I’m thinking about buying Red Kite a present – either another 19″ LCD monitor to create a dual-monitor setup (and a stand of course) or one big LCD to replace the current one.
From what I’ve been reading the first choice seems to dominate the latter. As a web designer, I can see a big benefit in having code on one screen and browser on the other…
We started Fort Collins Internet Pros back in January and had 5 people at the first meeting. Tonight was our 10th, we had about 30 show up and by the time I post this will probably have gained our 100th member.
Our group is for Web professionals in Northern Colorado and includes web designers, developers, programmers, SEO people, graphic designers, hosts, IT people and copywriters. We meet in downtown Fort Collins once per month.
Lately I’ve been forced (a good thing) to start farming out some of my huge workload. I’ve gotten some good connections out of this, people who deliver what they promise. But I’m also learning not to have just one of anything – one expert with ________ (insert expertise here) or another who knows ____________. It’s better to cultivate a number of colleagues with similar talents rather than just one or two.
I had a client that I hadn’t heard from in about three months. After sending him a little ‘I’m considering the project abandoned and need final payment before I turn over my files to you’ note last week, I got a big apology and a load of content and photos today. To his credit he put together some nice text.
I’m currently choosing some photos to use for images scattered through the text pages, then I’ll be optimizing images for Plogger, the open source image gallery I’m using on this site (just because it’s super-simple to use for the site administrator). My client’s in construction and I like that he wants a gallery to show off project work.
I’m hoping to finish up and schedule the launch first thing the week after the holiday (or sooner if at all possible).
I just finished my latest copy of eWeek and was surprised to learn that my career is considered to be, well, a fad.
Fad – noun. Definition: craze. Synonyms: amusement, eccentricity, fancy, fantasy, fashion, fool notion, frivolity, hobby… you get the picture.
Here’s what eWeek said in its article on November 10, 2008 on careers, focusing on enterprise data architects (I would link to it for you, but unfortunately I can’t locate the article on its confusing website):
“While some jobs that were hot in the past – such as Web site designer – were fads created by an economic bubble like the dot-com boom, enterprise data architects are a rare blend of technical expertise and business knowledge, seasoned with a decade or more of experience.”
I beg to differ.
Many (maybe not ‘most’, but certainly ‘many’) professional web designers and developers do in fact constitute ‘that rare blend of technical expertise and business knowledge.’ Many of us started out as hobbyists, indeed, but those of us who have been working in this field for more than 3 or 5 or 10 or 15 years are well aware of the business value we bring to our clients.
Our job is not only to create a pretty website. It is to understand, build and enhance the brands of clients in the eyes of their customers; It’s working as a team member; it’s understanding how social networking affects a client’s reputation. It also includes making websites easier to use, accessible, content-rich and search engine-friendly.
These things require not just design talent and technical expertise, but business savvy too. Most of the web designers and developers I know personally are constantly enhancing their skillset in both the technical and business realms.
Not a fad, nor a hobby, but a multidisciplinary profession. Kind of like enterprise data architecture.
I got a late start today – first was our twice-monthly leads group for breakfast from 7:00 to almost 9:00, then off to the vet to get stitches removed from one of our dogs. Then lunch with my DH.
So this afternoon I spent all of it working on a redesign for a hardwood floor seller/installer from Loveland, CO. I’d done only the home page; today I cranked and got out about others included a big FAQ section that I did as a definition list (styled in CSS of course) and now I’m just about done with my PHP-based contact form.
It’s a great form designed by one of my fellow Women Designers Group members – I use it on most sites and have only received spam through it on a handful of occasions. The one in the link here is actually the simple version but normally I use the complex one – I don’t think it’s available on her site anymore though.
It took me forever to figure it out the first time, but I’ve implemented this one today in about a half hour. Very cool.
My pages are validating for XHTML Strict, but I’m getting CSS errors because of Thickbox. I tried Smoothbox today (a Mootools version) but had no luck with it; I might try to find another before launch but I’m really pressed for time these days.
