I read an article about web design, a subject with which I am just becoming acquainted. However, it was a good boost for my aging ego, as it made me feel that my early training in the advertising and marketing Dark Ages can still be of good use in today’s digital world.
The author wrote that attention to detail is as important today as it ever has been. He drew parallels to the old days that I remember well. Where an ad agency had a full in house art department with people who set type, pasted mechanicals, airbrushed photos, went to press proofs, etc. Those were labor intensive days and every detail mattered because changes were costly. And the further along you were in the production process, the more the change cost.
With today’s emphasis on creative content, design, functionality, and interactivity, those working in the Web medium must still be as diligent with the details on the site or it will be totally ineffective. As I mentioned, this stuff is new and mostly foreign to me. I work with much younger colleagues who grew up with the Internet and can kick my butt in discussions over navigation, browsers, JavaScript, etc. But I bet without Spell-check these young bucks would be at a loss if I were to take them on in a spelling contest. And forget about decent grammar. I want to jump out of my skin every time I hear, “Where is (fill in the blank) at”? There no longer seems to be any hesitation in ending a sentence in a preposition. Where has good grammar gone to? (JK, as they say in SMS parlance.) A small complaint, yes, but one I find telling. In fact, crutches like Spell-check make them so lazy they miss the details which can come back to haunt a project. I started off my career as a Copy Proofer back when type galleys were prepared before they were cut and pasted onto mechanical boards. Sounds like an incredibly laborious process, doesn’t it? This was even before Wang Word Processing came on the scene. Yet, it was a great if tedious way of catching spelling, content, and grammatical mistakes. Before signing off and releasing the copy, I even read it all backwards! Did it talk a while? You bet. Sometimes it seemed like forever. But I invariable caught errors this way. I still do it. And it still works. I wonder if anyone under the age of 30 would “waste” their time with this level of detail.
In this day and age, one should do everything they can to help with their own job security. Attention to detail is another way to do just that. I wonder if it is possible to teach generations of computer users that their work is not over after they hit the Spell-check icon.
The article can be found at www.alistapart.com/articles/thedetailsthatmatter
