com
Fri Mar 11 10:05:42 CST 2005


On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 23:52:14 -0500, Joshua Olson <joshua at waetech.com> wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Chris Johnston
> > Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 11:21 PM
> >
> >  I just don't think
> > anyone should be considered an excellent designer if they have no
> > knowledge of CSS.
> 
> Chris,
> 
> What does being an "excellent designer" have to do with knowing CSS?  Isn't
> making a usable and appealing visual design the only real requirement?
> 

No, having just the ability to create a usable design and some pretty
pictures, in my opinion, is not enough.

If we move this discussion into the world of print design for a
minute, the good designers are the ones that understand the tools that
they are working with and not just how to make a pretty picture. They
are the ones who understand the various kinds of ink systems used by
printers and how their designs, when transfered to these different
colour spaces, will look when finally printed. They are the ones who
understand the various foils and other printing techniques at their
disposal and also know when and how to work with those techniques.
These are both very technical points of knowledge that in the end make
for better designs.

If a designer can make a pretty picture but does not know how to
transfer that design from RGB to pantone properly in order to get the
final result that they had envisioned would you consider them to be a
great designer? I wouldn't. I may consider them a great illustrator,
but not a great designer. I think in the world of design, artistic and
technical knowledge go hand in hand are both essential to properly
understanding and mastering your craft.

To move back into the world of web design, I believe this holds true
as well. The best designers are the ones who understand their craft --
both the artistic and the technical. They know how to create a
stunning and usable design while at the same time creating a design
that works within the limits of a browser and can be created using
CSS. In addition, I don't think CSS need result in blog style
websites. As someone else mentioned, take a look at CSS Zen Garden if
you want proof.

-- 
chris johnston

www.fuzzylizard.com

"For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals and
something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination, we
learned to talk."
Pink Floyd


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