For 2012, I'm participating in an interesting (and fun) little writing/sharing project: The Pastry Box Project.
Run by Alex Duloz, The Pastry Box gathers 30 people who are influential in their field and asks them to share a thought every month about their work. This clever idea results in one thought every day in 2012 from designers, developers and thinkers in the web industry.
There are no rules. No specific topics are assigned. Each "baker" just writes whatever he or she cares to for the month.
Which Brings Me to Me
For my first contribution to the Pastry Box, I wrote about something that has weighed on my mind since I began my freelancing journey: shitty markup, shitty CSS and (dare I say) shitty developers.
I love standards. I love best practices. I love what they can do not only for a site (and, by extension, a client/employer), but how they can streamline development (especially in teams). And I've been overwhelmingly fortunate to have spent my pre-freelance career working with (mostly) like-minded folks, on projects where standards were simply a given.
Now that I'm freelancing, though, I'm working with all sorts of clients. Some have in-house developers and designers. Some have outsourced work to agencies and other contractors. And what I see, over and over and over again, is shitty work … shitty work that I believe hurts our industry.
In my experiences, particularly last year, this crap work comes down to one thing: lack of knowledge and/or application of standards and best practices.
So for my January pastry, I talk about this problem and the trickle effect is has. And then I plead for (a return to? a re-focus on?) fundamentals, which are often forgotten or neglected as we experiment with the latest trends and techniques.
♥ Share the Love