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Is It Time To Ditch Drag-And-Drop And Finally Learn To Code?

Core77's Sam Dunne turns his back on portfolio templates and dips a tentative toe into the world of web development

By Sam Dunne - July 17, 2015

Is it just me or is Squarespace everywhere you look these days?

As if the sheer proliferation of the distinctive image-rich and luxuriously white-spaced templates wasn't enough, it seems that barely a podcast was recorded in 2015 that wasn't brought to you by the site. Flying high on investor capital as the race for the killer website-building tool heats up (other service such as Wordpress and Wix competing hard) the brand has recently also been going after the mainstream with adverts on TV screens—even ascending to the realms of the superbrands with their own esoteric Superbowl commercials the last two years running.

When Squarespace came along and blew other competitors out the water with its seductive styling, product designers the world over rejoiced at finally being able to quickly and easily make homepages for their portfolios and projects that projected an aesthetic of professionalism in keeping with rest of their work, with little or no working knowledge of HTML or CSS.

As the tools' popularity proliferates however, is this illusion going to fade? Is what once seemed like refreshing, cutting-edge web design, now starting to seem common, clumsy and unconsidered? As more users pile in to the backend, is the dream of WYSIWYG website building feeling more and more like page-loading water-torture? Like so many internet phenomenons—could Squarespace become a victim of its own success?

Coding your own: Worth the investment?

The 'to code, or not to code' debate is one that we've returned to again and again on the blog and forum—differing opinion often being found between those who think designers should work more closely with programmers and those who think that designers should focus on building their specialised design skills.

Whilst a large portion of the debate centers around coding functional things like apps and arduinos—what about the humbler ambition of learning to code your own web presence? Most designers have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, is it worth investing in taking these skills to the next level?

Skeptical of the trumped up hype surrounding coding, I've tended to sit somewhere on the fence of the to-code-or-not debates—harbouring a quiet jealousy for those that can create with code on the web and beyond, but doing little about it. It was only when I opened an agency last year, and was faced with the prospect of building a credible website on bootstrap budget (baulking at resorting to overused templates for something that felt so significant) that I resolved to take the first steps to learning to code.

If there is one thing that's grown as quickly as website building tools over the past decade, its services offering to teach you code. Whilst there are a lot of great free or cheap online tutorial services out there, these services can take vast amounts of time and determination to make any progress and I knew that I would need something much more immersive and intensive if I was going to realistically crack code learning. I signed up for a front-end development course (i.e. HTML, CSS and Javascript) with real-world coding school Steer in London, booked out the week out of office and took the plunge.

Any cynicism I felt for coding dissolved away within minutes. Having left design school years ago, it was an enormous pleasure to return to an education environment and feel the thrill of learning something completely new. Thanks to some very enthusiastic teaching (cheers Sam!) and being lead through some very real-world tutorials, I was soon building serious things that I would've been proud to put online. In fact, part of me wondered whether school couldn't have been more like this in general; a small group of motivated people, learning a practical and applicable skill with teachers that really want to see you master it.

Clearly far too proud of my modest achievements at the end of Day 3

So was it worth it? After five days of enjoyable but intensive learning I'd caught the bug and felt equipped to build a credible new homepage from scratch and break free from templates that I'd felt were holding me back. Of course, now I want to tear it up and start over entirely—but that was always the fun of portfolio making wasn't it?

Whilst I still have no ambition to be a fully fledged web-developer, it's so inspiring and empowering to now know (having worked with both templates and developers) I can now bash together a respectable homepage for any future project at little cost and to my own design.

Very rough Cost, Time and Building Potential anlaysis: Time investment of learning may be high but it decreases with time as you get more confident. With so many resources readily available to teach you more, your skills can develop rapidly after you find some level of proficiency

For any designer out there sitting on the fence like I was, wondering whether the time might be write to dip a toe in web development, I can offer up five lessons I've learned from the experience that might help.

1. Front-end development isn't rocket science

If you've got some experience with computers (you probably wouldn't be here if you don't), can find a good teacher and are used to hacking a little bit into code behind a blog or portfolio like I was, you'll find that learning the foundations of HTML and CSS needed to begin building your own sites won't be too much of a stretch at all. In fact, it's something of a relief when someone finally explains what all that HTML you've seen around really means.

2. If you're a designer, you're half way there

On the coding course I took, I felt for people who didn't come from a design background as they struggled so much more with understanding layout and creating assets that they could use. If you're a whizz with graphics and used to working in Adobe you already have the building blocks—now you can fill in the gaps with code.

3. The learning potential is endless

As with anything, the more you learn, the more you know you don't know. At the end of a five day course I could see the enormous iceberg beyond the tip I'd stepped on to. Don't let that put you off though...

4. There's so many great resource out there

Heartwarmingly, there's an enormous community waiting with outstretched arms to welcome you to the coding fold and share a vast amount of knowledge with you. Once you've learnt the basics, you can then go out and search for resources you need to achieve what your trying to build. There's so much stuff out there it can be quite a challenge to filter out exactly what it is you need. Steer have helpfully gathered together some of the best ones.

