Design is not about the tools you use, and development is not about the code you write.
Developers can learn design fundamentals (and I mean really basic "what's the idea behind this color/element/typographic decision?") without touching Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
Similarly, designers can learn about what is and isn't possible, without learning to code, through research about the existing technologies and their use cases.
"designers can learn about what is and isn't possible, without learning to code"
Depends on what we mean by 'code'. I don't expect designers to understand javascript, php, java, .net or whatever.
I do expect someone who bills themselves as a web designer to understand the basic fundamentals of CSS, what works on various browsers, gradeful degradation strategies, etc. I don't really think you can do web design successfully without understanding them, and I've never met anyone who really understands them who didn't also actually code html/css from scratch, at least at some point in their career.
It's probably possible to just read about it without opening an editor, but probably far less effective.
And re: developers - getting some understanding about colors, shapes, fonts, sizing, etc, to understand why some decisions are reached will definitely give a new appreciation for good design, and can help in other projects in the future where perhaps a good designer isn't available. I've stolen quite a few tricks from some designers I've worked with, and as time goes by I get better and using those tricks together in concert to make stuff that doesn't suck too bad.
Why would they implement a feature that's in every browser anyway? They should just design the site so that changing the font size through the browser works.
Buttons to change font sizes are anywhere in a browser's default chrome, therefore 99% of people don't know you can do it.
In general, I think it's dumb, but have been on the receiving end of "add font size buttons". No amount of "but you can just hit ctrl-+" does any good.
I believe his point was that a web design should be resilient to the fact that users can do this with their browsers. Among other things web specific I assume. That seemed pretty obvious to me anyways.
Similarly, designers can learn about what is and isn't possible, without learning to code, through research about the existing technologies and their use cases.
True to some extent, but the more you know about what is and isn't possible, the closer you are to basically knowing how to program. I suppose how abstract your knowledge can be depends on what you're trying to do.
For example, I think game designers need to know a significant amount about how game engines work: maybe not the algorithms of, say, gouraud shading, but they do need to know what's possible and not possible in NPC AI, and the more complex the behavior they're designing is, the more they need to know about how NPC AI actually works, to have even a reasonable guess at how their ideas would translate into reality.
A few people have argued this under the labels "computational thinking" and "procedural literacy", a category of skills that doesn't necessarily involve knowing the syntax of C++, but does entail being able to think in terms of algorithms and technologies. There's also an older idea of "design thinking" that sees it as almost always including some technical aspect; that's common in architecture, where the ideal architect is a designer but still quite familiar with at least parts of material science.
Comments
Design is not about the tools you use, and development is not about the code you write.
Developers can learn design fundamentals (and I mean really basic "what's the idea behind this color/element/typographic decision?") without touching Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
Similarly, designers can learn about what is and isn't possible, without learning to code, through research about the existing technologies and their use cases.
"designers can learn about what is and isn't possible, without learning to code"
Depends on what we mean by 'code'. I don't expect designers to understand javascript, php, java, .net or whatever.
I do expect someone who bills themselves as a web designer to understand the basic fundamentals of CSS, what works on various browsers, gradeful degradation strategies, etc. I don't really think you can do web design successfully without understanding them, and I've never met anyone who really understands them who didn't also actually code html/css from scratch, at least at some point in their career.
It's probably possible to just read about it without opening an editor, but probably far less effective.
And re: developers - getting some understanding about colors, shapes, fonts, sizing, etc, to understand why some decisions are reached will definitely give a new appreciation for good design, and can help in other projects in the future where perhaps a good designer isn't available. I've stolen quite a few tricks from some designers I've worked with, and as time goes by I get better and using those tricks together in concert to make stuff that doesn't suck too bad.
They must understand that user can (and should be able to) change (just the) font size, if not their designs are often useless.
Useless might be a tad strong.
How many sites can you really change the font size? Unless of course you mean through the browser.
Why would they implement a feature that's in every browser anyway? They should just design the site so that changing the font size through the browser works.
Cause someone asks for it (or demands it)?
Buttons to change font sizes are anywhere in a browser's default chrome, therefore 99% of people don't know you can do it.
In general, I think it's dumb, but have been on the receiving end of "add font size buttons". No amount of "but you can just hit ctrl-+" does any good.
I believe his point was that a web design should be resilient to the fact that users can do this with their browsers. Among other things web specific I assume. That seemed pretty obvious to me anyways.
Useless is definitely too strong.
What's the percentage of users who manually change their font size? Is it the majority? Because if it's not, then I'd hardly call it "useless."
AMEN!
Death to adding those stupid "font size icons" to change to one of 2-3 predetermined sizes too!
Similarly, designers can learn about what is and isn't possible, without learning to code, through research about the existing technologies and their use cases.
True to some extent, but the more you know about what is and isn't possible, the closer you are to basically knowing how to program. I suppose how abstract your knowledge can be depends on what you're trying to do.
For example, I think game designers need to know a significant amount about how game engines work: maybe not the algorithms of, say, gouraud shading, but they do need to know what's possible and not possible in NPC AI, and the more complex the behavior they're designing is, the more they need to know about how NPC AI actually works, to have even a reasonable guess at how their ideas would translate into reality.
A few people have argued this under the labels "computational thinking" and "procedural literacy", a category of skills that doesn't necessarily involve knowing the syntax of C++, but does entail being able to think in terms of algorithms and technologies. There's also an older idea of "design thinking" that sees it as almost always including some technical aspect; that's common in architecture, where the ideal architect is a designer but still quite familiar with at least parts of material science.