October 15, 2004
Have you ever experienced the unnerving feeling of having had a personal breakthrough or moment of self discovery as a Web developer, and suddenly realized you have sites "out there" with your name on them that contain fundamental flaws? I have, and I would venture a guess I'm not the only one. This feeling is only natural, and the knee-jerk reaction is to want to go back and "fix" everything you've ever created and uploaded to the Web.
Well, before you run off and spend foolish hours and days undoing the damage of years gone by, take a moment to read this, because I'm hereby granting you full amnesty from the errors you've made in the past, present and the errors you will continue to make in the future.
Please read, digest and internalize the following concepts before you give yourself an ulcer!
- The World Wide Web was a different place yesterday than it is today, and it will be equally different tomorrow. Yes, there are certain standards that have been in place for a long time. Yes, Web developers should strive to learn and understand them. But this takes time, not just on the part of developer, but on the part of the browser manufacturers who, at their own paces, strive to create browsers that interpret those standards properly. The Web is in a constant state of evolution, and it's perfectly natural for you, as a developer, to evolve with it.
- Your value goes up over time. Regardless of whether you're an independent developer, you work for a design firm or you are an in-house designer and Webmaster for a corporation, you are worth more today than you were yesterday. The very fact that you're experiencing anxiety over the state of your past work indicates you've obtained some knowledge that makes you more valuable than you were before. Your past work is allowed to reflect less experience, and while it would be nice if you could magically change everything to suit your new outlook on development, it's not practical, but more so, it's simply not necessary.
- Nothing lasts forever. It is a worthy goal to create Web sites that can stand the test of time. The fact is because of the evolutionary nature of the Web, unless you achieved mastery of Web technology at the same pace it is made available, yesterday's sites cannot always be expected to perform optimally today. And that's ok! Knowing what you know now, the sites you create today will work better, longer. Redesigns and reengineering are an everyday part of Web development, and if you are a developer who works with clients and you feel you absolutely must undo some past damage, approach those site owners from the perspective that you have new knowledge that can improve x, y and z on the current site, and it will only take x amount of time and $x dollars to make these additional improvements. Things have changed - offer to be the one to make their site current. After all, no other developer knows the site and the client better than you!
- What you perceive is not always what others perceive. I had some major epiphanies a couple of years into my career as a Web developer involving the benefits of fluid, adaptable design and the ways in which the design techniques I used on previous sites might have been negatively affecting the user experience. My first impulse was to rush back to those clients, proclaiming "everything I did is crap; I have to start your site over from scratch."
Rather than making a scene, try checking in with site owners for whom you've done work. See how the site is sitting with them at the moment. Maybe they're achieving exactly what they hoped to achieve with the site in its current state. Maybe a gentle suggestion that you are now able to improve a few things is appropriate, but often times no more than that is necessary.
The bottom line is that your current work should always be the best you are capable of producing. If your past work is no longer "best" by your current standards, that's ok. Perhaps for your past customers, "good enough" is...well...good enough! If not, they should be willing to compensate you appropriately for your new level of knowledge and expertise.
Think about it this way. Say you buy a car this year, and a year later that same model is available with a DVD player standard. Is the manufacturer going to contact everyone who bought previous models and say "everyone, bring in your cars to get your new DVD player - sorry, we just added this feature recently and didn't want you to be upset you didn't get one." Of course not! It's all about how your mindset and approach to your newfound knowledge. If you approach this from the standpoint that you made big errors in the past that need fixing, that's how your customers will see view your work. If you approach this as if you have something new, exciting and more valuable to offer, they just might see things that same way instead.
So, you have all the reasons in the world to not panic just because you've learned something new about your profession. Now, go out there and make better Web sites!
Paul Hirsch
**********
Paul Hirsch is one of the site administrators for
IWDN and a partner/owner of
Equentity, LLC.
