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Stand Up for Your Rights! is a satirical look at the attitude of plenty of so-called professionals these days. The tag line sarcastically advises, “Don’t let so-called experts tell you what you should know about becoming a web designer.” In the article, Eric Meyer presents several instances of an individual looking to take on a profession without wanting to be slowed down by learning the nuances of the trade. The last conversation features an aspiring web designer stating that he doesn’t want to learn anything complex; he just wants to make web sites.

There are plenty of web designers who earn a decent living making a template in Photoshop, slicing it into some nested HTML tables, and plugging in the user’s content. At no point do they consider things like semantics or usability. They just want to make web sites. The tragedy is that a lot of these folks are really talented people, and they’re wasting their potential on half-assed work.

The internet is an incredible opportunity for sharing information, and even moreso now than ever. A web site is more than just some graphics and text; it’s a tool for communication between groups of people. Naturally, you’d want the tool you’re using to be functional and efficient, right? After all, what use is a good-looking tool that breaks the first time you try to use it? Concepts like usability help designers craft a tool built around the user’s experience. Meanwhile, technologies behind standards-oriented design (XHTML, CSS, etc.) help to ensure that the web sites we build can be accessed from a wide variety of platforms.

As an aspiring web developer, the article reminds me that there is much more to web design than markup and a stylesheet or two. No matter how long you’ve been designing, there’s always something new to learn. While this applies to any industry, it’s especially true in the ever-evolving field of web development (and technology in general, for that matter).