5. It really does help you work with programmers

Even taking first steps into front end web programming has helped me understand more how programmers of all creeds work, how to communicate better with them and understand what I'm asking of them (sometimes moving something a nudge in one direction or the other isn't as simple as sounds!). You may never be a coder but the more confidence you have in the field the more you can achieve in your collaborations.

––––

What do you think?

Do you have ambitions to code your own portfolio/project sites or are templates on the likes of Squarespace and Wordpress more than enough for your needs? Can industrial/product designers raise their game by learning to make websites from scratch?

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Is It Time To Ditch Drag-And-Drop And Finally Learn To Code?

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m powers

5 years ago

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1Z

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I admire the guys and girls that learn the code, and looking back, I wish I had learned some code when I had the opportunities back in high school & early college. At this point, for me, it's a matter of priorities.

I'm a maker/builder/hardware guy. I love the smell of sawdust, hot machine oil and various, volatile chemical compounds. Part of the reason I moved on from graphic design to ID was so I wouldn't have to be behind a computer all day every day. Of course, that didn't work out quite like I thought it would (yet). But in my spare time, I have a couple options: A) Learn code, which, while I (now) understand the powerful potential of it's capabilities, is time taken away from what I'm really good at. B) Get even better at what I'm really good at and do what I really love and what I'm extremely passionate about.

I've got a website just like every other designer out there. It's a Wordpress template and I don't even pay for all the customization stuff & whatnot. Whatever, I don't have time. I'm making stuff. I've built my site with Dreamweaver before and created all my own assets and copy & pasted code and all that, but there's another thing. I could get better at code and do my own site, sure. But Six months from now I could have learned some code and built my site from scratch (not counting creating all the assets!) and it STILL wouldn't look any better or be any more functional than it is now! But now I know the code? Meanwhile, I could have got a couple projects finished.

It's just not what I want to devote my precious spare time to at this point in my life. If I'm ever in a position where I'm working for myself and doing well, instead of sitting in front of an iMac every waking hour (and a few asleep) I'd rather let the experts handle the web stuff and take my family to Tobago.

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- Sam Dunne
  
  m powers
  
  5 years ago
  
  Z
  
  2Z
  
  Reply
  
  Thanks M – Yeh I totally get that.
  Funnily I need to get in the workshop a hell of a lot more. Guess we're all missing something!
  
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D Louder

5 years ago

Z

1Z

Reply

I'm curious about three things:
1. What other skills could fit these arguments? What is the risk to designers of spreading themselves too thin, or being vaguely aware of a large swath of skills while not being particularly good at any?
2. What's so bad about website templates? As long as there's good work that's thoughtfully set up in them, why do they need to be different for the sake of being different?
3. How did you set up this post? Was there any sort of pre-established backend with a WYSIWYG editor? Or did you code the entire entry yourself? However you answer doesn't support nor upend your argument, but it does show what side of the argument larger sites like Core77 support.

All that said, it's always good for designers (of all stripes) to look at peripheral skills to refine and develop their perspectives.

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- Sam Dunne
  
  D Louder
  
  5 years ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
  Reply
  
  Hey Daniel – good questions
  1. I wonder whether there is something around the particular learning curve of the skills in question. I guess I found with a relatively short time investment in web dev I could get to a level where the practival skill was useful to me and my work, and the knowledge would be put me in good stead for working with any developers I might come across. If we were talking about some much more complex coding then it probably wouldn't have been worth the investment as it would take so much time that my other skills would no doubt be neglected and diluted. This trade off is probably when the collaboration/specialisation comes in.
  2. Hmm fair point – I appreciate the purist work-should-speak-for-itself argument. Personally, I find that the similarity of sites lowers the perceived value (which professional design agency or indeed any credible organisation uses a template?) and perhaps is also a little less inspiring and intriguing on account of being. I also find that template sites can occasionally be buggy, slow and unpleasant to use. I'm not sure if this is an empirical web fact (anyone?) but thats my experience. On top of that, as an aesthetically sensitive individual, I find template often don't give me the flexibility or accuracy that I'm after – and I was always frustrated knowing I could do better. In fact I think I've spent so long furiously fiddling with Squarespace sliders and drag and drops that I probably should've made the leap earlier!
  3. It is indeed a WYSIWYG editor, not dissimilar to this comments section. Its an interesting point. I guess there's times when conformity of templates make sense. I'm also fairly sure the site was designed coded from scratch(ish) in the first place for folks like me to input into. Don't think we could accuse Core77 of being a template! :D
  
  Thanks again Daniel!
  
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  - D Louder
    
    Sam Dunne
    
    5 years ago
    
    Z
    
    Z
    
    Thanks for replying. It is a good point that coding skill can be gained relatively quickly, and there are many tools for ramping up that skill gradually, which may not exist for other skills that fall under the same rubric for needing to learn.
    
    As for keeping things individualistic, I totally agree that avoiding looking too generic is a definite strength. Perhaps with the various code generators and tools out there, there's a happy middle ground for many designers.
    
    Great post, all around!
    
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Tina May

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Totally spot on! I put off learning to code for a long time because it seemed daunting and unnecessary, but eventually the benefits just clearly outweighed the costs and I finally bit the bullet.

