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I have found it is really beneficial to copy somebody else, but ONLY if you take the extra step of completely deconstructing the solution to understand exactly

by TrevorJ 18y ago

I have found it is really beneficial to copy somebody else, but ONLY if you take the extra step of completely deconstructing the solution to understand exactly what makes it work. Once you've identified the inner workings of it you have gained the ability to change it to fit your needs and take it far beyond the original design. In short, learn the principles behind the design and you can apply it anywhere.

alabut 18y ago
Absolutely! That's the basic defense I've had in my head whenever anyone used to trash Jakob Nielsen, for example. Yes he sets out lists of guidelines to follow that you can brainlessly treat like a checklist, but you won't get the full understanding behind why he created the list (and in what context) if you treat the guidelines that way. Jeff Veen gave an analogy at an Adaptive Path workshop I went to a long time ago. I'm no expert and I don't remember the exact verbiage, it was something along the lines of how in kayaking, there's a few basic rules of safety when it comes to tides and currents, but if you don't understand how those rules came to be, then you're left completely vulnerable to very dangerous edge cases where the rules don't apply, like when paddling under a bridge. If you just stick to a checklist in the situation, you'll get sucked under and die.
jsdalton 18y ago
Really? I'm the opposite. I will admit right now that I copy/borrow/steal design and concept ideas from other websites relentlessly. I find, however, that I tend to do it for stuff around the periphery of an application. For example, how should my forgot password process work? What should my copyright notice look like? How should I format a success or error notification message? What should my button widgets look like? Such things that are not central to the purpose of an application I am working I expend as little thought as possible on, and tend to copy whatever I see someone successful doing (hey, i think, if it didn't stand in their way, it probably won't stand in mine). I spend more of my "picking apart" brainpower on the original/unique stuff my app is doing. Admittedly, I do a fair amount of copying of the kind you are referring to as well, but I don't entirely agree that that's the "only" kind of copying that's beneficial.

by TrevorJ 18y ago

alabut 18y ago

Absolutely! That's the basic defense I've had in my head whenever anyone used to trash Jakob Nielsen, for example. Yes he sets out lists of guidelines to follow that you can brainlessly treat like a checklist, but you won't get the full understanding behind why he created the list (and in what context) if you treat the guidelines that way. Jeff Veen gave an analogy at an Adaptive Path workshop I went to a long time ago. I'm no expert and I don't remember the exact verbiage, it was something along the lines of how in kayaking, there's a few basic rules of safety when it comes to tides and currents, but if you don't understand how those rules came to be, then you're left completely vulnerable to very dangerous edge cases where the rules don't apply, like when paddling under a bridge. If you just stick to a checklist in the situation, you'll get sucked under and die.

jsdalton 18y ago

Really? I'm the opposite. I will admit right now that I copy/borrow/steal design and concept ideas from other websites relentlessly. I find, however, that I tend to do it for stuff around the periphery of an application. For example, how should my forgot password process work? What should my copyright notice look like? How should I format a success or error notification message? What should my button widgets look like? Such things that are not central to the purpose of an application I am working I expend as little thought as possible on, and tend to copy whatever I see someone successful doing (hey, i think, if it didn't stand in their way, it probably won't stand in mine). I spend more of my "picking apart" brainpower on the original/unique stuff my app is doing. Admittedly, I do a fair amount of copying of the kind you are referring to as well, but I don't entirely agree that that's the "only" kind of copying that's beneficial.