Web design is sort of like trying to steer a surfbike against the tide, while the riverside, melting, industrial chocolate sculptures make for the slowest syruppy pedalling, your thighs have had for a long time. As recently presented at Electrofringe, Adam Bramwells site ( octapod.org/adam ), has some great guides for those wanting to wade through interface design and information architecture issues. He speaks now.
What webdesignery surprises emerged in your electrofringe workshop?
I was surprised there were no on-stage fistfights between flash designers and the standards-obsessed HTML-only code jockeys. I did my best Ricky Lake shitstirring beforehand but in the end nobody jumped forward with anything contentious enough to spark it off.
Html VS. Web design software : who wins 4u and why?
Anyone who’s jumped into blogging software has enjoyed the ride from needing to know code to create web pages, to just needing to have something to say. It’s the single biggest development in websites in the last few years, allowing everyone easy maintenance of sites. On the design side, for people who can get their heads around Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) either thru hand-coding or through software like TopStyle, enjoy a high level of visual control of their websites. CSS is fantastically accessible and scalable, and is part of web standards so is only going to be more integral in web design in the future.
Near a decade into it, what are some of the biggest challenges with web design?
Maintainability is critical in developing any web project, one way to achieve this is the separation of presentation from content, through some form of templating. This prepares the work for repurposing to other mediums, including to handhelds, WAP phones, and literally anything digital.
People who make the transition from print or other mediums are used to having pixel-precise control over their layouts, and they sometimes find it a frustrating medium to design in. You don’t know what browser, what screen resolution or how many colours your site is going to be viewed in. So the approach that needs to be taken is rules-based, setting limits and allowing your designs to be fluid and gracefully degrade for lower-end users.
Some of your favourite advances in web design?
I’m still waiting for it, but the widespread adoption of web standards will really be something when browsers act predictably in rendering designs.
New web design features you’d love to see?
Preloading of elements to prevent the wait! And links that provide some indication of where you’re going. The Semantic web promises to provide the infrastructure for this to happen, embedding some meaning and context with the content. It’s an exciting development.
Good and bad things about using Flash within webpages?
The emotion flash invokes through the use of motion graphics is particularly compelling but unfortunately it’s often an all-or-nothing affair. I like seeing flash used with restraint, for highlights and interactive elements such as navigation and promos. Certain interfaces just wouldn’t be possible without the scalability vector graphics afford. For example the visual representations of the relationships between search results using Teoma can really add insight to the content presented. ‘We Work for Them’ is another great example of database content rendered in a visual way through Flash.
On the downside, some basic aspects of HTML browsing such as being able to bookmark individual pages, select text, printing, searching etc. all have to be added in by the flash designer, rather than already being established from the start. Often these elements get left out of the design and this can really hinder functionality.
Beginner’s advice 4 webpage design?
Design for the sake of itself is self-flagellating, don’t waste your time surfing through other designers portfolios. Instead grab your sketchpad, open up a blank canvas and work out a design from the content you have. And to gain experience I thoroughly recommend volunteering your skills for a cause or organisation you believe in, the doors will open up for you.
URLS of the designer apocalypse?
Well there’s already been one designers apocalypse – the dot com bomb of the late 90’s, so people who are still working the medium are doing so because they’re passionate about it’s possibilities, and accept the challenge of working within it’s limits. There was unbelievable amounts of money thrown at web development in the past but it’s settled down now and the element of realism is more prevalent. For inspiration, HalfProject.com is a local fave for its arresting interface, crisp illustrations and in its latest redesign adds some great flash accentuations. For the thinking designer wanting to maintain a broad outlook, you just can’t go past the grandaddy Zeldman.com.