molly.com
Sunday 31 August 2008
Flashback Post: Web Design and Development Personality Indicators
From 2005, for your amusement.
(original post here: Web Design and Development personality indicators)
-=-
I’VE HAD ENOUGH! Frustrated with the range of attitudes and opinions I deal with as a standards-oriented educator, I’ve decided to begin a project (very) loosely based on the Meyers-Briggs personality indicators. So, dear readers, I’m hoping you’ll help me add and refine my categories, but I’m off to a start with the following:
- OFAD. Old Fart Anti-Design. These are the guys (and I mean guys) that were on the Web as early as 1991. Almost all physicists at major research institutions, they’re the ones who helped Tim Berners-Lee refine the Web and were the first adopters. Mostly long in the tooth now, some are still kicking and they can be described as the anti-designers. These aren’t even purists – today’s approaches seem foreign and sometimes frightening to them. They long for the days of Lynx, really, but barring glowing text on a terminal and HTML authored in Vi or Emacs, their idea of Web design is default gray backgrounds, default text, maybe a list, and the apex of old fart visual design: a horizontal rule. Fortunately, this is a very rare breed and usually they can be ignored because unless they’ve progressed somewhat, they have precious little to offer the contemporary, standards-oriented Web designer or developer.
- OSVD. Old Skool Visual Designer. These are the folks that refuse to see beyond their nested-tables-spacer-GIF design. In fact, you can find them at a variety of ad agencies and teaching at conferences all over the world, still excited when they create a design in Photoshop and use the so-called HTML export utility. These designers are often extremely hostile toward standardistas largely because the idea of change or looking at code is so traumatic that they hold on to the Old Skool methodology as if it were a lifeboat on a stormy sea. Unfortunately, this breed isn’t rare enough.
- TTLM. Trying To Learn More. In this category are the good men and women who might still be serving it up Old Skool but are open to learning, open to growth yet struggling with standards related concepts and the snakepit of browser challenges of contemporary Web design and development. These brave souls are not in the majority, but they are to be lauded and assisted for their willingness to venture forth and expand their horizons.
- SAVD. Standards Aware Visual Designer. These people are designing with standards in mind – creating beautiful sites for the screen, working toward achieving accessible sites, examining usability and human factors, and very possibly beginning or already designing for alternative devices and media types. A very rare breed, and if you are reading this post it’s very highly likely you’re either one your own fine self, know all their names or have Zeldman’s personal phone number memorized.
- SASS. Standards Aware Structural Semanticist. These personalities are very code-centric, with little interest (or more often, skill) in presentation but lots of interest in the proper structuring of documents, use of meaningful markup, microformats, Semantic Web and the like. At their most compulsive, they can become purists to the point of having unrealistic expectations of the more worldly Web worker. Also a rare breed, SASS personalities are extremely important to the good of the Web but sometimes need to be reminded that smart structure and semantics can happily co-exist with visual design.
- SACE. Standards Aware Cutting Edge. Whether visual designers or code-centric or both, these are the folks that design first for Firefox, Safari and Opera and work around IE 6.0 only because they have to. Given their druthers, sites would be built using practically no markup and lots of attribute selectors, just because they like the idea. A rare breed worth watching, but also in need of reminders that the rest of the world just ain’t there yet, and in fact, really are lagging behind.
Hybrids are not unusual, either. I sort of live between the SASS and the SAVD personalities, with not enough real design skill to execute great visual designs, but enough savvy to appreciate beautiful, standards-based Web sites. There’s probably a personality type for people like me, but it’s very difficult to assess my own character, so I’ll leave it there for now.
As I’m typing this, I’m on a ship in the Eastern Caribbean teaching CSS on a Geek Cruise. The ship, the MS Zuiderdam, is just in the process of docking at Road Town, Tortola, in the British Virgin Isles. I’m sure you all feel really sorry for me right now.
It’s just past dawn and I’m up at the very top of the ship where there happens to be WiFi at the going rate of 40 cents USD per minute, so you’ll forgive me if I leave you now with the following questions: Are you one of these personality types, and if so, which? Do you have a personality type you’d like to add to my little list?
Filed under: blogging, flashback, general, how we will be, humor, just fun, molly asks you, pop culture, revolution, society, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 01:37 | Comments (31)
So are the people making the standards OFAD or do they have their own category?
