If there is one thing that is a fact in the business of web development in Nigeria it is the disconnect between what the web designers believe is best for their clients and what is actually the best for them.

Comments and suggestions from many web designers who are more interested in showcasing their skills sometimes to the detriment of the businesses they are supposed to provide functional websites for tend to point to one thing, "the client must agree to my idea of a good website or the client is missing the point".

It is not uncommon to visit sites that are not functional yet have all the pictures, animations and color combinations in the world to contend with.

The result? The typical client spends a year or two and decides to close down the website because it does not add any value to the business. Even banks have been known to have used 2 or more domain names (due to issues with the web designers) before reaching a stable web experience.

Bad news they say sell faster and before you know it the client's friends, business associates and relations get to hear how useless having a website is, thanks to the web designer who thinks websites begins and ends with flash and animations.

For the web designer, potential clients are discouraged while others are closing down their websites due to the fact that the websites are not useful. Now, they resort to looking for someone to blame.

I develop websites and I do place a lot of emphasis on functionality because that is the reason why people use to web, people do not visit websites simply because they are beautiful, they do so because they are able to complete certain tasks be it looking for information, checking out the prices of certain goods, after sales support, news, reading and sending emails etc.

The bottom line is this, if your website is not task focused and by extension useful to the web user no matter how beautiful the website is sooner rather than later you will close down the website.

Interestingly, many businesses are looking for developers that can revamp their websites simply because quite a number of them cannot justify the money being spent on such websites. This is real and it is happening now.

The trend is changing, we are gradually moving away from "I want the flashiest website" to "I want my customers to be able to do this and that on my website" and this is good news.

Of course, people will always resist change especially when such changes tend to radically show that their views, opinions or preferences no longer hold water or when clients begin to demand more from web developers that can only play around with colors and images.

Some have queried and wondered why certain people keep getting jobs even when the self proclaimed experts are looking for jobs where as others sit behind their computers and offer all the advice in the world even when they have never come close to designing websites or writing codes.

The time is now for change and as they say the only permanent thing in life is change and this change has come to stay, scream, abuse or curse all you want the good news is that the power to effect the change lies in the hands of the clients not the web designers.

Just as VCD makers have been taken out of the market as people now have DVD options where up to 80 films are stored in a single DVD very soon the web designers will wake up one morning and realize that programming, functionality and simplicity have all taken over the terrain they once controlled because the clients were not well informed on what they can achieve with their websites.

A website must be neat, usable, easy to navigate, fast loading and functional for it to succeed. If anyone tells you anything to the contrary just know that the person is trying to justify his/her lack of skills to develop functional websites.

The most visited website in Nigeria (owned by a Nigerian) I believe in Nairaland and this website is based on a functional website script that is even implemented by hundreds of thousands of people if not millions and yet people visit it everyday. Same design, same layout, same source and yet the website is very useful.

Even cars, regardless of your status or preference you have to buy the latest model of any car unless you want custom built one which is not common. I wonder why the car makers are not thinking of building different styles (within the same model) to suit the large market.

@Afam
I might accept you doing functional though not good looking sites but I wont accept you inspiring others to follow because its simply bad. youtube is owned by Google, why didnt they change the design to the classic look and feel they usually put with their products or better yet blogger ?.
I have these questions for you:
- Should a functional site be ugly in terms of design ?
- Why was PhotoShop or Fireworks created and why is it taught to web developers in universities world wide ?
- Why do we have CSS  ?
  I can use html and table tags without any graphics and css to produce sites, realy ugly ones but use php or java or Asp.net to make it functional. I don't believe a site's functionality competes with its presentation. But like anything attributed to DESIGN on earth, web development has design inclusive and design is all about expresing beauty. So if you develop web sites [ you are a designer + software developer ], and since design is beauty. I don't get your argument, infact on this one you have no point. for the record html and css is part of web design and I would like you to develop your site without those two in other sense, develop your site without design and lets see if a browser will interprete it.
Please I will advice that african webmasters have to go in for certifications. take any adobe certification and you wont regret it.

mambenanje:

@Afam
I might accept you doing functional though not good looking sites but I wont accept you inspiring others to follow because its simply bad. youtube is owned by Google, why didnt they change the design to the classic look and feel they usually put with their products or better yet blogger ?.
I have these questions for you:
- Should a functional site be ugly in terms of design ?
- Why was PhotoShop or Fireworks created and why is it taught to web developers in universities world wide ?
- Why do we have CSS ?
I can use html and table tags without any graphics and css to produce sites, realy ugly ones but use php or java or Asp.net to make it functional. I don't believe a site's functionality competes with its presentation. But like anything attributed to DESIGN on earth, web development has design inclusive and design is all about expresing beauty. So if you develop web sites [ you are a designer + software developer ], and since design is beauty. I don't get your argument, infact on this one you have no point. for the record html and css is part of web design and I would like you to develop your site without those two in other sense, develop your site without design and lets see if a browser will interprete it.
Please I will advice that african webmasters have to go in for certifications. take any adobe certification and you wont regret it.

Without meaning to disrespect you I dare state that you are simply clueless when it comes to the web and I believe a whole lot of people have told you the same thing.

It is better for you to state that you do not understand something or that you need clarifications before making some of those baseless and incredible remarks you make about stuff on the web.

Certification? List 1 or 2 websites you have designed let us see what the certification you so recommend has done for you.

tundewoods:


No big deal about functionality,i have developed complex web applications before and so have i done visually appealing websites where beauty and appeal were the keywords. The point is you behave like romans in rome and brits in Britian.

Can we see the complex web applications please because on this forum one cannot be sure of what people claim these days and it is important we substantiate any claims we make otherwise someone will tell us he was the person that developed google or yahoo but chose to sell it to those we know today.

There is no hiding the fact that too many Nigerian websites are substandard. Many rank poorly in both looks and functionality while only a few are truely visually-appealing and very functional. A case in point is the websites of many of the daily newspapers.

What do you expect from an industry where too many are in for fast cash, and thus do not bother to acquire the requisite skills required for the trade. I look forward to a day when there would be a proper webmaster association in Nigeria, that screens its members qualifications.

Ideally, a website should be as functional as it is aesthetically pleasing. None of these two factors should be compromised at all. The way forward is that Nigerian webmasters must necessarily upgrade their skills to match and exceed that of their South African counterparts for a start, before taking on American web designers.

Specialize: Why not special on web design (aesthetics) or web applications development (PHP, ASP.NET programming) as opposed to trying to combine everything. That way, you can be more skillful in a particular field and can partner a specialist in the other.

@Afam
this is my company portfolio ( what I mean is i am the CEO of that company ) www.afrovisiongroup.com/projects.php check out my works and if that will help you listen to me and get certified to perfect you skills, fine.
apart of that company portfolio I single handedly built www.webyfolio.com www.studentnetworks.in and currently my company is working on www.executiveasset.com, www.mpyraa.org, just to name a few.
I am a designer / developer.
I didnt want to list this before but I guess this is just answering you and not showing off. you should know who to challenge.
About you thinking am clueless, thats your point of view and I wont argue with that. I don't know everything about web development, I learn everyday and one important thing I make my money everyday. Besides am still a 22 year old bachelor in Africa which means I still have many things to learn professionally and socially.
With my portfolio I hope you are satisfied.

Art is about Beauty.

Design is Beauty+Function

That is the Future, which was, which is and will always be.

Afam, i dont know how on earth, you want people to reply to your post when you keep attacking them and calling them all sorts of names, i pity the
woman who marries you, you strongheaded buffon, and i know youll reply with your rubbish and that i posted other peoples work, you should clarify which job it is,

Functionality is far better than Beauty when it comes to web design. i mean, it helps for the site to look good, but not at the expense of professionalism.

Take a look at the Starcomms website for example
http://www.starcomms.com

Very nice looking site, totally useless website. A website that isn't updated, that doesn't carry ANY info on their new offers and services and - the criminal part - there's no single 'Contact US' type page on the site.


Very nice looking, perhaps the most useless website in existence.

tundewoods:

I enjoy and derive joy from keeping my live web projects from the public as you have rightly asked me to display just in a bid to flaunt or show off as you are use to. I don't simply start to flaunt websites just in a bid to win arguements.The fact remains only kids flaunt and brag about basic things.websites that use php mysql to list dynamic content which i am of the opinion is a basic for any web designer turned developer.

