It’s almost an Emperor Has No Clothes type of deal. But still, people put up with it! How odd!

My ANAL attitude disintegrated way back in 1996, I think it was, when I saw a “beautiful” site I had created in HTML tables explode like a broken puzzle in the then new AOL browser which didn’t support tables. It was then that I learned that form follows function and not the reverse, and that getting it to work in the browser was more important than visual perfection.

I also learned another lesson in another site when we trashed a beautiful, artistic and very creative home page with a knockoff of the then new Amazon bookstore home page. Sales tripled in a day.

Consumer behaviors are very different on the web and what works in print just doesn’t online. Web designers need to learn what those differences are. And above all, they need to let go of their perfectionism. It’s just not that important. You can create a site that is attractive, professional, easy to use, and converts visitors into customers without it. Consumers just aren’t that picky.

Nowadays, especially since I do all CMS sites like WordPress that require a template, I pick a ready-made template first, then design for and customize that. (I can hear the designers cringe.) As a developer, it’s much easier that way, it saves the client money in design and development time, and still accomplishes the job. And if all the other pieces are right, pieces I’ll argue are more important like marketing, SEO and usability, the client’s phones will be ringing off the hook – even though their website may not be the prettiest or most perfect in town.

So I agree with you. If your web developer doesn’t wear all those hats, bring those hats in, and do it BEFORE you start your project. Otherwise, you may be building a house on a bed of sand. I’ve seen that and feel for the business owner. And now my soapbox is to educate them so I see less of it. So, thank you for this! It’s well said and much needed.