Current Opinions on Web Design

Written by: Robert R. Russell on Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

I have been designing websites as a side gig for about a year now. Most of that design work has been CSS modifications to existing themes. Since January, I have needed to do more extensive design changes. That work culminated in a scratch-made WordPress theme designed for people using WordPress as a CMS, not a blog platform.

During that time, I have begun preferring Gutenburg’s design philosophy over Elementor’s. Gutenburg does a better job of separating content, and content-specific layout from the general theme layout than Elementor does. Gutenburg also seems less opinionated about its block styling than Elementor.

The downside to flexibility is a lack of capability to micromanage the layout. I don’t see the appeal of complicated website designs that demand pixel alignment from individual paragraphs or worse letters. I tend towards a utility first approach. That utility first approach doesn’t mean that I do not appreciate any artistry. I cannot entirely agree with form over function.

I like the mobile-first approach to design. However, I do get frustrated at the limitations of mobile devices because they can complicate the implementation of proper form and function. A navigatable mobile interface for tabular data is one example.

©2020 Robert R. Russell — All rights reserved

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