Working as a Web developer can be stressful. You have to get the site working using tools that are not always reliable to display in possibly hundreds of different browser and operating system combinations. Plus, most Web developers on a team have to write all the HTML as well (although on some teams this is handled by the Web producers). And then you throw into that the Web designer.
Perhaps it's because their focus is so different, but Web designers and Web developers often don't get along as well as could be hoped. And while this article is titled What Web Developers Hate About Web Designers, it's not the white hot hate of pure rage, but more the tolerant animosity you might have towards, say, broccoli. But there are some things that designers do and say that drive Web developers up a wall.
Being Too Precise with Measurements, Colors, Etc.
There is a certain place for precision in every work environment, but you need to learn when to focus it and when to count "close enough" as "good enough". For example:
- "Can you move that box over 2 pixels?"
- "That color is just slightly off - it's currently #3A7BC1, but it should be #3A7BC3."
- "This page element is 83% of the page width, and it should be 84%."
All of these statements are perfectly acceptable, and if you're a Web designer, you shouldn't stop asking for that level of precision. But realize that as the deadline looms ever closer, the developers are going to be working on getting their database connected, the JavaScript working, and the Flash elements displaying properly. These requests where the design is only off by a tiny margin will be met with more and more surliness the closer to the deadline you get.
Make Up Your Minds
Developers tend to be a lot more analytical than their design counterparts, and as such often make decisions quickly and without a lot of back and forth. Designers often like to see several options and then bounce between them several times before deciding on a final choice.
If you find yourself saying "No, I think I like it better the way it was before," more than once or twice to a developer, you've annoyed them. The best you can hope for is that they question your professionalism because you didn't finalize the design before you handed it over to be built.
Like the first example, it's perfectly fine for you to change your mind. Just be aware that every time you switch a page back and forth, you're raising the blood pressure of the developer doing the change for you.
It Must Look Perfect in My Browser
Most designers use Macintosh computers while most developers use Windows (or Linux). And while the differences between browsers are growing smaller, there are still some differences. What this means is that when a designer builds a mockup, they are doing it in Safari or even in Photoshop on the Mac. Then the developer (or producer) creates the HTML in IE on Windows. Unless the design is very simple, there are going to be differences.
Most Web developers work very hard to get their HTML and CSS (and scripts, programs, etc.) to look good on as many browsers as possible. But while it is theoretically possible to get pages to look identical on most modern browsers, the time it takes to do so is massive. But what really annoys a Web developer is when the Web designer insists that the page be perfect in their browser - which is not the most common browser of the site's customers. Focusing on a browser/OS combination that only gets 1-2% of your site visits is just going to annoy the Web developers, and chances are they are getting feedback saying that the site has to look perfect in the IE/Windows combination that their manager or the VP uses as well. In a fight between a Web designer and management, most Web developers will choose management every time.
Zooming in on Screen Shots of Pages
Web designers focus on the details of a Web page that make it look good, and this sometimes means that you have to take a screen shot of a page and then zoom in on specific elements to make sure they are exactly right. But if you show these zoomed in errors to a Web developer the best you can expect is a shrug in return.
Web developers typically focus on the page as a whole, rather than any one detail of it. And since the average customer is not going to ever zoom in on the page, your argument will be lost on them. This is related to the first annoyance I mentioned, where Web designers focus on minute changes. If you have to zoom in on the Web page to see the problem, you won't get a lot of support from most Web developers for fixing it.
Web Developers Can Be Annoying Too
Don't forget to read my related article What Web Designers Hate About Web Developers. And share your thoughts about both:
