The Path to Enlightenment (or How I Became and Elitist Web Design Nazi)

I Have been developing Web pages for almost 5 years now (we are coming up on my anniversary). Today I did some looking back to how I got here.

I spent the first three and a half years in relative naivet�, basically learning the rudimentary basics of HTML syntax (by using WYSIWYG programs); learning which programs to use and which not to use; learning various scripting languages; and learning project coordination and management. But in the last year or so, I have really taken off in my skill and understanding of Web development. I was reflecting today on how I got there.

It all started when friend of mine pointed me toward Web Design guru Jeffery Zeldman. I learned from him that it was okay to say “To Hell With Bad Browsers“. It was around this same time that I discovered A Dao of Web Design, that is, a new (the correct) way of creating Web pages.

Along the way I picked up A Roadmap to Standards and somewhere in there discovered an unbridled hostility towards Internet Explorer, the only “modern” browser on the planet that did not seem to be aware of my new found insight.

I followed the Roadmap to Web Design School and bought a Web Design Bible. I found several other preachers extoling the values of Developing with Web standards. They all seemed to be in agreement, and so I knew I was on the right track.

To cool my unbridled hostility, I spend copious amounts of time in the Zen Garden, observing the wonders of CSS and Standards-oriented design.

But perhaps the most important thing I have learned is that this new method of design is not simply a philosophy, a religion, or a preference, but it has very real Business Value as well.

Join me on the quest towards a faster, more comprehensible Web.