Journal
A Serious Challenge Facing Professional Developers.
August 17th, 2007
There are a lot of amateur developers clogging the net these days. Their practices are hurting both web entrepreneurs as well as web developers. So I've decided to start a campaign to clean things up.
That's right, I'm sick of their low ball bids for shoddy work. When a client says "but Frontpage Template Web Design Inc. can do it for $5 and a pack of smokes" I've got to admit, I get a little upset. Not just for my sake, but for the prospective client who doesn't understand why I cost more until it is too late. I'd rather win clients in the first place than be the guy who comes in and salvages the mess created by the "I'll squeeze it in my evenings and weekends" hack.
Not that I'm bitter.
No really, I appreciate that everyone has to start somewhere. I once did this on "evenings and weekends" too, though I'd like to think I maintained a greater degree of professionalism when I did. My day job was programming after all!
So I encourage all you developers whether you are front-end, back-end, graphic or conceptual to UNITE! Make your messaging educate our beloved clientele on why choosing quality over cheap will make them succeed!
Peace, Dylan
Dreamweaver Users Can Be Purists Too
July 31st, 2007
About a year ago I was criticized for using Dreamweaver, a WYSIWYG, as my HTML, CSS, and all around web editor of choice. I heard complaints of poor markup, being a cheater, and the generic "not being L337". Well...
Dreamweaver is great!
I really don't understand the fuss about it. Dreamweaver has been great to me, simply because I do one important thing that these self-professed "purist" coders didn't think of...
Use Dreamweaver as an IDE, and not as a WYSIWYG.
It's really that simple. By simply turning off the Design view, you can use DW to edit your HTML and CSS way faster than anyone using Notepad, TextEdit or ConText.
I think what most people fail to remember is it's really about code cleanliness, validity, organization, maintainability, and standards and not whether the coder used a certain text editor.
Aaron
Small Business Advantage?
July 25th, 2007
While visiting Tofino on the West coast of Canada I was really pleased that they continue to keep the
area free of franchise businesses. It isn't that I hate franchises but more that I'm a big fan of personal
service and unique products. Unfortunately the closer I looked the more similarities I found between the
small shops and the franchises. Handwritten signs were actually printed, art on the wall was not
for sale and the surf shop owner seemed more like Crazy Eddie than the Ralph I had met when he carried a
fraction of the big inventory he has now. I think I've learned that the person behind the counter, not
the style of the business, is where a real competitive edge can be found.
Dylan
The Creative Process
July 12th, 2007
I am astonished at how the creative process can be both so thrilling and frustrating all rolled into one.
After toiling for hours over what color should border an area or if your color scheme works you show a
friend only to be told they don't fancy it. Yet hope emerges when turning to other friends for their
opinion. Why is this? Because what someone likes is so objective. Even if a style looks good it may do a
poor job of being appropriate for your audience. Imaging a banking website that looked like MySpace.
Would you trust it? That being said, I continue my work knowing that one must look at the bigger picture.
Dylan