Thank you. And yeah, people don’t seem to care too much about the results for the end user.

EC,

Really sorry to hear that.

Lilibeth,

If you visit their web site, you will see. Basically, complete data loss.

Unfortunately for some our webapps we’re still suffering from people that simply (STILL!) don’t understand why web standards should bother, they simply don’t see the business benefits. (or don’t want to see them).

All they (developers AND analysts) throw up in (one of many) discussions is that we should support Internet Explorer because that should suffice for our users. Yes, I kid you not. It’s 2009 and I’m taking you on a trip down Memory Lane, back to the 20th century! weeee fasten your seat belts.

&^^*$*$*$… I’m out of arguments (who cares about better ROI, better SEO, being independent, shorter up-to-speed time for freelancers, more flexibility, less redundancy, better usability etc. etc. well, you name it, I don’t need to convince you).

Sorry, /me frustrated and a bit off topic

Feel free to give a shout, all comfort is welcome *grin* argumens too btw hahaha

Good point. I’ve seen so many forum posts where someone wants to make a single AJAX call, and a dozen quick posts follow telling them to download jQuery. jQuery’s fine, but really, to include a library of any size if all you’re replacing is 4 JavaScript statements is pretty crazy.

Then again, I guess that’s one of the reasons behind those two (or these three) blog posts – the less people care about forcing end users to download 20k worth of library instead of a handful of traditional code, the less valuable it is to know how to write that handful of code.

Marco,

Thank you!
Personally, I think web development now is more exciting than ever, and the reason is that while we need to learn the basics of our technologies, at the same time we go get access to some exciting APIs and services!

Pair that with web browsers getting better and better at standards support, and the future is brighter than it has been in quite some time.

If life as a consultant is better than being a hired developer? Sometimes, but at other times, essentially I’m still “just” a developer.

If you feel good about that making that career move, I’m all behind you! I definitely we think we need more people in those kinds of positions with a developer background.

So, good luck!

Gustaf,

Thanks! Yes, someone will have to stand there in the end and make things right again.

Morgan,

Glad to have inspired you!
I think that’s the key points, really:

- Knowing what to do and what to choose will definitely be the foundtaion of the results.
- Questioning merits and proving the actual value of different things is a good thing. It’s just important that it is done in a constructive manner, as opposed to just pointing the finger at someone.

Pete,

Absolutely, it’s a common responsibility to show that it is a serious trade that values knowledge and pride in what we do. The failing in many cases in regards to accessibility is just another example of people not knowing/not caring how to do things right.

Phil,

I’m very glad to hear that you experience that customers value real knowledge and good coding skills!

Lea,

Thank you!

What makes me sad is that most people use libraries to compensate for their lack of knowledge, not their lack of time.

Exactly! JavaScript libraries can truly be a great asset, but think about if you need it, and then how you you choose the best fitting one and how to optimize its usage in your project.

Stephen,

I think, from my point of view, is that I’m trying to convince developers to educate each other and have some pride in what they deliver. If a customer want something delivered in a certain amount of time/for a specified amount of money, that’s just fine, but it’s still each and everyones’ responsibility to deliver the best thing possible during that time.

Because when they don’t, you and I will have to pay, either in having to fix their inadequate solutions/failures ourselves, or in that our trade will get a bad reputation, resulting in lesser and lesser credibility when we try to convince customers what is good.

I’m not againist JS libraries, I deeply appreciate most of them. However, I think they shouldn’t be a thoughtless choice. Every developer should consider first “Do I actually NEED a library for this project?”. I’ve seen huge libraries in small projects that only need a few lines of code! Libraries are a great tool, but they are not needed everywhere.
What makes me sad is that most people use libraries to compensate for their lack of knowledge, not their lack of time.

I also disgaree with that statement… As a freelance frontend developer, I find myself getting more and more work from creative agencies who have neglected HTML/CSS until recently but now they all seem to have colectively realised how important it is and that they are understaffed and/or underskilled in that area.

I use jQuery but I’m very grateful that I learnt the basics of JavaScript first* which means I don’t have to over-rely upon jquery plugins – which sometimes don’t quite work in a particular circumstance.

* Thanks to Dom Scripting by Jeremy Keith

I think the argument for quality code is strong, the important thing to sell is that accessibility standards are a legal requirement in many countries. I don’t think many managers can argue with that.

If you zoom out a bit, you will notice that the overall theme of Chris and Marco’s posts are a reluctance to the changes in our industry. The paradox of it is that guys like Chris and Marco are clearly the bright thinkers, thought leaders and catalysts for change in our industry.

The idea that we are becoming obsolete I find very unlikely. If you look at the IT industry as a whole, how many developers have truly been forced to become obsolete? Sure, some decide to stay in their own little rut, and insist on not learning ANYTHING new … but how many thinkers, thought-leaders, master craftsmen and knowledge-aholics have become obsoleted in our industry?

As with most professions, ours is moving into an era where the ability to choose the right tool for the job, and KNOWING how to use the tool becomes more and more important. Understanding the long-term consequences of your choices are also becoming more and more important, as often times WE are making the choices on behalf of clients / business owners / decision makers. Having the basic knowledge of our craft and knowing how go into detail with problems, is what makes the difference between mediocre and high quality results.

Getting our sponsors to understand the value of our work, and the long-term consequences of choosing between the mediocre and the excellent is certainly no small task… and if Marco decides to become a ‘bigger gun’ and help them do that, then it might not be as big a loss for us, as if he decided to become a master carpenter

I think that having the leaders of our profession constantly question the merits of our trade and the future, are signs of a healthy industry… and I hope that they will continue to question everything and continue to strive towards making the (information) world a better place for all.

You know, maybe I’m just becoming a grumpy old man or something. I LOVE web development, and design too. It’s just that it seems that being a just a developer means ’standing still’ and one at some point just HAS to move on. I mean sure we can keep educating ourselves, learning new techniques, making ourselves familiar with new libraries and frameworks but at the end of the day we’ll still be developers.

In my article I figured if I could become more like a product designer / consultant / visionary (these people seem to have a LOT more influence, at least they do in my environment) I can hopefully have a bit more control over what the end result is going to be like. I guess you have actually already made this step since you wrote you’re a consultant. It puts you in an excellent position to fight the battle with a ‘bigger gun’ than a mere developer.

This seems better to me than fighting the uphill battle that makes a lot of web developers into sarcastic naysayers who think that the people who make the important decisions are a bunch of idiots. It would be great to try and get in the chair of one of those ‘idiots’ and try to not be one. The web development and design background should be able to help make decisions that won’t make the engineers think I’m a clueless person who has no idea what he’s doing.

I fully agree that skilled web developers should try the best they can to educate other people about how to do things the right way. No matter what I’ll eventually end up doing I plan to keep having that as a part of what I do.