3 ms·

sometimes managers and clients are fools.

armandososa 8y ago
This is true. I stopped worrying about designs being pixel-perfect across browsers around the time I stopped consulting. But I know people who are perfectionists and still care about that level of control and I'm just happy that I am not.
ry_ry 8y ago
Originally loads of people in industry came from print, so I can completely see how pixel perfect layouts were seen as desirable (hell, loads of our idiolect comes directly from print media, show me where a webpage folds over!) and conversely why they've died out over time as a generation of people who grew up with the internet have come through.
irrational 8y ago
I worked with a manager who had a degree in graphic design. He would flip out if the design was even half a pixel off. We came to call him Pixel Perfect Peter (his name wasn't Peter).
- pwython 8y ago
  I'm a designer and frontend developer. I would find it odd for the end result of an HTML build to look any different from the design. I can't think of a reason why a developer (who's not involved in the UI or UX stages) would need to change anything, even by a pixel. That may also lead to problems down the road. If the mockup uses certain dimensions, paddings, line-heights, etc... why not translate them as indented? Especially in 2018. It wasn't fun making websites cross-browser friendly 20 years ago. Even 10 years ago.
  - edwintorok 8y ago
    Why isn't the developer involved in the design? Might help to point out elements of the design that would take large amount of effort to implement faithfully. In fact why isn't the design done as a CSS to begin with?
  - mygo 8y ago
    > I can't think of a reason why a developer (who's not involved in the UI or UX stages) would need to change anything, even by a pixel. I guess you supply your developers fully documented fluid-resizable, responsive, dynamic mockups with all possible states? That’s one lucky developer. As a designer and developer, most (extremely talented!) designers that I end up working with still send me their designs as static PSD’s, and they also don’t understand enough HTML to know which design-choices are costly and which are not, and which don’t scale well with the screen / text / content, etc. If the designer and developer don’t work together at the UI/UX stage then it’s completely understandable for the coded-up site to not be a pixel perfect carbon copy.
    - pwython 8y ago
      I generally supply mockups for different breakpoints from Sketch (via Zeplin). Moving away from making web UI in Photoshop was a game changer for myself, and the other developers. Dimensions/spacing is easy to read, and nearly all styles are translated to CSS. Highly recommend telling your designer friends to try software like Sketch or InVision Studio.
Semiapies 8y ago
No kidding. I don't support IE at all, much less slave to make pages look the same in it, because I want to. I don't try to make things look the same in desktop browsers because I have some ideological devotion to the idea. I do that because otherwise, the clients whine. Every time I see someone go, "Hey, have you ever thought of a page design, like, not being consistent between browsers?" and seeming to expect readers' minds to be blown, it makes me want to ask, "Have you ever considered doing this, like, as a job?"
- slg 8y ago
  Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have never had a job in which my only function was to translate a design doc or mockup into a website. I couldn't imagine working in that type of environment for long. Part of the job has always been to talk through design choices with bosses or clients because it is easy for a non-developer to make a decision they don't feel strongly about that would add a multiplier to the development timeline. So my original comment wasn't purely about my own preferences. It was also realizing the benefit of pixel perfect design is negligible and that I should be willing to argue against it when the issue is brought up.
  - Semiapies 8y ago
    Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have never had a job in which my only function was to translate a design doc or mockup into a website. Neither have I, funnily enough.

This is true. I stopped worrying about designs being pixel-perfect across browsers around the time I stopped consulting. But I know people who are perfectionists and still care about that level of control and I'm just happy that I am not.

ry_ry 8y ago

Originally loads of people in industry came from print, so I can completely see how pixel perfect layouts were seen as desirable (hell, loads of our idiolect comes directly from print media, show me where a webpage folds over!) and conversely why they've died out over time as a generation of people who grew up with the internet have come through.

irrational 8y ago

I worked with a manager who had a degree in graphic design. He would flip out if the design was even half a pixel off. We came to call him Pixel Perfect Peter (his name wasn't Peter).

pwython 8y ago
I'm a designer and frontend developer. I would find it odd for the end result of an HTML build to look any different from the design. I can't think of a reason why a developer (who's not involved in the UI or UX stages) would need to change anything, even by a pixel. That may also lead to problems down the road. If the mockup uses certain dimensions, paddings, line-heights, etc... why not translate them as indented? Especially in 2018. It wasn't fun making websites cross-browser friendly 20 years ago. Even 10 years ago.
- edwintorok 8y ago
  Why isn't the developer involved in the design? Might help to point out elements of the design that would take large amount of effort to implement faithfully. In fact why isn't the design done as a CSS to begin with?
- mygo 8y ago
  > I can't think of a reason why a developer (who's not involved in the UI or UX stages) would need to change anything, even by a pixel. I guess you supply your developers fully documented fluid-resizable, responsive, dynamic mockups with all possible states? That’s one lucky developer. As a designer and developer, most (extremely talented!) designers that I end up working with still send me their designs as static PSD’s, and they also don’t understand enough HTML to know which design-choices are costly and which are not, and which don’t scale well with the screen / text / content, etc. If the designer and developer don’t work together at the UI/UX stage then it’s completely understandable for the coded-up site to not be a pixel perfect carbon copy.
  - pwython 8y ago
    I generally supply mockups for different breakpoints from Sketch (via Zeplin). Moving away from making web UI in Photoshop was a game changer for myself, and the other developers. Dimensions/spacing is easy to read, and nearly all styles are translated to CSS. Highly recommend telling your designer friends to try software like Sketch or InVision Studio.

Semiapies 8y ago

No kidding. I don't support IE at all, much less slave to make pages look the same in it, because I want to. I don't try to make things look the same in desktop browsers because I have some ideological devotion to the idea. I do that because otherwise, the clients whine. Every time I see someone go, "Hey, have you ever thought of a page design, like, not being consistent between browsers?" and seeming to expect readers' minds to be blown, it makes me want to ask, "Have you ever considered doing this, like, as a job?"

slg 8y ago
Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have never had a job in which my only function was to translate a design doc or mockup into a website. I couldn't imagine working in that type of environment for long. Part of the job has always been to talk through design choices with bosses or clients because it is easy for a non-developer to make a decision they don't feel strongly about that would add a multiplier to the development timeline. So my original comment wasn't purely about my own preferences. It was also realizing the benefit of pixel perfect design is negligible and that I should be willing to argue against it when the issue is brought up.
- Semiapies 8y ago
  Maybe I have just been lucky, but I have never had a job in which my only function was to translate a design doc or mockup into a website. Neither have I, funnily enough.