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> As developers, our job isn't to tell the designers "Hey, you're dumb for including over 500KB of WebFonts in your design!" Yes. Yes it is. I want to browse

by csense 11y ago

> As developers, our job isn't to tell the designers "Hey, you're dumb for including over 500KB of WebFonts in your design!" Yes. Yes it is. I want to browse the web of 2006 with an Internet connection of 2016. I really wish websites wouldn't require me to download hundreds of different JavaScript libraries, fonts, Flash, video files, and who knows what responsive AJAX nonsense. I really like minimalist websites that do what they need to do without tens of megabytes of cruft. Like this one.

seanwilson 11y ago
To give a suggestion in the middle, a good approach is to inform the designers about the technical implications of their designs and present options that work around the technical issues so a compromise can be found.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- 50CNT 11y ago
  Loading times/responsiveness are certainly a design constraint, and designers need to be aware of this. Imagine a print designer that didn't know about bleed, DPI or colour showing through paper. They may not personally be in charge of printing things, but they absolutely need to have domain knowledge or work with someone that does.
- matt4077 11y ago
  It feels like designers really have a bad rep here and I have no idea why. I mean, yes, there are horrible websites out there – but those are just made by bad designers. If I look at the actually ambititous people, those comparable to the HN crowd of programmers, I just see enourmous competence. They no longer do web design with a desktop publishing mindset (that's a clich=e of the 90ies). They've rebranded to User Interface Design, to Interaction Design and to whatever "Service Design" may be. Which means: they usually know better than most programmers that design isn't about something being pretty, but that it's part of an interaction of machines, data & humans. I seriously don't know any designer who isn't obsessed with usability, load times, discoverability and so on. You also can't get a degree today without at least a few semesters of python. Do they always hit the right balance between performance and features? I don't know. But it appears as if there's a fundamental principle: Just like some would like to surf the 90ies web with the 2016 connection, others may want to run Windows 2000 on today's computers, or get a car from the 60ies produced in today's effiecient factories. In all these areas, the creative people as well as (too an overwhelming extend) the consumers have chosen a balance that appears to work ok. And anyone complaining here be better only writing in C & Assembly.

by csense 11y ago

seanwilson 11y ago

To give a suggestion in the middle, a good approach is to inform the designers about the technical implications of their designs and present options that work around the technical issues so a compromise can be found.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
50CNT 11y ago
Loading times/responsiveness are certainly a design constraint, and designers need to be aware of this. Imagine a print designer that didn't know about bleed, DPI or colour showing through paper. They may not personally be in charge of printing things, but they absolutely need to have domain knowledge or work with someone that does.
matt4077 11y ago
It feels like designers really have a bad rep here and I have no idea why. I mean, yes, there are horrible websites out there – but those are just made by bad designers. If I look at the actually ambititous people, those comparable to the HN crowd of programmers, I just see enourmous competence. They no longer do web design with a desktop publishing mindset (that's a clich=e of the 90ies). They've rebranded to User Interface Design, to Interaction Design and to whatever "Service Design" may be. Which means: they usually know better than most programmers that design isn't about something being pretty, but that it's part of an interaction of machines, data & humans. I seriously don't know any designer who isn't obsessed with usability, load times, discoverability and so on. You also can't get a degree today without at least a few semesters of python. Do they always hit the right balance between performance and features? I don't know. But it appears as if there's a fundamental principle: Just like some would like to surf the 90ies web with the 2016 connection, others may want to run Windows 2000 on today's computers, or get a car from the 60ies produced in today's effiecient factories. In all these areas, the creative people as well as (too an overwhelming extend) the consumers have chosen a balance that appears to work ok. And anyone complaining here be better only writing in C & Assembly.