Banding together is tough. What is the common ground that attracts one person to the next professionally? Is it necessary to pull together in order to form a more perfect union of web designers?
I think the answer may be “yes”.
My company works with many other companies, as well as off-the-street clients. We have been through many ups and downs, professionally, financially and have been without focus as a business. As part two of my new years resolution, I am decidedly focused on myself professionally, as well as the direction of my web design agency.
Over the past few years, I have paid close attention to the cost and time associated with creating a good website. I have listened to my peers regarding the use of web standards. I have come to understand that accessibility is essential to developing a website worth a darn.
We develop a number of websites for other web design companies each year, sometimes because they are too busy or more often than not, they need an accessible and web-standard site created. Don’t get me wrong, we love the work. But if every web designer \ web design agency took a stand to create sites that are web standard, accessible and utilize techniques that are good for a site’s long-term growth, then I feel that the world of web design may be a better place.
What if there was an organization that allowed web designers \ developers \ agencies the ability to take an oath of sorts? The oath would be simple - create sites using web-standards, do not exclude those that have impairments and to be fair to our clients.
I know, touchy-feely. At first glance, I would agree. But I feel that we might be able to commit to something in order to be better at what we do and to serve the public. As web professionals, we are in a way public servants (once again, touchy-feely. Don’t hate me.). We don’t shovel snow, dig ditches, fight fires, arrest evil people nor put band-aids on wounds. We do however help disseminate useful information, help businesses grow and allow people to do things from their couches that were never before possible.
In return for this oath, I hope that the members would get something tangible. We need pricing standards (some web designers probably make less than minimum wage if you add up the amount of hours vs. the cost of a site), health-care, vision-care, colleagues to rely upon and whatever else it might end up being.
Just a thought.
