how specialization limited the web

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September, 2001.
By Molly E. Holzschlag. (Link to original article.)

When the Web was new, skill integration was the only way you could survive as a designer. The trend toward specialization has been a tough transition for those of us who successfully handled many skills in the early days. Many of us have scrambled to decide on a specialty, only to find that it isn't necessarily a good fit.

If you're one of those people who truly loves the Web and all of its component parts, do you have to choose one area of focus? Maybe not. Sure, there's a lot more to building a Web page than one person can handle. But lately—perhaps because of the market downturn—there's a trend toward skill integration again.

Reminiscing

The Web recently turned ten years old. That's made me think a lot about where we, as Web designers and developers, have been and where we're going. In the midst of my musings, I looked at some old writing I'd done about Web design. I revisited my very first book, Professional Web Design: Theory and Technique on the Cutting Edge. Destined for rapid obscurity by the time it was published, the book contains at least one really cool historical point: In it, I proposed that Web design would soon shift from a one-man-band scenario to an orchestral model.

It cracks me up silly to think that the one-man-band designer model was not only possible, but actually prevalent back then. Even that early on, it was becoming clear that the Web was going to demand an awful lot of its designers and developers—asking that we learn new technologies, as well as new ways of thinking and working. Balancing a range of skills became increasingly important to a Web designer's success.

It was evident that skill integration would become crucial as early as 1993, when the Mosaic browser provided a visual glimpse at the Web's wiry undergrowth. But even then, it took a few years for Web development to take a more structured professional shape. Mostly, we were experimenting—attempting to combine HTML, graphics, and eventually scripts to make sites do cool things. By 1995, the need for a professional approach to creating Web sites became evident.

Web professionals in 1995 came from a wide range of backgrounds: programmers, artists, media specialists in TV, radio, and advertising, business people, writers, and many enthusiasts. We came to the field with a lot of energy and brought experience from these other realms. Web design excited us because it was a new frontier that was challenging, full of attitude, and just plain fun.

The simple act of combining HTML with a graphic is in many ways the first time a Web designer integrates techniques. Writing HTML successfully—even in its early days—required some studying if you wanted to move beyond the hobbyist level into a more professional sphere. Creating a graphic that looked good and was well optimized for the much slower mid-'90s Web also meant brushing up on a few skills. There were comparatively few books and resources. In fact, 1995 was a hallmark year for the appearance of just those things—it was the year in which WebReview.com was born and Web Techniques was being incubated.

Integration part one

Those of us in the field at that time worked hard to learn what we could of HTML. We tried different ways to create graphics. And, as I've pointed out in past columns, the simplistic nature of HTML and graphics at that time pushed certain people to create really innovative designs that relied on simplicity. It's a well-worn point that limitations often spur innovation, and the early days of the Web proved it.

Soon thereafter, scripting and style came onto the client-side scene. Designers were suddenly writing scripts, and programmers started thinking about presentation. This integration was a difficult process. For the most part, the elements on the resulting sites weren't truly integrated, and they often lacked something. Maybe a site worked great, but it looked bad. Or maybe it looked great, but crashed browsers. Either way, skill integration demands were upon us. We worked hard to get our chops up in as many areas as we could to give our sites a professional look and solid performance.

Meanwhile, the visual Web was becoming integrated with server-side technologies. This meant increasingly dynamic sites, and monumental changes for site builders. ASP, ColdFusion, and other emerging applications became intertwined with databases—all with the specific goal of delivering cool stuff to the page intelligently. Add to that network administration and security concerns; it's no wonder that specialized technologies began to take over. After several years of working to integrate our skills, professional Web designers and developers began to realize that specialization might be a better career move.

Fragmentation

Skill integration worked well until the skills necessary to build a professional Web page multiplied beyond the juggling point. Over the past few years, many maturing Web developers set aside integrated techniques and looked more closely at various specialties. You could focus on the client-side, becoming a great HTML author, content specialist, JavaScript and DHTML guru, or innovative designer. On the server-side, countless languages and development opportunities arose. You could focus on application languages like Java, database technologies for the Web, or a range of other applications. Some of us moved away from the skill integration that had defined our jobs to that point, and sought new career identities through specialization. However, many of us are still struggling with this process.

It's especially hard for those of us who successfully integrated our skills in the early days to pinpoint what we want to specialize in. Just because you like visual design doesn't mean that programming isn't a passion, too. As a result, employers often push us toward the specialty that best satisfies a corporate need. Of course, employers' needs don't necessarily reflect our own passions. On a personal level, many designers feel that specialization has dimmed some of the joy and sense of accomplishment they once felt.

Specialization

On a larger scale, has fragmentation assisted or encumbered us? Is such deep specialization good for the industry and the people who propel the Web? I argue that it's not. Let's use the medical field as an example: If you're going for medical care, at least in the U.S., you're likely to first consult a primary care physician. After that, you're shuttled off to the specialist. He or she then hones in on the specific problem.

The fatal flaw with this method is that the specialist doesn't know you, or doesn't have the full experience of your strengths and weaknesses. In effect, the specialist can provide a solution to a particular problem, but that solution may not be a perfect fit for your overall situation. In medicine, a lot of unfortunate mistakes occur precisely because a specialist is looking at the problem and not the person.

Web design and development face the same risks. It's become increasingly clear that no one person can do all of this stuff. However, if we forget to look at the project as a whole, the health of Web design and development will suffer.

Integration part two

Here enters the project manager, who oversees specialty integration. While I'm seeing more literature about Web project management, the field is still emerging. A project manager needs considerable breadth of industry knowledge, some depth of knowledge, and most certainly communication skills that will link the now fragmented Web development departments.

To put it simply, we still need integration. But now, instead of integrating our own skills, we're integrating those of a combined team. Web design and development specialists flounder without someone to successfully orchestrate a given project.

Unfortunately, integration is becoming harder, primarily because of the explosive interest in Wireless and alternative device design. These devices add an entirely new layer of rich, but complex technology, and their design needs are often distinctly different than what we've learned to do for the Web. Consider this technical specifications listing for a senior Web designer:

Requirements:

Integrated skills indeed! And how about this more developer-oriented listing?

Requirements:

Pluses:

Sobering, isn't it? Only a few years after specialization took over, we seem to be at another crossroads. In the aftershocks of our industry shakeup, how will the demands of integration and specialization influence our projects and the way we work over time? It really boils down to three choices: We can work on a self-selected series of technologies and integrate them into our skill sets, decide to specialize on one specific topic, or let our employers' needs guide us.

Striking a balance

I think the complexity of these job listings clearly demonstrates the quandary we're in. While we've come a long way, it's most definitely time to take a careful look at what we're doing with our careers. Okay, so you don't have to wax as philosophical as I do. Still, you can decide exactly what kind of developer or designer to be.

Looking at our past sheds some light not only on how we can work more effectively today—but also on how we might prepare for tomorrow's unknowns. We're at a defining moment in our industry, one that has been ushered in with some unfortunate doom and gloom. In recent months, many of us, or our colleagues have lost or changed jobs, and the entire industry has been experiencing a profound shift.

As Web Techniques readers know, this shift—while unpleasant—is also a necessity. Look at it as a correction if you will, similar to what the stock market does every so often. And while countless people have lost jobs, there's little doubt in my mind that those people who are serious about long-term careers with Web and related technologies will land on their feet.

Despite the fragmentation of our industry, the Web designers and developers who will be most empowered, most able to find good jobs and contracts, and most able to adapt to our industry's rapid change are the ones with integrated, diverse skills. Even if you're specializing, you still need the integration!

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