Interview with Olga Aleksashenko

The interview cycle "The sphere of creating sites from the inside." I interview interesting people who create websites directly. These are owners of design studios, managers, programmers, technologists, designers, designers, and just great people. Without pathos about theory and practice. Sore questions, philosophical and practical. Invaluable experience, opinions and views on the web development of people like us.

The goal of the project: to help readers better know their colleagues, to acquaint people from the mouth who devote themselves to their favorite work every day from the inside.

The first interview of the series with Olga Aleksashenko, Getalime web-technologist. Olga answers questions about the layout, technology. Shares your work experience and opinion on professionalism.

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Olga Aleksashenko , Getalime web technologist.

I have been doing web development for about three years, I started with programming, gradually moved to layout, and for two years I have been doing only the front-end: I control some usability, I give some advice on interface, but for the most part I do it.

In the near future, there are no plans to change the direction of activity - the layout is completely satisfactory in terms of interest and in terms of salary. In addition, to some extent this became an ideology: I am a member of the Russian wing of the Web Standards Group.

Interview

If you compare the specialties in the field of website development, then the layout maker seems to be aloof, because in this area changes occur much less frequently than, for example, in programming, where languages ​​are constantly improved. Is it so?

I would not say that there is no change in the layout area. New languages ​​come out, of course, less often, but more often new versions of browsers come out, only last year we received Safari under Windows, Firefox 3, Opera 9.5 and Internet Explorer 7, and now 8. But the output of each new browser (especially concerns the MSIE family) - this is a new problem in the layout. And technology does not stand still: CSS3 support is being improved, microformats are being developed ... In general, it may be from the side of layout and looks like a swamp, but in reality this is not so.

Can a person who has studied once CSS, HTML and other related technologies, then for several years does not learn anything new and, nevertheless, does not lower the quality bar?

As I noted above, technologies are evolving, browsers are being updated, everything is changing and all this needs to be monitored. A good layout designer must be aware of the latest news from the field of front-end development, otherwise in a fairly short time he will cease to produce a high-quality and modern product.

What technologies need to be studied to achieve a high level and quality of work?

HTML and CSS in all their versions and manifestations. If we talk not only about technologies, but also about concepts - the so -called semantic layout and microformats. It is imperative to know the standards - it’s a separate conversation about standards compliance, but it’s just necessary to know them, how to read the instructions for a complex machine before you stand up for it.

Is it important to know not just the basics of client programming, in particular, JavaScript, but to learn such a language at a deeper level?

I believe that everyone should do their own thing. Layout is one thing, programming is another. I have not seen a single developer who would do this and that well. A Javascript designer should know about the same as a designer - layout: just to prepare everything technologically correctly for the subsequent work of the script.

How much do you want to spend time to reach the level of a master in this profession?

It seems to me that it’s not so much a matter of time as of a real desire to learn something . You can do the layout for five years and issue a very poor-quality product. You can make up the year and be in the top 10 Russian web designers. It all depends on the passion for business, willingness to spend time searching for the perfect solution, instead of trying to calm down, willingness to spend time reading articles that colleagues write to attend any conferences, and so on.

Do you consider it necessary to add a web layout / technologist course to the education system specifically for the web, or is it enough to have an independent education or training under the guidance of a professional, for example, at the place of work?

I would love to add a similar course as an elective on some technical specialties, or even just as courses. By and large, now the person who has decided to do the layout, nowhere to learn. And as a result of a hundred self-taught, we get two or three imputed layout makers. Well, and if the training was practiced right on the job site, then it would be generally wonderful. But this is not very profitable, and the specialist and the newly hired person are detached from the working process. Although it would be good.

Usually in job advertisements, employers specify the quality maker's qualities such as pedantry, accuracy and the like. Are these really obligatory qualities for doing work, or a coder can be a “stranger man” and not at all a bore?

I believe that a good designer should be a perfectionist, and, therefore, produce the most accurate code. Inaccurate coder is the difficulty in further work with the code, therefore, it is not a very good specialist.

Especially in freelancing there is a problem when there is a lack of communication between the layout designer and all others who participate in the creation of the site. As a result, the work of the coder can sometimes turn into a prediction of ideas and desires. How important was this for you, and how much did you manage to solve this problem while working for the company?

I try not to allow moments where it will be necessary to think out something myself. Something is missing - the layout is returned to the designer. Otherwise, then you will not end up with the same designer, who does not like it, as I thought of something for him.

Website layout is a creative profession?

For whom both, again. Someone just "fiqacit", not really thinking about how to make your code perfect, but for someone coding is creativity, the search for the perfect solution, in some ways even poetry. Therefore, some designers are very offended when they begin to use them as an automatic machine for quickly issuing html. Programmers are usually allowed to spend time searching for the best solution, to create the most optimal code, and they need from the layout designer at least how much, but quickly. Sick theme, in general :)

Now with the help of CSS and layout on layers, you can create not just pages, but full-fledged templates that will have a design. Do you think it is possible to go in this direction in the design of sites, to abandon the creation of layouts in graphics programs and create design logically and immediately on HTML prototypes ?

I think that design is still some work of art, and should be created by an artist-designer, not a technologist. Although, if the task is simply to color the blocks on the page, then why not, you can directly in html / css.

Do you use CSS frameworks , code stubs in your work and do you think that in principle you can automate work by 99%?

I use only Meyer's reset.css in my work, which was thoroughly revised by my colleagues and me, and the page blank: doctype, head, body. Everything else is done from scratch every time. These templates are already just in my head :) As for the css-frameworks , I have not yet seen any good, unfortunately.

Are fundamentally new technologies needed now in the layout area, up to a new markup language that is significantly different from HTML, more than differences in XHTML?

Directly with markup languages ​​- html , xhtml, xml everything seems to be okay, but we are all waiting for support for all CSS3 browsers - we will not wait.

As it is known, there is a problem of cross-browser compatibility and compatibility with other display devices when creating websites. Do you have a principled position to impose only under the most modern versions, without providing support for old browsers and devices, or is closer to you the idea that you need to support as many devices as possible in the layout?

I have a principled position - old browsers go by. I do not support them because, firstly , the percentage of their use is minimal — often less than 1%, and secondly , because the sites I build up are aimed at a specific audience segment, and these are not IE 5.0 users. As for mobile devices, a good xhtml-code will be displayed on them, at least, completely readable, and at most, also beautifully - depends on the level of css support for this particular device. In any case, I always make sure that my code does not lose functionality without styles, without pictures, and it would be good, without javascript, but you can agree with programmers, often they are too lazy to do backward compatibility :)

There are a number of companies that specialize only in layout. Of course, it is more popular abroad. In your opinion, can this specialization be relevant in Russia and generally in the world in the future?

Specialization on one particular subject is always better than a versatile amateurish person. But in Russia, it seems to me, this will not be popular thanks to a specific mentality. Here, from “quickly, cheaply and efficiently” in 99% of cases choose the first two points. Therefore, cheap amateurish will always be in demand than professionalism in a narrow field.