True web design: the lost art. Web designers obsolete because of theme and template designers? |
  (+4 rating, 4 votes) Loading ... |
Years ago, web design was the biggest hurdle to overcome while starting a new website. However, the increased popularity of web applications like WordPress, Drupal, phpBB, etc., have made true web design a thing of the past. Today all you have to do is install your favorite CMS, find a good looking pre designed, add some content and you got your standard website setup in less than an hour. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against people running website in a box applications. In fact, I recommend this setup to my readers and clients who are new to the insane world of websites. However, If there is no need to learn web design anymore, who would be willing to read through all those books and tutorials that you web designers out there had to go through? Let a lone spend hundreds of hours honing your web design skills for that matter.
Which option do you think sounds better to an inexperienced user?
- Start a website in 15 minutes with WordPress and a pre-designed template
- Spend hundreds of man hours learning web design…then start your website a year later?
Without question, most people will pick option 1 because, lets be frank about it, most people have better things to do than spend all that time in front of a computer screen by yourself. Why would anyone want to study the art of web design when they already have their awesome new CMS or can simply download and install a new theme for a new look?
As time goes on, I think that web design as we know it will be a thing of the past. There will be a small population of skilled website designers compared to a large population of website operators (people who run pre-made software and designs). There will be less and less new talent coming into the industry because there will be no need for those skills if a CMS and pre-made theme can take care of it all. I mean how many of you got into web design by designing your first website on your own? I’m willing to bet that most professional web designers didn’t just one day decide they want to design websites for a living.
What advantages does a web designer have over the standard web app operator?
- While pre-made software and designs can do probably 99% of what you want it to do, it will never be perfect. A true web designer doesn’t need to sacrifice the way a website works or looks because he/she is in complete control of the website’s flow and look from the beginning.
- Business and corporate websites don’t want pre-designed software and designs. I’m not talking your mom and pop stores here. You will find that a medium to large scale business will NEVER use a pre-designed template. First off, they have an image to uphold. Secondly a business website is its online brand so they must be able to convey their message properly. That is something that is almost impossible to do if you have no flexibility over your website look and flow.
- You actually learn something – It is very satisfying when you can look at a website and say to yourself that it is something that you made from the ground up. It is a great feeling, something that is very difficult to put to words. When someone compliments the look of your website, you feel very proud that you had the ability to do it yourself.
If you are just getting started with websites, than by all means give the pre-made web templates and themes a shot. It is a quick and easy way for a new, inexperienced, user to get his/her ideas online. However, if you want any absolute control over your website, you should start learning web design. And hey, if you get good enough, you could get a great job from it someday. Considering that there are less and less people getting into web design every day, you will be in great demand!
Sep 16th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
This is similar to a fact of life in other areas of the computing industry.
I call it drag and drop programming.
People who can string together a whole bunch of widgets in a framework, but who would be hardpressed to code a single line of original code that actually works.
Sep 17th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I totally agree with your advice. Taking the time to learn the “craft” opens up a world of possibilities for the website owner as well as save the owner a small fortune in outsourcing costs to have his site designed to fit the needs of his business.
There are free tutorials available on the internet, all one has to do is invest a little time and effort in learning to be a true “webmaster”.
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Right now I was kinda keen about what i have read…am a graphic designer and dont know much about web and right now am in the process of learning the craft of web designing…thus after reading your comment web design a lost art i was thinking to stop what the heck am doing?! since i saw lots of templates in the internet it was dragging me should i continue studying web or not…but yah your right…
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Batch,
If you truly want to design your own websites, don’t give up. Just because I said a lot of people are opting for pre-designed themes, doesn’t mean you should give up your interest. I think that there will always be a demand for custom websites, so don’t feel like its too late to learn. If you get good enough, I can assure you that you will have no problem getting business if that is what you are after.
But if all you want to do is get a simple website online, stay with the pre-designed stuff so you arent wasting unneeded hours practicing your web design kung fu.
-Daniel
Oct 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Hi all, I am a web programmer so far and I learn design now – I may assure you that the templates will not last for business use – any self-respected business will demand custom design refusing to get something anybody with few bucks in the pocket has. What do you think about this?
Oct 4th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
KMK,
You are correct – I tried to convey this idea in that last list in this article – ‘Business and corporate websites don’t want pre-designed software and designs.’
I agree that any self respecting business would want a custom website. Im not talking about the Mom and Pop style stores who just want a simple web page, I’m referring to a business that relies heavily on its online presence and sales pages. These websites need to be custom made because a lot of what they need done has to be unique that some template designer won’t include in the initial template design.
Nov 20th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Web desigeners will never be obsolete for 2 reasons:
1. those templates are created by webdesigners
2. Small personal sites may use free templates but companies want not only a unique webdesign but but custom scripts developed especially for them. The words cheap/free can even be taken as an insult by large corporations. The last thing they want is their website to be cheap/free.
I may be biased a little since I am in webdesign and web development business but I know what customers want.
Nov 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 am
I think the skills most web designers have can be developed into management/upgrading skills quite easily. Internet sites need to be managed and sometimes large sections need to be changed/updated. This is what most people do now anyway, just updating sites and making sure they function. This is the problem with IT jobs, they will all (except for high-level creative) be outsourced/replaced with mechanical/robotic alternatives.
Dec 2nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
Great post. I’m one of the ‘drag and drop’ programmers but the main reason that I’ve been using templates is to consolodate my knowledge. I’m self taught and the only way I learn is by fiddling. So I downloaded a css template to dreamweaver, played around for a while and what was an inexplicable jumble of hrefs and p class=”text” etc turned into something that actually started to make sense. But I agree with the fact that ‘Web Designer’ as a job role is going to change considerably over the next few years.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Great post! I’ve been very interested in template for a long time. I didn’t know that True web design: the lost art. Web designers obsolete because of theme and template designers?
Mar 20th, 2009 at 6:09 am
Most business still appreciate that for a company website they need something other than a template to stand out from the crowd, and because of this I don’t think that web design will ever truely die. And if it does well, I guess I’ll have to find something else to do for a living!
May 4th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I totally agree with your take on the templates and themes. They are nice if any individual requires them but firms should go for the natural and personalized web designs only. alas! just to save some money they comply on quality… But this is just part of the evolution
Aug 18th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Great post. I agree with u , most of the websites having same templates , themes and designs . So the art of creating new web design is probably reduced . Web designers have to learn the art and serve the clients with good custom website design.