21 User comments are your best defense

Let’s face it: Clients and colleagues will often not view you as the expert you were hired you to be. The solution? Do user testing and bring this feedback to the team. Often users will say the very same things you were thinking. It’s much more effective to say: “Five members of our test group said they would never watch a 30-second Flash intro” than for you to announce that this as categorically a bad idea. And guess what? Sometimes you learn something too.

posted at 07:37 pm on May 11, 2007 by Jill Grossman

22 · · · — — — · · ·

Glad to see some people are going through the same headaches; but I am still afraid to ask, how do you avoid looking like a fool, since nobody else but you seem to understand what reality is?

· · · — — — · · ·
Cheers

posted at 12:53 am on May 13, 2007 by Antoine Bonnin

23

I do believe in educating my clients, generally because I want to earn their trust. It has been my experience that the more “magic and mystery” I can remove from the design process and the more I can demonstrate rationale behind what I’m doing, whatever it may be, the more my client tends to let me do what I’m going to do.

On the flip side of that, however, is reminding myself that it isn’t merely my website. Building a website is a collaborative process between me and my client. If my client could create the website himself, he would. But since he can’t, he’s relying on my skills, my background, my knowledge etc. to breathe life into his vision. While I don’t play a silent role in this process—it is certainly co-creative—I don’t generally allow myself to play the prima dona card, either. I will guide him and make suggestions and offer my expertise, but ultimately he gets to decide.

I have two children, and I find that my role as web designer is often very similar to that of parent. I educate my kids and give them advice, guiding them and influencing them, but for the most part they have to make their own decisions. It’s their lives. It’s the same with the website. I love it when my client gives me the go-ahead to do whatever I want, but when they don’t, remembering that is is a co-creative process is very beneficial to my own sanity.

So educate then, yes. Offer your opinion. Hell, be aggressive if you’re very passionate about the situation. But also know it isn’t merely your baby. It’s important to learn when and how to let go.

posted at 12:53 am on May 13, 2007 by amber simmons

24 Educate and loose business??

Since the client has the ultimate decision authority, (s)he might be upset if you try to explain whats right and whats wrong. I get many queries everyday where clients are asking for a clone of ALIBABA.COM or EBAY.COM and yes they have the money (well, I know that the budget that they have is not enough to stand anywhere close to these biggies – say about 10-15K dollars).

But the issue is that, if I try and educate them, they contact someone else who sells them an off the shelf software with their logo placed on top for 10K and makes the website to go live. They spend the balance money on advertising and the website goes off-line in an year or two at the most.

So, eventually.. I have lost 10K business and my competition has that as easy money in his pocket. So who stands to loose if I educate the client?

posted at 01:01 pm on May 15, 2007 by Naveen Bhalla

25 XHTML as the preferred markup - really?

I’m not so sure about xhtml being the markup of choice. Seeing as how it can’t be served correctly (to IE) I don’t see why it is the best choice. A better choice would be HTML Strict.

Otherwise, I totally agree in the education of one’s clients, where possible. I try and evangelise to them myself. Sometimes though, it’s just not possible and you have to go with what they want, even against your better judgement.

posted at 04:02 pm on May 15, 2007 by Jason Crosse

26 XHTML and 2.0

HTML is the preferred markup language, not XHTML. You have to break standards to serve it to anyone other than the most modern of browsers. 4.01 strict should be the preferred markup choice.

I don’t think educating clients about “emerging technologies” will help in any way, at least not in the manner you seem to present in the article. There needs to be education on the negative side of “2.0”. About how it can break accessibility and how usability goes out the window on anything but the most modern of browsers. I think these are decisions best left to the designer. Have the client describe what they want and then the designer takes care of figuring out how to deliver it. The designer should have a far better grasp of the pros and cons to “2.0” than the client and be able to make those judgement calls.

I think choices made “in ignorance of new trends” could actually be a very good thing. Very basic pages (no javascript, basic css, well structured markup) are going to have a high compatibility rate not just on desktop systems but handhelds as well.

“Finally, if your employer operates in the government sector, you should not forget about accessibility…” this was disappointing to read. Accessibility is treated as an afterthought, something only very specific clients should bother with. Accessibility should be key on every client’s mind. If it isn’t it’s the job of the developer to educate them on why it is important.

I also didn’t see anything about usability in the article. You might think this is a topic that only the developer need be concerned with, but I think the client should as well. Certain design choices will be made to create better usability. These choices might go against a particular design choice the client was really hot for (like hiding all navigation behind a single dropdown list). If you’re going to educate clients you need to include all areas that affect design choices so that they understand or can at least follow arguments when questions about why a particular design choice was made.

posted at 04:03 pm on May 16, 2007 by Eric Tribou

27 Who loses?

So, eventually.. I have lost 10K business and my competition has that as easy money in his pocket. So who stands to loose if I educate the client?

Everyone stands to lose. You’re l*o*sing a contract. The client is l*o*sing the opportunity to get a good website and is instead being ripped off. The pixel monkey who did build the site is l*o*sing credibility in a world that is ever more focused on standards and compliance.

But what happens if you take the contract? The client will be no better off, and you will have lost credibility. You will be the one with a dodgy site in your portfolio, that makes potential clients think you’re just a rip-off merchant.

Yes, I understand financial realities. I understand that there will be times when people can’t afford to turn down a bad job because they need the money. That’s the way life goes. But if you do have principles, stick to them whenever you can and make the world a better place.

posted at 12:44 pm on May 17, 2007 by Stephen Down

28 Legal Eagles

Does anyone have a good link for a place to stay on top of the legal issues that pertain to U.S. web creators? The ideal would be some sort of advocacy group that tracks issues, translates them into layman’s terms, and discusses the ramifications for real-world builders who have enough of a task just staying on top of things like technological/tool changes.

posted at 05:41 pm on May 17, 2007 by jay mcdonald

29 Strategic Compromise

I really agree with what Amber had to say on the power of compromise in creating a sense of ownership for various stakeholders.

Mapping Dialogue is a great compilation of methods for creating dialogue in communities or between stakeholders. Great for more complex contexts, but parts and pieces are useful for smaller scale projects as well.

My favorite part of the document was the idea of strategic compromise; talking about compromise not in the context of a dilution of the soul in a project, but an active search for synergy in two seemingly opposing viewpoints.

posted at 01:58 am on May 22, 2007 by Andrew Simpson

30 Educate Your Stakeholders before the project even

Great points in the article and I totally agree with you about the need to “Educate Your Stakeholders”. In my experience that education has to start even before you win the bid and often times that can seem counter-intuitive. Not, that you go into all the nitty-gritty details you mentioned before you have a signed contract. But you certainly need to set the stage. In essence, you need to educate them in one simple truth, they are hiring you because you are a credible expert in your field. If you don’t the project can be headed for big trouble.

posted at 03:11 am on June 11, 2007 by Chris Geoghegan

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