I've worked with Braden (the author) and he can indeed code - he built a mean prototype for some user testing we were doing. You can see in the second half of

I've worked with Braden (the author) and he can indeed code - he built a mean prototype for some user testing we were doing. You can see in the second half of the article that he also makes the argument for pragmatism and working what is provided by the platform. Obviously you have strong designers and weak designers. The strong designers are focused on the user experience and providing a consistent interface that has a high degree of fit and finish. Users have a low tolerance for mistakes and seeing a couple things off by a pixel or two can make a product look immature and can take way from all the hard work that was spent building it.