I work hard every day to become better at what I do. I sit in my office reading blogs, books, tutorials, and anything else I can get my hands on and work on experiments and projects to hone my programming and design skills. I do this to avoid facing the trunk monkey in my car that attacks me when I go out… or possibly I do this so that I can produce really great websites. However, it is apparent to me that no matter how much I learn it will not be enough if what I build is not useful to people. So the real question is not just how do we build things well, but how do we build useful things?
Good Code, Good Design, a Good Start
It is necessary before we get into this to be clear about one point — good programming and design skills are just the foundation of a useful website. It is assumed that programmers can produce modular, reusable, object oriented code. Valid HTML and CSS are not something to brag about, they are a minimum for not being wrong. Layouts that make sense, appropriate color palettes, and proper application of Gestalt Principles are simply a beginning.
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