Now that the web is evolving into a more application driven, social platform; interface and information design is more of a factor than it ever was before. As designers we have a responsibility to help our developer counterparts translate their web apps into concisely designed GUI’s that allow the user to interact with a site in the most efficient way possible.

To achieve this, web designers must be able to at least understand the ins and outs of CSS/XHTML and understand the basics of most web development languages like PHP and Ruby. The days of passing off a sliced up Photoshop file are far behind, we now need to consider typography, information structure and usability in web design. These items cannot be addressed with just a pretty Photoshop file; they must be addressed within the code, as we work side by side with a developer.

Understanding the language and methodology of our developer friends augments our ability to assist them in delivering a more usable, more beautiful web. My insistence in writing my own CSS, forces me to work closely with the developer, and get a good understanding of the site or application they are building. This becomes a winning relationship because now we are co-working, not handing off responsibility until it is the other one’s turn. It gives the developer a better premonition of the final product, allowing him to catch flaws and make adjustments to his app more efficiently than before. In return the designer gains a familiarity with the overall workings of a site, and how it performs the requests of the users, therefore allowing us to compensate for confusing design, and poor user experience. It just works better this way.

Those looking to make the leap between print and web design can find nothing but advantage in learning how to code CSS / XHTML. Resources are abundant and in most cases you can be designing CSS based sites in one night. Like everything, practice will help you improve your coding and eventually change the way you design web sites — for the better I promise you.

On the other hand, if you have been a so-called “web” designer that turns their nose up at web code, you may want to seriously reconsider. I am not saying that every designer should run out and learn every web language they can, but it cannot hurt. CSS/XHTML should be second nature for any web designer and if you don’t know it…well…you really cannot say you are a web designer. Calling yourself a web designer and not knowing how to code CSS is as bad as calling yourself a graphic designer and only using CorelDRAW!

This post is pretty much a rant, a call to arms if you will. I am hoping to promote a better coworking relationship between designers, and developers. There is no O’Reilly book for color theory, or typography or even for layout. We need to be that for our dev colleagues, we need to direct them visually as much as they direct us functionality. This leads us all to the same goal, designing the best experience for our audience.

[tags]independents hall, coworking, CSS, XHTML, web design[/tags]