Exactly my point, you once started a thread asking people to list their web applications and you listed 2. What part of flaunting was that? It seems you have quickly forgotten what you told me some weeks ago when you contacted me via chat about going into programming and leaving the other people to focus on web design. So much so for collaboration, little wonder you were asking for help to setup a simple search form for a project you were working on.

You don't have them, it is not that you don't want to list them.

I post sites for reviews here not a list of clients.

tundewoods:

but lets face it,i don't see any thing spectacular in your so called functionality gospel as far as i am concerned most of the websites you usually flaunt as just regular dynamic websites that use php mysql to list dynamic content which i am of the opinion is a basic for any web designer turned developer.[/color][/font]

As basic as you claim it is can you come up with one without dead links and non functional search forms?

You brag and claim to design complex web applications when you cannot point to them, rather you hide under the banner that you don't need to show them in a public forum.


@mambenanje,

Age does not have anything to do with this so do not use that as an excuse. I have seen the portfolio page you provided and I wonder what makes you feel the designs there are sleek or fantastic.

@afam you see when i saw your topic,  i said to myself that you going cause trouble on this forum,  well,  if a clients want a very nice website,  i mean an eye catching website,  not your so called  functionalty thing?  just give the clients what he needs,  you don't dictate to him want him he want,  i just did a website for a company, which he said,  he want a website that it's so flashy, when i mean flash, he wants flash intros, flash designs, then the normal page and well arrange colour combo,  which i did for him,  and he was so happy,  i asked him why he needs that, he said thats what he needs,  so what should i do,  you can't design a jack and instead of you to agree to that, u will be preaching about one so called crapy functionality,  na only u fit do fucntionality web portals,  ( kwepuseeeeeeeeeeeee ) no dey use that one bobo us,  here, ! okay lets take a business card for instance,  a good simple design business card can make a clients gives you a job,  abi  ? so accept that u can design a thing,  and stop all this functionalty today,  functionalty tomorrow,  abeg,  all your topics are so odd to me, 

texazzpete:

Functionality is far better than Beauty when it comes to web design. i mean, it helps for the site to look good, but not at the expense of professionalism.

Take a look at the Starcomms website for example
http://www.starcomms.com

Very nice looking site, totally useless website. A website that isn't updated, that doesn't carry ANY info on their new offers and services and - the criminal part - there's no single 'Contact US' type page on the site.


Very nice looking, perhaps the most useless website in existence.

now i know u got no iQ i swear to you,  why not design one of those crapy functionalty website afam use to show us here for starcomms and wait there and let the Securities throw u out,  will you tell me u will design that rubbish thing and say u just want them to have fucntionalty huh ?  fucntionalty my ass ! just design whatever your client ask you to do,

Okay a friend of mine design one craze website, infact the site is asif someone leant a design today and he use the website for rehersals, lol now i asked how much was he paid for this site, he said he was paid N100,000 if you see the website meeeeeeeeen, you will flog the guy 24 lashes, so what am saying huh ? abeg leave that thing abeg, if u clients want F, giv him/her or he wants B give him/her,

Geez guys! Can we just cut the crap? Just imagine what mighty web app you all could have built if you channeled the energy dissipated on this single thread into some grand venture. I bet it would rival what the likes of google and myspace et al are doing. As for Afamz sites, this is what I have to say: Though I may not personally like the way they look, as long as his clients like it, who are we to say otherwise? In the end, if that client's customer base doesn't appreciate it, it's on them not us to judge. Remember: One manz meat is anotherz poison; What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander; Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Need I go on (cos I could ). I dare say that on what many here are saying is crappy, he has made more money on them than what many on here charge on average for "flashy" websites (some from reading here, charge as low as 15K. Tufia!!)

For me, the future of web dev lies in both hence the web 2.0 movement. Functionality is essential but if users don't like the way a site looks, they won't go back. Of course there are other factors that influence this. Also, this is where usability testing comes in. In other words, users might be willing to accept a level of design on site A but the same users may not accept that same level of design on site B. Case in point: I like both myspace and facebook. Having said that, if facebook were to have adopted the myspace approach, I personally wouldn't be visiting. Why? To me, it would have been, "Just another mysapce". In my opinion, what makes facebook stand out is its sheer simplicity.

Folks, letz either stay on point or dump the thread altogether. From my response, you can see that I am sticking to the thread whose title is worthy of discussion. If you want to debate Afamz designs/functionality, create another thread. I joined this forum because of intellectual thread titles like this one.

well what are you saying now is the best huh ? is giving the client what he/she wants ?

