WTLDBD&D ?
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- jysta
Where is The Line Drawn Between Designer & Developer?
Im having a meeting with a Developer, he doesn't do any design, mostly builds billing systems etc... works in PHP and SQL. If im going to be involved in creating dynamic websites with him, to what extent is my involvement going to be???
I ask this to all at NT because I know there seems to be a lot of people here that do both.
I want to get an idea is my role in this 2person relationship before my meeting on thursday.
As designer my skillset is more html+css +flash.Do I need to know for example how to create php pages etc....
thanx.
- welded0
It doesn't hurt to understand what the developer does, if even just so you design things he can build without fits of rage/sorrow, but if you build your stuff in HTML for him, that should be OK.
- welded0
Come to think of it, though, if you want your client side code to be of a certain standard then you'll want to make sure he codes the stuff you can understand to your specifications. My recent experience with developers (and Dreamweaver-reliant designers) is that they'll use any old ugly hack trick to get the page laid out properly with little regard for maintenance. The front-end of our site is a mess...
- jysta0
yeah, basically looking to dish out the work load in equal parts so it may mean i pick up a few new skills on the way :-)) hopefully.
When it comes to Apache, MySQL, PHP, (WAMP, MAMP) what level of involvement in this aspect is expected on the designers part?
- UndoUndo0
I dont think you need to understand the server side of things apart from the point of view of designing for every scenario that the developer will program for. a login system is a good example, their is the login page, the error nsg when the details are incorrect, the user isnt regd, the acc hasnt been validated, the reminder form etc.
being a designer/developer and also working with other designers this is often overlooked and I ususally use the style to get the job done and then confirm it with the designer.
other common mistakes are when the designer uses an id for a style on an element that will be repeated (id's should only be used once, classes can be used more than once), its qute frustrating when you have to go through and find all instances of an id and change them to classes, then re test in the browser etc.
above all i would say you pay for what you get and the more experience the better the developer (in theory) Ive seen alot of developers work where there is absolutely no consideration for the misuse of the system by hackers to gain access and its totally open if the (wrong) person came along. if he's been working on billing systems then he should know how to sanistise his data.
good luck
sorry for the long post!
- kelpie0
have a really good sit down and figure out a decent spec for what you are about to design, if your developer is designing and building databases to feed your front end you should be in genuine , clear agreement about how the website works before you set out, it'll save problems later and help him develop a lean, fast Db which he'll be able to develop faster and more efficiently.
Just remember that things you may add on a whim to the front end can have major ramifications to the structure he'll use in the back end and to how the site will access the information at its core, so get this straight right from the word go and you'll be ok...
if you are building the front end in CSS you'll eliminate a great deal of these kind of conflicts anyway, as I assume you'll be quite focused on streamlining your style sheet and reusing elements anyway
NB. remember, though they may not look it at times, developers are human too and appreciate being treated as such. most of them also like cake, good tip.
- jysta0
Long messages are good :-)) Thats helped me structure my meeting on Thursday.
Thanx for the replys guys!