Can anyone create a website?
Can anyone create a website?
No.
That is to say, no one person can create an effective website. Yes, an 8-year-old can create a website, and you, faithful reader, can create a website for only a few dollars. It is neither difficult nor expensive to create a crappy useless site.
We’ve identified eight different skill sets required to do a commercial beyond-brochureware site, and we can confidently assert that no human being on earth has all eight. Some of the skills are right-brained, some left. Some strategic, some tactical. A lot of art, a lot of science. (Personal confession: I’ve been involved with websites for 18 years, and I can professionally handle only three of the eight.)
Recently I followed an online discussion of graphic designers who were bemoaning employers who turned them away because they were primarily print designers with no web coding experience. Everyone agreed they needed to acquire more skills. Sure. But I chimed in that they shouldn’t bring their old mindset along with their new skills: a focus on Pretty or Novel or Slick ain’t gonna cut it.
For example, an effective website must satisfy three audiences: human beings who demand detailed content, human beings who resist detailed content, and bots from search engines. No other medium makes those conflicting demands on creators, and many sites fall off this tightrope.
Eight skill sets, working together to make a great UI which makes a great UX. It’s a team sport.
3 Comments
MK Dixon
July 30, 2012I’m sitting in an ER waiting (and waiting some more). I started reading you blog after seeing one of your emails come to my inbox. I’m curious, what are the eight skills you’ve identified for successfully creating a Web site? Maybe you have a handy link? Or maybe I’ve been here too long and missed it. I suspect my eyes have glazed over from the mind-numbing wait.
Bob
July 31, 2012Ouch. Sorry for your discomfort.
I probably should make a whole new blog post or three about the skill sets needed for a professional and effective website. I give talks on the subject and it takes up a portion of the time and always generates some good Q&A.
They are, in summary, a web copywriter (not just any ol’ writer, mind you, but one who gets the relationship and value of all three audiences), an art director, a strategist/statistician to act on the analytics, a front end developer, a back end developer, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and videographers/photographers/animators.
MK Dixon
August 8, 2012Thanks. As always, your site is full of useful info.