It’s disheartening, but I got an email this morning from a former co-worker (teacher). He is a Web design/development teacher, and I feel like he has his act together. Here is his email:
So my professor taught us how to use the font tag last night. No joke. I had a hard time not saying anything.
I am not sure if this makes it better, but she said that we had to use “” with our attribute values, though, because then it complies with web standards.
Do I say something?
And here is my response:
This is a really hard situation to be in. I definitely don’t think you should say something in front of the class.
Tread carefully, but I might talk to her alone and explain that you have been doing web design for a very long time. Explain why you use CSS over font tags (why you as a web designer separate content from presentation. Not “you” as in the general public). You’ll get a feeling if she is receptive or not to what you are saying.
Is this a prerequisite for another class? Do you have to take this class? If she isn’t receptive to what you are saying I would try to get out of the class.
Jason
It’s one thing to try to force the teaching of CSS for complete and total page layout on a college professor. I could stomach an argument for the use of tables for certain presentational effects. However, teaching the use of the font tag in 2008 is irresponsible. That might be a little strong considering I don’t know the background of this teacher. Perhaps my friend should try harder to point this professor in the right direction. Your thoughts?
Web design is certainly one of those fields where change is constant and you have to read to keep up; it makes you wonder what this person has been reading for the last, say, 10 years.
You are right. Change is definitely constant, and if a student had the expectation that they were going to learn all about -webkit-border-radius in a college web design/dev class, chances are pretty good they would be let down. But the font tag … when almost every single book on the subject matter these days talks about separating content from presentation, and at the college level you are teaching font tags, it might be time to brush up on your skillset.
Where is he taking this class?
Hey, Tobias. I don’t feel comfortable saying. I actually didn’t even ask him before I posted this article, so I don’t want to say too much. That reminds me, I need to send him an email.
Hey Mr. Leveille! I was looking for your old my-classes.org site, and found this new site of yours.
I know this particular entry is old, but it struck a chord with me. I think I may have told you a couple of years ago that I snagged a job as a student web designer at CP (I don’t want to name the exact department). I’ve been with them for 3 years now, and I recently switched jobs within the dept; some would say a colleague of mine stole me from my previous position because of my web design skills. Anyway, with my first job, I was working for a boss who clearly has no knowledge of web design, or graphic design, which is really dumbfounding since he is the manager of our group, and we are in charge of the website and print publications for our dept. For the 3 years I worked for him, I was conflicted about bringing this up to anyone. I didn’t want to be the cause of him losing his job, but he clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing. To paint a picture: one day he calls me into his office as he is working in Powerpoint, and asks how to send a black box behind some white text. Things are even worse when it comes to anything web related. He seems to latch on to buzz words he hears, but clearly has no concept of, and wants to implement them.
I guess now that I have left the job (and not complained to any superiors about my former boss’ lack of knowledge), I wonder if I should have ever said something, and how so? Honestly, I’ve been told he was put in the position of manager so he could overlook the group, but our Senior Designers were to be the ones to do hands-on tasks. As the manager, my former boss would just be in charge of delegating tasks and making sure things are running as they should.
Now, I am happy to say that I am working with a competent manager, who realizes and admits he does not have the knowledge I do about web design, but trusts me to get the job done.
Hey, Deanna. Nice to hear from you! I’m happy to here that you have continued applying your web skills. Send me an email. I’d like to talk more about the kinds of things you are doing.
While it is uncommon that the manager of a group of designers/developers wouldn’t know anything about the trade, it isn’t uncommon for someone in a management position in this field to be out of touch with the world which they are trying to manage. The world of the web is a fast paced world, and many people (for whatever reason) can’t keep up. That’s fine when, like your second manager, you recognize the fact that you haven’t been able to keep up. A good manager will recognize his/her assets and defer to those assets. The truly talented people who work on the web never stop trying to stay on top of things. They never stop trying to learn. Personally, I feel it is my duty to learn as much as I can, about as many things as I can (and fortunately I have a great job for this). That way, when it comes time to make a decision regarding a specific project, I can be in a position to make an educated decision about what I think is best for the project.
Anyhow, my point is that you likely did the right thing by not saying anything. Chances are pretty good that nothing would have happened, and you might have ended up in a very uncomfortable work environment.
Also, if you are a person who cares and works hard to be knowledgeable, than you can alleviate the burden of having a brain dead manager. I’m sure that was the case at your job!
Looking forward to hearing from you.