There is just one thing I can understand here- BOSS & SERVANTS.

Some people want to show- off and try to achieve popularity and be regarded as the BOSS or "king of the webmasters" kin but finally end up being controversial and as such become worthless to the eyes of many. Calling them SERVANTS will not even be worth it because they don't even qualify as one. Servants pipe low and learn from their masters,

In fact, let me not just waste time here trying to bring a big argument into this thread. It's not worth it but for the better, all I have to say is that if you have the strength to argue then you go ahead else you make a change of thread.

Just as Gamine said:
Art is about Beauty.

Design is Beauty+Function

I believe this and stand by it.

Functionality or no functionality, whatever your client wants you deliver. You can make suggestions though to help them better appreciate what they want.

That Starcomms website is almost wacky, badly edited photos
i hate badly edited photos, arrrck!!!!!!!!

@yawa-tide
like your approach to this post, but one thing I said am against is not Afam doing plain sites but the fact that he wants others to think thats the standard.
if you buy that idea let me know.
He wants to inspire others to forget design and concentrate on plain not soo good lucking sites just to go more on functionality even if they have the means to go in for good design and functionality.
FOR ALL I CARE HE CAN DO WHAT EVER HE WANTS WITH HIS CLIENTS they are his clients and I am not jealous, but he should stop telling guys that functionality is better than design. Bill Gates will tell you that good design with bad functionality is better than good functionality with bad design. And I will repeat that the answer to the future of web development [ design or functionality ] lies in these three things
USABILITY, ASSESSIBILITY AND AESTHETICS ,
webmasters study these key topics and choose your own answer if its design or functionality or both the way forward

@mambe
Ignoring other parts of your post so as not to help fan the flames and to concentrate on the issue of the day so we can LEARN something, I will say that I agree with your additions of Aesthetics (which I termed design above), Accessibility and Usability as well as functionality.

All 4 of the above combined will result in a website people are willing to visit and use over and over again.

Any one have anything more to add? Remember, we are here to LEARN!!

okay let me say this,  there was a time they were having bank of the year website and all the bank was shown and accessbank website came up as no 1,  do you ask me why,  because of the flash train that was moving on the website,  and why zennith bank came second and skeybank all so came 3rd,  but other bank with so called functioning abi what is called,  are no where to be the first,  in this time of nigeria,  they need crazy asthetic design good sense of design,  one of the famous singers in nigeria approach me to design a website for him. and what does he want,  he said he wants very good website,  now he had to refer me to some site with alot of flash work and good design skills,  now are you telling me to put up that so called crap site afam shows up here for the guy,  what do u expect the guy to say humm ? the guy say" i want make the site dob well well ' okay go ahead and plug that afam site nowwwwwww u go hear the heat,  wise up you guys,  simple word here,  give him/her what they want,

interesting @smartsoft:

wise up you guys, simple word here, give him/her what they want,

This is exactly what I said prior to my last post and if I recall, you said this in response:

well what are you saying now is the best huh ? is giving the client what he/she wants ?

And the answer to your question is a resounding YES!!

@ya you just made my day, hummmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaah a kiss for you,

this thread is just a battle ground.

@smartsoft
my bro let's just rest the case here cos the arguements are not worth our time wastage here.

@omnipotens
My thoughts exactly which is why I had tried to refocus our minds on the actual topic of this thread

So much carnage. its both!

tundewoods:

Once again Afam at his best playing public Enemy No 1
By the way did i mentions that my Wife is a very big fan of Afam's hilarious threads and posts

Tell her to stop visiting them because they could be disastrous.

He could give someone High Blood Pressure.

hmm

Given some of the personal responses on either this or other posts, I would hesitate to get innocent family members involved.

Let's stick to the meat of the matter please. Webmonk, thanks for your response.

This is serious o

Rather long post but well i guess it had to be that long to clearly state the point.

Back to the issues raised about functioanlity and visual appeal. No hard feelings i am hell bent on emphasising the core importance of visually appealing websites,however visual appeal in my own opinion is more CSS based than heavy un optimized based as displayed in the Starquest website.

