I’ve had it with this online magazine, which shall remain nameless. Brand new to my position since I got hired, was doing the web code for a certain publication’s online counterpart. I suggested we use wordpress, but no, they want to use Dreamweaver. I code the site templates with spiffy php headers and footer, css, everything that is good and holy (no tables, no frames, no bullshit), even download the php templates onto the “online art director’s” thumb drive. Yet somehow they end up with full html files all with broken navigation.
Using PHP will make it so the navigation can be updated globally by changing just one file, I’ve said over and over again. It’s never-ending frustration. They “designed” the site using InDesign, YIKES!
The straw that broke the camel’s back… today another one of the “designers” gave me 2 pages from his thumbdrive. They were built using Flash navigation, and FRAMES. Yes, FRAMES. I wanted to hurl. Welcome back to 1998.
And to start the day off right, I was high on benedryl most of the day, from the night before. Weirdness. And that wraps up my incoherent pissy rant for the day.
Edit: THE MORAL OF THE STORY: IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE DESIRE TO LEARN WEB CODE/MARKUP, YOU SHOULDN’T BE “DESIGNING” WEBPAGES. LEAVE THAT TO THE PROFESSIONALS, AND USE A MANAGED CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
That’s unfortunate. I’ve always seen part of my job as a web designer as a client educator. It’s probably “my way or the highway” in your situation though. My boss insists on making all of our external links open new windows and it drives me nuts.
The best way to handle the situation is to show them why. Chances are they just don’t know any better or haven’t been educated. Find some sites with frames and show them that they haven’t been touched since 1998. Show them how they can’t bookmark pages with frames. Show them the disadvantages of using Dreamweaver over WordPress (or another CMS).