Might also be interesting to figure out how the various types match against http://tantek.pbwiki.com/TrollTaxonomy …
Good stuff, but where does Over Zealous Standards Asshole fit in? That’s a breed that isn’t rare enough.
I’ve met a couple other types:
WAIE – Web Accessibility is Everything – These people don’t care at all about how the page looks to non-visually impaired people, even if their site only gets visited by one disabled person per year. These people tend to congregate at universities and government sites, where their talents are required.
TAND – Tables are NOT Dead – These are sorta the anti-WAIE. They get angry at any suggestion that tables for layout might not be the best solution. And in fact are on the lookout for ways to prove that tables are, well, not dead.
SEOF – SEO Forever – Similar to the WAIE type, SEOF people don’t care about design or content as long as their pages rank well in search engines. They spend hours thinking about keyword phrases and worrying about how Google is going to react to their latest updates.
SPLOG – This type probably shouldn’t be included in a list of Web designer personality types, but there are so many sploggers out there creating sites that it seems valid. This “designer” focuses on making money above all else. Their pages are characterized by thousands of ads and free content. They are not above stealing content if they think that will get them clicks on their ads.
You are kidding right — a specifically targeted and designed cruise for geeks?? Not too mention one that charges for WiFI??
::tossing a live shark into the middle of the current ‘conference’::
OFAD: John McCain. Ralph Nader on a normal day. What the Republicans are trying to be.
OSVD: Sarah Palin. Gordon Brown. Ralph Nader on a good day
TTLM: Hillary, Joe Biden
SAVD: Obama
SASS: What the Democrats are trying to be
SACE: Obama supporters, Bill Clinton
Missing: David Cameron.
Purely anti-design/peace/anything, really: Vladimir Putin and that chap he has as a lapdog.
Carolyn Ann
Oh, I thought this was from 1995! It rings so true of those days, too.
Carolyn Ann
SACE then, SACE now. SACE FOR LIFE!!!
A geek cruise – I’m soooo envious! Molly, the sign of a really good post is it’s relevance 3 whole years later, I’m very impressed.
Hope things have been going well for you, as they appear to have been.
I’m not sure where I fall into that range – I think over the last four or five years I’ve moved through a cycle that is quite common. I’m a lot more pragmatic nowdays, but mostly because the people I find myself dealing with haven’t had time to read widely, and learn new ideas.
However, nothing annoys me more than having to deal with old school or just plain markup – it makes me feel a little grubby at the end of the day. Is there a category there for HTML Snob? Maybe that’s where I’m really sitting nowdays unfortunately.
I really prefer to look at “quality product” now, rather than fight wars over the correct way to represent an address on a large website. Picking the battles more worth fighting.
Thanks for reposting this. Makes me rethink my category.
3 years. I thought it was 13.
One thing about people: they don’t change. I’m not sure if that’s good, or bad, or simply is.
Carolyn Ann
Boxing of a different kind
Yeap, I think we could add a Standards Puritan (SP) to that list. The type who get all sanctimonius about ‘pure’ code — believing that table layouts and presentational markup are the main reason for all disharmony in the world.
Molly, I said to you a few months ago, look around you. It seems America has become a police state at the Republican National Convention.
http://www.wearechange.org/uploaded_images/1-792766.JPG
The guess the mainstream news will not show this image.
I know this has nothing to do with web design, but what’s the use of web standards when America is becoming a police state.
http://www.wearechange.org/
You went on a few months ago about leaders and followers. What are you?
Aspiring SASS & SACE. I know I’ll never be a designer, but love the challenge of turning what designers do into standards compliant lovliness.
SASS & SACE mostly although I am trying to learn the Visual Design end of things now.
@Alan Gresley: You have to remember if you speak out too loudly against the Republicans you’re labeled a Pinko, a Communist who’s soft on National Defense ad nauseum. All they’re interested in is having you willingly turn over all your personal freedoms.
But, it’s not just Republicans turning this into a police state, it’s politicians as a whole. Because in my experience they have been one of two classes of people you can never trust and they are politicians and preachers.
Both want something from you whether you want to give it willingly or not, and neither of them are afraid to take it from you directly, or out of your pockets by force.
If you don’t believe me just look at how much influence the religious right has over politics.
Police state?? Christ almighty — marsupials. But then again, there is that damn no-fly list. Oh well. When in need of cheap peanuts, there is “Al’s Chug and Puke”.