It certainly paid off, enabling me to travel the world building websites as a barter deal, from a month all-inclusive in a 5 star resort in Peru, to a dive course in the Carribean, and a jungle lodge in Panama.

There aren't very many code courses that are well suited to creatives, which was part of the inspiration behind my new startup The Institute of Code. We think we've found the perfect formula for teaching creatives to code:
- course content that is results driven and tailored to the individual students
- small group sizes (8-12 students to 2-3 teachers)
- experienced mentors who are actively working in the industry
- an immersive environment away from the stress of everyday life (a luxury pool villa on a tropical island)
- nothing else to worry about (all inclusive package, private on-site chef, included yoga or surf lessons).

We know that to succeed in this industry we need to provide amazing value, so we include everything above (and more) for 30% less than the similar course by General Assembly.

Would love to know your thoughts!

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John T

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Sam - I love good design, but don't think I could ever roll my own website, because I'm not that good at design, especially with regard to graphic design.

However, I am a programmer, and just wanted to clarify that HTML & CSS are not programming languages. They are markup languages. So, if you need to communicate with programmers on a semi-regular basis, you should try out a programming course. If you're logically inclined, programming isn't rocket science, but it is a whole different thing than markup.

Hope that doesn't come off snarky, just wanted to clarify.
Cool to see people learning new things and am a big fan of Core77.

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Giorgio Santero

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Make love, not code.

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Dan Lewis

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I applaud life long learning -- I've done it my whole career. But, after learning to "code your on site" it still looks like a template. This isn't so much a criticism as it is the reality of the browser experience. I don't think coding is necessary anymore -- Adobe Muse is a fantastic web design environment and it really works -- no code, all visual, no restrictions, very similar to using InDesign or if you are old enough to remember, Aldus Pagemaker. The code is all in the background, if it not the most elegant or compact code, who cares. Internet connections and networks are fast enough to make up for some bloat. Would you want to code you company brochure or would you use a page layout program?

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- Sam Dunne
  
  Dan Lewis
  
  5 years ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
  Reply
  
  Very fair point Dan
  It's very true that my first foray into from scratch website making hasn't exactly broken from many of the design conventions that are widespread across template and non-template web. Of course, having got my head around the coding, now I want tear it up and start again!
  That said I still found that "coding my own" gave the flexibility and precision that I was looking for – from big things like structuring sections to the small things like spacing, interactions and even being able to include as many titles/subtitles as I saw fit.
  Admittedly I haven't tried Muse (put off by past Dreamweaver experiences perhaps) but that sounds like it might be a great option
  Thanks for your thoughts!
  
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Gaeten Nkamegue

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I've dabbled into learning html/css as well through classes and codeacademy and I've always seen it as a segway towards studying ui/ux design, as webdev and the latter fields are still strongly linked together.

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Lucas Carnevale

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

right on the money with this article. I myself have a start up studio and im getting around bringing a website online and i can say i rather let this job handled by a pro. I want my site and image to look great and im hindered by my web abilities, so i would prefer to get it right the first time instead of grueling a long time trying to make the site better. These tools we have now are fine and some can achieve very good results, however i think it is true that eventually squarespace will be victim of its own success since 90% of every new site nowadays uses one of its templates and its become the norm. Me? now i want to be my site to be different and set it apart from what squarespace has to offer...

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- Sam Dunne
  
  Lucas Carnevale
  
  5 years ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
  Reply
  
  Thanks Lucas
  Yes if you've got the cash, getting the professionals in is probably a good idea!
  
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Stephen Van der Heijden

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Hi Sam

Great Article

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- Sam Dunne
  
  Stephen Van der Heijden
  
  5 years ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
  Reply
  
  Cheers dude!
  
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J S

5 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Hey Sam, great piece.

I use Squarespace to host my personal portfolio and have done for just over a year now, but I'm getting really tired of it as a platform. It's hideously restrictive and if you want to inject any code or embedded features it's phenomenally difficult to do without turning on Developer Mode and changing the template's code (which for someone like me who doesn't know code defeats the object of a WYSIWYG editor!)

Like you say, the excess of websites online that are obviously built with Squarespace (they all have full width images, white space and are probably using Proxima Nova as a font!) has made it really hard to create a standout site with Squarespace.

So I agree with you. Partly. I don't think the next step is for everyone to take time off work and do crash courses in coding, as there are some truly great WYSIWYG editors now available that teach people the basic structure of how websites are made up, without forcing them up the steep coding learning curve. Editors like Macaw Scarlet and Webflow allow us to add enticing interactions, smooth animation and reactive elements that make a site really come alive. You actually get a blank canvas to start with and drag-and-drop divs, containers etc where you want them, styling them as you go. Granted, these editors don't hold the limitless opportunities that can be unlocked by writing code yourself, but I love 'em.

I am dead set on eventually building my own personal portfolio and ditching my Squarespace one. It just might not be built from the ground up with code!

Ta,
J

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Sam Dunne

Sam Dunne is a designer, strategist and writer based in London. Sam is founder of design strategy agency Cohere and Contributing Editor at Core77—reporting broadly on design, technology, food and object culture.