Content creation which is the invention of all non-functional text and graphics which fill the website often take precedent to the true web development and design activities.  The first snare which afflicts personnel charged with presenting a concise, clear, yet thorough perspective on screen is beginning by writing textual content in document format.  It doesn’t matter if you put it in a table, change the background color, or float graphics in front of text it will look like a hokey version of my geocities homepage from 1996; word processors are not design tools and you are not a designer.

            Unless you’ve downloaded a .pdf, are rambling through your extensive library of google books, or reading your favorite blog, when is the last time you saw more than two paragraphs of text anywhere on the internet that didn’t make you instantly want to navigate away from the page?  People hate reading, period.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a financial planning tool or an online dating service, the waste less of my time design approach is taking over the web.  If you could effectively create a page that when loaded spawned a retinal scan which uniquely identified the user and searched the internet for what they were thinking of instantaneously – without a click, you’d be a millionaire.  The overall aesthetics of the final product are directly related to the efforts towards web design being conducted by an design professional.  This psychologically pleasing aspect of web design distinguishes web sites now and will continue to play an increasingly important role in the future of the internet.

Make Users Feel Warm and Fuzzy

            Web design, unlike development, focuses on the parts of the application with which the user interacts.  Core responsibilities include the look and feel of the website which sculpts many subconscious impressions which will influence the user to love or hate the product.  For an example let’s consider test driving a calculator application and observe that it is functionally incorrect, say you press 2+2 and it evaluates to 3.  This is a serious concern for the developers but this doesn’t inspire nearly the emotional response that an offensively arranged user interface potentially could, perhaps the keypad for the calculator was laid out something like this:

More than likely you would have ventured back to your search engine of choice to select another Web Calculator link before you ever discovered that it was functionally unsound.  If the web design is any good, the user should forget their even viewing a website.  The vision of the website should resonate through every page creating consistency and flow throughout the information exchange experience.  The development behind the scenes works together with a clean and intuitive design to support this exchange.

Of Course It Has to Work

            Web development is the discipline which focuses on the functionality of the website; mainly unknown to the end user.  The true credibility of the website is made transparent by the accurate processing of its functional responsibilities.  In the calculator example, if a user enters 2+2 which evaluates to 3 the website has officially rendered itself incompetent.  Not only will the user be skeptical of any answer from the calculator in the future but any content located on or associated with this website.  This functional development weighs heavy on any website creation as it is the most demanding on resources, testing, and skill.  Once the design and functional core have been conceptualized we have to fill in the blanks. Note that I mean the specific verbiage and final-cut graphics to appear on the site, by all means prior to any of the creative processes ensuing a broad vision of the purpose must be grasped by the entire project team. 

            The whole point of this has finally arrived, content creation.  Notice that it comes at the end of the process!!  Only after initial prototypes are developed from a web design can the content owners, those responsible for creating, maintaining, and approving the content, begin filling in the placeholders for their text blurbs, non-functional graphics, and other various information.  This fits the ideas and concepts which drive the web site’s message into the sleek mould of modern web design which has many positive impacts on the overall product.

             Because content placeholders have established dimensions this will inevitably drive content creators to not only become more short winded but also the quality of the lighter pieces of text will improve; space is limited…use it wisely.  Having the site design established will help govern the content’s message.  This also will detract from the Blankscreenophia which can be daunting for content creators; two images, a headline, and two one paragraph blurbs on this page….next.  Another benefit particularly for re-launches or facelifts is being able to touch and feel the new design of the site.  This will help ease the resistance to change and reduce cling to old content;  nobody gets excited about a bulleted list or paragraph of text. 

Just Make It Drag and Drop

            Design is subjective and development is taken for grant it; again the best web sites make you forget your even using a computer.  This leads to a dangerous intersection for content creators whom usually have little to no experience in design or development coupled with a gross naiveté of their complexities.  If content creators complete their tasks at the beginning of the process they are forced to make layout decisions, which should be left to a designer, in order to begin putting the pen to the paper.  This indirectly constrains the design and development potential.  Furthermore they build aversive tendencies towards  modification of their original concept.