In the IT industry, this question is often raised that how beneficial it is if designers come with a slight knowledge of coding. A good number of designers protest the discipline swap while its advocates are open to try their hands in different streams. Needless to mention that designing and coding are the two ends of a truck and started getting into the ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ of coding. A big group of people favors the discovery of excellence in a specific field; however, another group puts forth the list of benefits of being cognizant in two streams.
Let’s take an example of a designer who has gone to an extent to establish Linux servers and program back-end; there is no doubt that the understanding of basics will fetch multiple benefits to him. Now, the question arises to which length web designers should go to learn coding? How much time designers would have to invest in learning coding?
Let’s go through the following insight addressing the need of gaining potential benefits of learning coding and usefulness.
Try Basic HTML and CSS
HTML and CSS come in basic coding and designers get really benefited by learning these two and you will find learning them extremely easy and convenient. So, to have a better viewpoint over development as well as designing learning some degree of coding is beneficial.
Is Front-end just coding, not programming?
Front end is coding and it is programming only after a certain extent. HTML and CSS are not considered a part of coding. You must have observed that in HTML the word M stands for Markup, which means that it is nothing more than a coded structure of the page/screen components. You find it like a riddle, but it does not need a huge amount of mathematical viewpoint to get a solution for this.
In simple words, HTML comes with an architectural map that conveys the browser a message what to show. The HTML map will impact how search engine crawlers will read the website. Therefore, the point of worry here is to ensure the code is perfectly structured and that those systems can interpret and rank it better.
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is the code that lets the browser know how to show things. Let’s understand it this way, if HTML is the structure of a house, CSS would be the color, size, space etc. The language comes with a very easy code anatomy that features colors, typography, dimensions and positions. The only issue with HTML is to keep it quite consolidated for maintenance and as well as optimized for good performance.
Learn It Moderately
If you have made your mind to embrace coding, remember one thing you find it overwhelming initially. You must understand that even the fastest learner cannot build his portfolio site in HTML as soon as he or she takes this job on. A learner must give sometime and put dedicated efforts before he starts getting the hold of it, especially the common page elements and CSS properties. In a period of a week or so your will be feeling confident and comfortable in interpreting HTML.
Keep in mind that your aim should be to create websites in a proper way and follow semantic rules. If the latest specs on HTML web templates which can be downloaded at no cost and play around in the source code. This is the finest way to kick off learning once you get the some idea of its basic of how to write in HTML. Jumping into others’ code will show you examples of how professionals in the industry are creating their layouts.
Back-end JavaScript Might Be Overkill
Possibly, we are taking it very upfront. Having the knowledge of basics of back-end JavaScript can be useful depending on the stack your team uses (such as MEAN stack, for instance). If your aim is only to know how to run a project, you are not required to go too far. Nevertheless, if your dream is to lead product teams, this may help you. But if you want to get fame as a designer, not a developer, your chances to get success at the moment are highly low. This is why it would be great if you polish your creative side.
Get the Neck of Coding for Better Collaboration with Developers
Any relationship can be better if you get the power to read the minds of others. Same goes for the association between a designer and a web developer. Trying to know what developers think and what they require to be able to do, their job may be like treading on developers’ land, but to a multi-disciplinary team it will make you a great asset. For both internal communication as well as in idea pitches, this can be very essential communications because what to expect from the other members of the team, you know it well. Afterwards, you will be able to propose much more powerful solutions to clients.
