A friend of MHD recently directed me to a website, on which Adobe was introducing their latest creation…Adobe Muse.
At first I was intrigued by the tagline: “Design and publish HTML websites without writing code”…my instant reaction being the thought that this had been promised countless of times before, but often had drawbacks – these tiny drawbacks seemingly able to put people off using the software all together.
Upon watching the video, it became evident that this was a well-thought through program – at which point I was filled with the fear “Is this the beginning of the end for web designers.” I’m aware that regardless whether or not Adobe Muse delivers what it says it will do, there is a demand for such a product. The curse of today’s society is everyone wants the best result for minimum effort, and in the past websites have been reserved for those pale skinned geeks who’d bothered to learn the source code behind it all…but Muse would bestow website-making prowess upon the masses…surely this is the internet’s version of the Apocalypse!
However, once I’d stopped day-dreaming about the eminent end of democracy…I’d realised that I’m in good company. When computers were first made (as you all know) they were so complicated that only scientists could understand how to use them, but the simplified Personal Computer has not magically upgraded everyone’s IQ to that of those aforementioned scientists. I heard a podcast by screenwriters for the Screen Writer’s Guild who said that what some people can achieve on the laptop nowadays baffles them as the quality would have seemed totally futuristic to them ten years previous. This is good company indeed!
My conclusion on Muse is that yes, Joe Bloggs might want to try his hand at building his own website using Adobe Muse rather than hire a website designer, but it doesn’t mean he inherently knows HOW to build a website. Website designers will have to work harder at making themselves stand out, but that will improve the standard of the internet surfing overall. Great websites will also have a lot more emphasis on content as well as great design as there will be a plethora of good looking websites from Graphic Designers (who in my opinion are the biggest winners in all this). I’m dreading seeing all the crummy fliers we all get through the post from our local Azeez’s Pizza Place or Harry Wong’s Cantonese takeaway converted to a web browsing experience but the internet’s big …and just about to get a whole load bigger.