1 Beauty of code

Since I have an engineering background I must say that some (not all) engineers do think like artists. But it’s not the visual beauty, but the beauty of the code they are interested in. And that’s a bit missing in this article. Your HTML and CSS code of course should be structured and standards compliant. And of course the visual representation has to look good and comply to usability standards.

But to accomplish maintainable code you also have to find the right names for your CSS classes, you have to use the right indentation, find the right mixture of minimizing code and keeping it simple. That’s the beauty of code.

posted at 08:40 am on January 09, 2007 by Klaus Meyer

2 Maintainability

Klaus, many web sites do not need maintainability. Yeah, you need some kind of content management system for big websites. But if you write an individual article it’s more “fire and forget”. You are not doing software engineering.

posted at 09:28 am on January 09, 2007 by Johan Schultz

3 Question yourself

This is a great article, but I think that a lot of ALA readers (if they’re like me) will overestimate their proficiency at web design.

When you’ve got an article like this one, it’s worth reading it a few times, and even if you know you already do think like a writer, engineer and artist, see if you can justify that to yourself with this article.

More importantly, see if this article suggests anything you don’t do, and try to justify to yourself that you don’t need to do those things.

From my experience at least, not enough people are prepared to question the way they approach problems, and end up a bit stale

posted at 10:20 am on January 09, 2007 by Gareth Adams

4 cogito writerum, engineerum, artistum, ergo designero

Absolutely wonderful article. Argues subtly for the power of web standards whilst giving encouraging advice for how to do it in a personally rewarding way. Wonderfully written, thank you.

posted at 11:24 am on January 09, 2007 by James Brown

5 Wow...

...was my first thought reading this. This is probably the article I’ve enjoyed most on ALA for a while. It brilliantly captures both the challenge of web standards in the right-brain + left-brain thinking it requires, and the immense satisfaction which mastering this can bring over older, clunky, “ugly” ways of doing things.

Klaus is spot on about the ‘beauty’ of code. Good programmers – like good designers – instinctively understand the union of meaning, structure and artistry Craig is talking about. To a really good programmer maintainable code is, in itself, a work of art and there is an inherent satisfaction in sitting back and saying “I made that”. I doesn’t matter if, as in Johan’s example, in this particular instance maintainability is perhaps not the most important thing. They find professional satisfaction in a job well done.

I don’t think it is likely to inspire the 9-5er whose main job satisfaction derives from having an easy life to mend their WYSIWYG table layout ways. But hopefully it will encourage those new to web standards, who are inspired by the desire to do their work better, to persevere, knowing the ultimate rewards will be worth it.

posted at 11:29 am on January 09, 2007 by Sophie Dennis

6 A great read

A very good read. I have read other articles discussing the same subject but this is certainly one of the better one’s. Sadly I’ve never seen an article that tries to explains the reverse: teaching proper design to someone from an engineering background. All the great articles seem focussed on webdesigners coming from a graphic design background.

posted at 01:04 pm on January 09, 2007 by Sander Marechal

7 WOW Too

Sophie (5) – You read my mind with your message title, and in fact the words used in your comments too. Couldn’t agree more.

This truly is an incredible read. I am fairly new to web standards and I can tell you that I am most certainly encouraged by this article.

I was inspired enough by web standards before reading this article, but I’m even more so now. Absolutely superb. Thank you Craig and A List Apart.

posted at 02:47 pm on January 09, 2007 by Ben Spencer

8 Untitled

“Artists craft transformative experiences through the interpretation of beauty”. Hmm, what century are we talking about?

posted at 05:27 pm on January 09, 2007 by Michelangelo Iaffaldano

9 Great Article

I’ve tried several times in conversation to encapsulate all the different roles we as web designers must fulfill, and you have absolutely hit the nail on the head. Excellent article, very well written.

posted at 05:41 pm on January 09, 2007 by Jon Culver

10 Inspiring

I’ve been juggling the three roles of writer, engineer, and artist in my web development. I’ve still not “grokked” the balance of the three, but this article explains exactly what I’ve been trying to achieve.

An excellent read—typical of ALA’s superb content. Thanks Klaus!

posted at 07:48 pm on January 09, 2007 by Tim Gossett