Derr Derr Derrrrrrrrr: The Professionals!

In wandering the web, I visit all manner of fora, other blogs and general web sites. More often than not these are business related and - funnily enough - I am interested to see what pearls of wisdom these pages have concerning the internet itself.

Increasingly, I am seeing sites that tell people how easy to produce a web site using WYSIWYG editors and off-the-shelf content management systems. Simply stick your content in. And Robert is, basically, your uncle.

All very true. And all very well and good. If you want a site that looks like what it is: one that has been produced by a managing director or an owner-manager. Not one that looks like it has been produced by a professional designer and a professional coder.

I know that running an SME is fraught with financial decisions, but I am still amazed that business people cut corners when it comes to the presentation of their business. Your web site is like your handshake, your shop window and your calling card.

Why then do people have a DIY approach to this when they would never consider the same with legal or accountancy matters. I think I know the answer. Web designers are not professionals in the same way that lawyers and accountants are. They have trained and have letters after their names. Most web designers don’t.

And here’s my real moan. That one-man-bands and printers who fancy diversifying into sites can just say they’re web designers. While those of us who have served their apprenticeship, know the media very well, understand the complexities of cross-browser compatibility, W3C compliance and Search Engine Optimisation have to accept that we are on the same playing field.

For that reason my industry is not taken as seriously. For that reason people say: ‘Oh, well, I can get it cheaper from that bloke down the pub. Or my brother-in-law. Or his nephew. Or the printers. And yes, they can. But before they do, they would do well to consider whether this is the professional approach.

We are members of the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) and the UK Web Design Association (UKWDA), but anyone can join these.

A few years ago I tried to set up a new Trade Association called UKODA (guess where UKWDA got the idea?) that would basically act as the letters after our name. It would have said to potential clients that a member has achieved a certain level of competency and been in the industry for a certain number of years; it would have given the one-man-bands and the printers something to aim for.

Alas, despite interest and involvement from some of the top players in the industry it never took off.

However, Right Dynamic has always held true to the core values that UKODA would have enshrined. We don’t have the letters after our name, but not for want of anything other than the mechanism to put them there…