Just more proof that in today’s world you need more than one main skill. :)

On a website with dynamic content, it can be hard to fit the information, and the tools to navigate that information, into a design that was made before we knew how complex the data was.

In the end, though, I’ve been lucky enough to work with designers who meet me in the middle. They will adjust the design to fit the data, if I will try to give them as much control over the design as I can.

There’s a reason I’m a programmer, not a designer… my designs are terrible. Also, as a programmer, I have the sort of mind where data is usually clear to me, regardless of design. So noone should be surprised that I think data has to drive the design, or that design should start after the overall structure of the data has been outlined.

However, presentation can make a huge difference in the readability and usability of data for many people, and cannot be ignored.

Years ago, I started trying to separate the design from the content. Then, it usually meant that the designers were free to design the outer shell, while I had control of the center contents. In the content, I would use standard tags, and the designers could control the font, color, size and spacing of the content that I put in, by editing those styles.

But they couldn’t really control the design or layout of the content… they were limited to styling the content HTML that I made up. If my contents was a table, they couldn’t re-arrange it without asking me to change it.

Lately (probably way behind the cutting edge), I’ve been working on building pages where the whole design (not only the font styling, but also the layout) is almost entirely in the CSS… where the actual HTML code I create can be made to look very different if you use a different stylesheet. I’ve seen designers do amazing things with a list, if the and tags have CSS classes assigned to them that they could define. The difference from my previous efforts is that I don’t say if the list is left or right, or stacked on top of other content, or really anything of the sort… By staying away from tables, and using DIVs with CSS, I can give the designers control over almost everything. Of course this requires that the viewer isn’t using an ancient browser that doesn’t understand more advanced CSS.

On the horizon, I am exploring the option of outputting data as XML with no layout or styling of any kind, and the designers building an XSL file that controls the layout and appearance of the data. Again, this would require viewers using the latest web browsers. In addition, an XSL file is a little more like programing than HTML, so it’s not ideal for many designers… I’m still searching for the best way to do this.

There are two factors to balance. First, you want to balance design and data, so that design facilitates the usefulness of data, second, you have to find a way for each part of the team to do what they do best, without asking the programmers to design or the designers to program.

The most beautiful experience is when you find a designer who successfully marries the two and makes your vision even better than you dreamed it. That’s why I like working with CommTech. I love knowing that I can throw out any idea, no matter how wild, and it will be given serious consideration. Sometimes an idea will “stick” as I have presented it; other times it serves as a launching board for something far, far better.

My website needs always start with function – what’s my message, what’s my purpose? But being a bit on the creative side myself, it doesn’t take me long to move to the form side and that’s really where I find my comfort zone. I would stay there if I didn’t have a designer who can gently pull me back down to earth and remind me of how I got here in the first place. CommTech knows how to read between the lines, intuit the emotions behind the ideas, stay focused on the larger task at hand, and – in the end – make you feel that it was all your own idea!

I think it’s a rare individual who can use both sides of his brain equally well. I’m glad I have found a web designer who does just that!

Bonnie Grady
Grady Association Consultants (GAC)