Why are we so focused on creativity and customization instead of standardization and ease of building? Look at the waves of designers who are crying foul over Twitter Bootstrap and trying to convince us not to use it because they realize that the demand for their services has just been cut in half!
Well, what 'we' are you talking about? As someone who's primarily a back-end developer with some 'front-end' skills (but not necessarily design skills), I'm not at all focused on customization or creativity. Bootstrap has been fantastic, because it allows me to make decent looking sites out of the box.
If/when a project gets to the point where a) it's out of proof of concept and b) the client/team wants better visuals, then we'll bring in a designer or two, and press them to design something around the existing CSS/structure that's there (within reason).
This will piss off the UX people to no end, and in some cases, they may be right to get upset. One size does not fit all, and Bootstrap in its current form doesn't handle every situation elegantly.
What I hope to see is an evolution of Bootstrap and some similar tools crop up to address these UX/UI needs from the perspective of a web 'person' - not a designer, not a developer, but a hybrid role. A role that both understands and implements all facets of the technology (not just advises/consults, but can actually be hands on), and a role with a primary focus on the hands-on. Not photoshop/dreamweaver on one hand, and not GWT/abstractionkits on the other.
That role doesn't quite exist yet, because the tools aren't quite there yet, but as tools like Bootstrap evolve, I think we'll see this. There should be no need to 'mockup' stuff first in Photoshop if the only (or primary) end result is web, but that's still how many projects work.
Well, what 'we' are you talking about? As someone who's primarily a back-end developer with some 'front-end' skills (but not necessarily design skills), I'm not at all focused on customization or creativity. Bootstrap has been fantastic, because it allows me to make decent looking sites out of the box.
If/when a project gets to the point where a) it's out of proof of concept and b) the client/team wants better visuals, then we'll bring in a designer or two, and press them to design something around the existing CSS/structure that's there (within reason).
This will piss off the UX people to no end, and in some cases, they may be right to get upset. One size does not fit all, and Bootstrap in its current form doesn't handle every situation elegantly.
What I hope to see is an evolution of Bootstrap and some similar tools crop up to address these UX/UI needs from the perspective of a web 'person' - not a designer, not a developer, but a hybrid role. A role that both understands and implements all facets of the technology (not just advises/consults, but can actually be hands on), and a role with a primary focus on the hands-on. Not photoshop/dreamweaver on one hand, and not GWT/abstractionkits on the other.
That role doesn't quite exist yet, because the tools aren't quite there yet, but as tools like Bootstrap evolve, I think we'll see this. There should be no need to 'mockup' stuff first in Photoshop if the only (or primary) end result is web, but that's still how many projects work.