Having said that,what really do we call functionality driven websites.Lets first establish that before we can have a yardstick to measure with.As far as i am concerned most website are functionality driven wether static or dynamic be it hard to believe.

For the simple fact that a website visitor browses a given website wether static or database driven to access information be it just a single paragraph of information or tons of webpages.The fact still is that the website visitor has performed a specific function which is to access information.

Lets not raise un necessary dust about functionality,If a client deserves to have a database driven website that has custom web application where website visitors can perform specific tasks or functions i recommend and give him necesary consultation and if the client just needs something basic then i give him a static website with the fantastic visual graphics he or she demands.

No big deal about functionality,i have developed complex web applications before and so have i done visually appealing websites where beauty and appeal were the keywords. The point is you behave like romans in rome and brits in Britian.

In order words if your client wants a functionality driven dynamic web application then deliver that,while if what he wants a visually appealing static website then give him or her just that.After all na your money you go collect.

tundewoods has said it all.

I agree with the others. Afam was just looking for an avenue to over-emphasize functionality. Again. You can't compromise design over function. And that's the truth. I keep saying it. If something's appealing to the eye, people will be inspired to hang around and check out the functionality. Not the ohter way round. And besides, like tunde said, does it REALLY matter if its dynamic or not? If the necessary info is on display, I don't care if the website's code can fight crime. Most of the popular Web 2.0 sites today like Digg and Facebook and Google rely on simple but nice graphics with function, so, it kinda lies both ways. No?

One problem with you Afam is that you
think u are too good to be a Nigerian web designer.
You believe you should have been an American or European designer.

When you were in school Afam,
Did the whole first positions in your classes went to you?
If yes, what about the second position and third, were they all yours as well?
You live in a third world country where so many things are determined by the available resources.
Stop criticizing people all the time ,
Advice them and help them.
Why do you post your websites here for people to review
When you already elevated yourself to the highest point?
A lot of people need help down there.
I know how many people i help on their forums here.
I never critise them.
Stop believeing that every big website in Nigeia should have been developed by you.
We are not interested to listen to that.

@smartsoft,

I have personally spoken to clients that came to my office to ask for redesign who claim you setup websites for them. Need I say more?

Again, remember you told me once that the reason you do not get jobs is because you are younger in age when you asked me how old I was.

Your personal insults will not be responded to in kind because that would be too harsh considering your situation now.

@topic,

A few clarifications lest people fight over what they are clearly misunderstanding.

1. Functionality is more important than beauty. This is my position and this does not in any way mean that a website should not be good looking. Comparing 2 things doesn't mean that it is 100% or nothing for either options.

2. I have repeated it over and over again that I am a web programmer not a web designer so the issue of being no 1 web developer is baseless. However, I have tried to get to see actual works of many on this forum who criticize the most so that I can ask them to handle web design jobs but each time I visit their websites I find enough reasons to continue with what I am doing the way I am doing them. I have already listed names of such people before and you can confirm from their own websites.

3. @tundewoods, public enemy no 1? I would rather be that than be a hypocrite or just join the bandwagon in order to belong. That is why Nigeria isn't working because you have a lot of sycophants around. My opinions are mine and I cannot remember forcing anyone to agree with them. Unfortunately, some of you have never been in situations where you need to use logic, reason and common sense to win debates or arguments rather you think insults and abuses would help.

4. @mambenanje, I have stated it before I think I have a problem with the way you understand or misunderstand issues. How can I ask people to forget design and use what I develop as standards? Please, learn to see beyond your nose and stop the too much emphasis on Afam. Learn to separate issues from personalities. I have a problem with the way you think, not with you as a person because you may have other positives.

smartsoft:

now i know u got no iQ i swear to you, why not design one of those crapy functionalty website afam use to show us here for starcomms and wait there and let the Securities throw u out, will you tell me u will design that rubbish thing and say u just want them to have fucntionalty huh ? fucntionalty my ass ! just design whatever your client ask you to do,

You fucking idiot. Where in my post did i say i was advocating a crappy looking website?
I'm speaking as a consumer here. Is it not rage inducing if i cannot find any information about Starcomms iZap broadband service on their website 2 months after it was announced?
Is it not shocking that a website for a commercial entity doesn't have a 'Contact Us' page?

Retards like you have no place here. If you lack the ability to comprehend written English, by all means stroll outside and buy a copy of Brighter Grammar.