Personality types are supposedly context independent. As a web developer much depends on context. Who is your intended audience? What is your budget? How much time and money can you spend on maintenance and code rewrites to keep up with browser changes and new entrants into the browser market? How much patience do you have working in an environment where following standards is no guarantee of cross-browser compatibility? There may be good reason to keep things extremely simple. One of the most beautiful aspects of the web is as a low-cost, non-labor intensive publishing medium. And I can’t hold it against folks who still design for the web as it was originally intended. The question to me is not whether a design uses .gif spacers and tables. The question is whether it’s an appropriate application for its intended use.
@Jeff
I not concerned by what I am labeled. No matter what side of the political spectrum one is from, the elite among us are ruthless and dangerous and a thread against all individual freedoms. The old paradigm of religious extremism (left or right) is fast becoming obsolete. A revolution is happening as I write. Peace to you Jeff and all others.
@thacker
Another of your little rambles with empty meaningless words. Take off your Rose colored classes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfISlq1gzK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPgFHjIAMnI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU9Ny1j2cVg
Gresley– you are so damn easy to goad. ::poke:: But, I have to concede that you sure hit the nail on the head with the YouTube Video of Authority.
Why does every interesting or amusing post have to be tagged with comments that go off in all sorts of absurd directions? If you to fuss about politics or conspiracy theories, go post on sites, so the rest of us can ignore you properly.
One other type — New Eager-Beaver Enthusiast (NUBE). Characterized by multiple instances of rotating, flashing, burning words with animated flames, and replacement cursors that do everything except let you click on a link or tab. This type just found out how web pages are made, and thought it would be cool to, like, design stuff, you know?
Actually most designers go through this phase at some point, but it is relatively rare due to the tendency of most to mature beyond this stage some time in the second week of their web design career.
It is an amusing part of most careers, changing to alarming if it lasts more than 3 months, and it is simply horrifying to find anyone who is old enough to vote still doing crap like this.
8^)
@Some Guy
You wonder my intent, maybe people are getting angry when they see a lot of sheep in America who take the mainstream media and present politicians as gospels, and in such dangerous times.
@Molly, this is your blog and I broke the rules of decency and respect for which I am sorry.
BTW, I would see a bit of SACE in me. My new template has much more work before it’s finished. It should be finished in 2010 and hopefully will look OK in most browsers (especially if IE supports CSS3). CSS is`not just a styling language, it’s a art form. May I suggest another alternative.
ARCW. Artistic Rebellious Critical Wackos. These folks are not true web designers. At first they show the characteristics of the SACE category but after a while they are seen in their true light. Given that their origins as artist, they are usually rebellious against any norms of society. They try to show a different face at first but their old yearnings of justice and equality along with some weird Utopian visions usually makes other people either love them or hate them. This becomes more pronounced when this rebellious type starting going on and on that there is no such thing as web standards or there are large holes in the spec. At this point they become very unpredictable and they may be noticed here and there preaching weird conspiracy theories.
Yeah, the politics stuff should go in political discussions. Although all things have some political relations.
I am both a leader and a follower, to answer an earlier question.
I vote with where I put my energy, and that’s into people, community and the Web.
That’s pretty much how I have to do it or I wouldn’t get my own life’s work done now, would I. And leading a political movement is NOT my life’s work.
Boxing of a different kind
I don’t mean it like that Molly. I don’t mean as a leader of a political movement. I mean leading by example which others may follow (similar to your July the 4th post). The current choice of the lessor of two evils is a dangerous choice when 1939 seems to be repeating itself.
For those who think I’m being a bit wacko may want to investigate Bohemian Grove.
very nice article thanks
thanks
Molly,
So what’s this “Everything You Know About CSS is Wrong” book from Sitepoint? Are you now amoung the OFAD teaching outdated stuff?
With respect, and Happy Halloween,
Dev
thanks you
very good article!
Thank you Molly and a happy new year!
thanx
very nice article
This is the latest and hottest ghd styler ever. If you need a ghd hair straighteners, this is a must buyghd hair straighteners,cheap ghd hair straighteners,pink ghd hair straightenersghd straightenersComme vous pouvez le voir, il s’agit d’une paire de chaussures shox classiquepink ghd hair straighteners . Si vous souhaitez poursuivre la mode, nike shox NZ sont votre meilleu…nike tnCette paire de Nike Shox Torch est chaud en maintenant la demande.nike chaussurestn chaussures