Ask me anything about web development/design

[danfromwaterloo]

Alright folks, let's try this again.

We've already tried a thread like this before, and it was hopelessly trolled out, so I'm starting a fresh one with new ground rules:

1) Please (!!!) if you are a fanboy of any one and only one technology, do not post. The title of the post is "Ask me anything" not "Tell me what you think".

2) I'll do my best to answer your question, but there's so much to know, I don't know everything.

3) I don't do homework questions. If you ask, I may not answer, or worse, I may tell you the wrong answer on purpose. Go ahead - take a chance.

If you want to refer to how a thread like this can go horribly awry, check this out: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=693359&page=6

Anyway, fire away - hopefully I can help some people with some questions.

[george benjamin]

Why do a lot of developers not have any sense of usability?

How come someone like me with no web development / design experience at all knows more about usability than 75% of the developers out there.

Why do you need to know how to code if you want to be a UI expert?

Thanks.

[Ziggy007]

Why do a lot of developers not have any sense of usability?

How come someone like me with no web development / design experience at all knows more about usability than 75% of the developers out there.

Why do you need to know how to code if you want to be a UI expert?

Thanks.

My personal input with regards to usability is that as coding becomes more modular each section becomes it's own technical specialty.

Using the MVC methodology (model / view / controller) on an application means you would likely have one database specialist, one graphic designer, and one programmer.

Often web programmers are left to be all three specialists in one. Jack of all trades, master of none I suppose.

Just my $0.02

[Mario38]

What is the best web development software package for an amateur? I currently use Adobe GoLive. The version I use is no longer supported. It has been replaced by Adobe CS3.

I am looking to replace what I currently use.

[danfromwaterloo]

Why do a lot of developers not have any sense of usability?

How come someone like me with no web development / design experience at all knows more about usability than 75% of the developers out there.

Why do you need to know how to code if you want to be a UI expert?

Thanks.

Alright - so I'll try to handle the first question without starting a war...

The developer's personality basically dictates the type of program that will be created - a lot of developers will take shortcuts to save themselves time at the expense of the user's usability.

Really, you can see this across many professions - engineering, trades, anything involving building stuff - shortcuts get taken at the expense of a number of things.

Why do you need to know how to code to be a UI expert? Because you need to know what is possible before you can dictate what is necessary. Really you don't need to be a coder into order to be a UI guy - just enough that you know what you're talking about on a high-level.

[danfromwaterloo]

What is the best web development software package for an amateur? I currently use Adobe GoLive. The version I use is no longer supported. It has been replaced by Adobe CS3.

I am looking to replace what I currently use.

This one is a very hard question to answer as I don't really know what you're developing.

For just generic HTML, I'll confess I haven't the slightest idea anymore as I code all HTML by hand or via Visual Studio. Dreamweaver used to be the best suite IMHO, but I haven't used it in many moons.