An Event Apart: Comps vs. Code: Couples’ Therapy

by May 6, 2009

Ethan Marcotte's Comps vs. Code: Couples’ Therapy talk at An Event Apart Seattle walked through some case studies and lessons of collaboration between Web site designers and developers.

  • Typical Web site development process: discovery, design, development, delivery.
  • During translation from design to development, designers often worry something will change. There’s little leaps of faith in the process: a transition over time.
  • A successful Web design focuses on the process of transition but we usually call these handoffs. It’s the wrong implication.
  • After every phase, have time set aside to review designs with developers to make sure things can get built.
  • Include developers in early phases of the project so they can begin thinking about how to solve coding problems.
  • Good layering in Photoshop can help developers make sense of design decisions
  • CSS-only drop down menus: "son of suckerfish" technique positions menu items off screen until they are accessed
  • Variations and states of a design need to be created and shared with development team
  • Fluid grids: design for proportions not for pixels. Target divided by content equals result.
  • The details of what works will be specific to your team. Communication is what makes great teams work.