Question
Hi I am a student at Lake Land College in IL. and currently am taking a class on Web Page Design. One of my assignments is to a professional web page designer “Is it necessary for a professional web designer (someone who designs websites for others for profit) to know HTML coding?” I would really be thankful If you could Help me by emailing me back as soon as possible.
Jill
Answer
Jill,
It depends how you are working and what kind of sites you are building.
Basically to complete a full website you have to generate page mark up (e.g. HTML or XHTML) code. There are three options for code generation:
1. Use a WYSIWYG web page designer such as FrontPage, DreamWeaver, NetObject Fusion or Adobe GoLive.
2. Learn to hand code HTML.
3. Have someone else do the code.
Most freelance graphic designers use the first technique. However, WYSIWYG web page designers produce bloated non-standards based code which can cause multiple issues with a site. This might be OK for amateur and small-business sites, but it has no place in mid-sized and larger corporate communications.
Hand coding an entire site in HTML to match W3C standards - including JavaScript, CSS, DHTML - requires a significant learning curve. In addition, most high-end sites have some level of server scripting, such as PHP, ASP, Java or ColdFusion, that add a considerable amount of complexity. (You will see high-end sites adding more and more features that require server-side scripting in the future.)
For our internal staff, which is typical of mid-sized and large web development firms, we divide our web developers into three primary skill sets:
1. Graphic Designers
2. Page Coders
3. Programmers
(Actually, there are more skill sets, such as Flash, audio, video and print, but the above are core skill sets for all websites.)
While each developer has a core skill set, they all have some level of expertise in secondary skill sets.
Our Page Coders are HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and DHTML experts. Several also have solid graphic design and programming skills. Our programmers can do server side programming and HTML page coding. (Being highly technical, creative design tends not to be one of a programmer’s strengths.)
Our graphic designers focus primarily on creative and branding. All know HTML and use it to insert content into web pages. However, the bulk of the HTML code generated is done by the page coders who have in depth training in page mark up standards and best practices.
It is good for a web graphics designer to know HTML code. It gives them more flexibility and an appreciation for how to build websites around HTML structures. However, we do not view in-depth knowledge as a requirement.
As a last note, all mediums used to output your graphics will require some technical knowledge. For example, print requires understanding what replicates well on different types of printing presses (e.g. 4 color process, web presses, digital), paper specs, CMYK and spot colors, aqueous and varnishes, die cutting, binding and more.
Not knowing the technical aspects of your graphic output, regardless of media, will limit your ability to freelance or be hired by a firm.
