Matt Heerema

Web Designer: Necessary Skills

D. Keith Robinson posted about Web design skills of a successful Web designer.

His list:

• General Communication
• Interpersonal Communication
• Problemsolving
• Patience
• Adaptibility
• Information Architecture for the Web
• Visual Design
• Programming
• Web Development
• Writing
• Project Management

I agree, for the most part, with his list. I wanted to take a crack at my own, from a slightly different angle and see what falls out.

Necessary skills are going to vary to a large degree based on context. A solo-act freelancer (which is a dangerous and difficult thing…) is going to need an entirely different set of skills than a web design lackey for a large institution (ahem.. c’est moi…). I’m going to try to hit on skills that a good Web designer is going to need in most every circumstance, and in general, as a professional in their field, looking to advance.

As you will see, I am largely in aggreement with Mr. Robinson, though I would place them differently in terms of importance.

1. Communication - The ability to clearly, efficiently and effectively express your ideas (and others’ ideas) in a variety of mediums (written, verbal, visual).
2. Adaptability - Being willing and able to change methods, process, technologies, and approaches, based on the varying needs of different clients and projects.
3. Learning/Research - The ability AND the discipline to do it. The Web is a changing medium. Useful new technologies are constantly being introduced. A good Web designer should be on top of them.
4. Problem Solving - Indeed. This is what we do… all day.
5. Ability to use the tools of the trade - This is a no brainer. Understanding HTML, XML, CSS, [insert favorite scripting language or four].
6. Project Management - Weakness in this area will kill you every time. Unacceptable turnaround time, and bloated overhead do not make for repeat business.
7. Information Architecture - I wanted to disagree with Keith on this one, but what else are we doing, if not arranging information so that is makes sense and can be used?
8. Visual Design Fundamentals - A good Web designer need not be an artist (raises hand), but does need to understand some basics.
9. Programming Theory - The general how to’s and best practices of putting together an application in ANY language…

But then, what do I know. :)

CSS Help Pile Directory

CSS Help Pile Directory (scribble view)‘

This could prove to be incredibly useful.

TILT

TILT: Table Injection for Layout Technique

Using DOM to “inject” tables into a table-less layout. All the benefits of a table based layout, without the myriad drawbacks!

Brilliant.

The Ideal Web Development Team: Higher Ed. Edition

Andy Budd had a pretty good article describing his ideal Web development team. I have decided (mostly for my benefit) to delineate my ideal team for a higher education environment. As I spelled these out, I realized that they fit very closely with Andy’s assessment of the situation.

Department Manager: Hires and fires. Develops the vision and direction of the team. Is the point of contact for clients. Between this position and various administrative professionals, takes care of bringing in the projects and money, and paying everyone’s salary.

Project Manager: At one point was probably a designer/developer themselves. Has a fairly in-depth understanding of all the other roles. Works with clients to create a direction and strategy for each project. Keeps the developers on track and informed.

Front-End Designer/Developer: (Where I tend to work…) Carries two loads: creating the visual design (”look and feel”) of a site, and making that site a reality on the Web. Expert in Web Standards and accessibility/usability/universal design.

Back-End Developer: As Andy said, most Web sites we develop these days are mini-applications. This person is an expert programmer that creates the code to drive the front-end developer’s creation.

Database/Server Admin: This is a pretty obvious position. Keeps all the hardware working and sites live. Makes sure that those who need to access the various parts of the various sites, can; and that those who don’t, can’t.

All of these roles need to overlap each other as far as knowledge base and skill set go so that intelligent, quality work can be done. Example: a back-end developer needs an good understanding of Web Standards and the style-sheets that the front-end designer gives him so they don’t throw an incorrect DOCTYPE in the header of a page that is automatically generated, thus breaking a carefully crafted layout. (Not that that ever happens to me :)).

A core requirement for ALL of these roles are excellent communication/people skills. This team has to be a team in every sense of the word. They need to be on the same page, dancing to the same beat, and various other euphemisms for working together in harmony. Ideally they should be able to complete each other�s sentences and have the same taste in music. At a minimum, they should all speak the same language, else you need a 6th member of the team: a very skilled translator.