by J. Christopher Baggett

Created on: June 07, 2008

I've been doing several articles on web design now, and I've pretty adequately covered the highs and lows of basic building and marketing, but there are some things that can really get under your skin if you're not careful. With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the more aggravating, teeth grinding, hair pulling, annoying aspects of being a web designer.

First off, web design is a constantly changing environment. When I started back in 1996, HTML was all there was. You did simple, basic web layouts using traditional HTML, or you didn't do one at all. Now, 11 years later, and there are more code varieties than you can count on both hands. CSS, PHP, XML, Flash, Java, the list goes on and on. And in order to keep up with the growing trends and what people want (which is typically a flashy looking site over a simple, traditional one), you're going to need to know most, if not all, of these languages. And take it from someone who's currently trying to wrap his head around PHP and shake his nasty 10 year habit of HTML with CSS, its not easy.

Then there are the nuances of your design. Sure, you'll run into issues with the client (more images here, less text there, etc, etc), but what about the issues you'll run into yourself? More often than not, the layout you see in your head won't translate perfectly to the layout you create on your computer. I have a long running streak of never being satisfied with a web site until at least the third revision, and by that time its completely different than the original concept. Is this a bad thing? Not at all. But its definitely annoying, especially when you're operating within a very small window of time.

And then there's trying to fix your code. Now, if you use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) visual editors such as Dreamwaver or Front Page, you likely won't have this issue, but mistyping your code can be one of the most trying experiences you've ever faced as a web designer. Just wait until the first time you try to preview your web page and find out it won't load. More often than not, its an issue of you hitting a comma instead of a semi-colon. And there are a lot of places to potentially do this.

Web design is a wonderful profession, but its also tends to be a horrifically annoying one. You'll spend numerous hours and late, late, late nights grinding your teeth and trying not to throw the computer into the nearest wall, but it pays off in the end. Some of the greatest web site designs took weeks to build, and you have to allow yourself the time to do so. Just stick with it, and you'll be putting out beautiful web sites in no time.

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