You can’t teach unless you can put yourself in the position of the pupil
Great quotable line from James Christie (comment 10). And so true – younger generation may be more general savvy with technology, but it doesnt mean for a second they undertsand, or are able to pass on that knowledge. This is in keeping with generation gap- the inspiration and drive of youth, tempered by the experience and caution or older generations. You need the mix – weighting either way will lead to too much compromise.
The same damage is done putting too higher role on the shoulders of someone too young. The younger you are, the less interest you have in generations above you. When you are 18, 25 seems like old man territory. For web site development, this is not an appropriate viewpoint. With age, also comes ability to leave your preconceptions outside of the office. It is dumb to block out an audience with adopting web development technologies that may look good, but effectively shut out a section of your potential audience. Just because makreting tells you what user demographics are, that doesnt mean its a rule. That demographic could be dictated by your websites level of accessibility and usability – dangerous arrogance. But ignorance is bliss, I guess …
Talk to most young developers, and they have little or no interest in usability or accessibility – normal, as they have all their faculties and all the time in the world from their persecptive. They regard it as an annoyance – interestingly, this is how development used to happen in bad old days – development dictating to audience, when it SHOULD be the other way round. treat your audience as stupid, and they will leave your site in drives.
Trackbacks
One Trackback