pages<\/em>. But Lindsay argued that building a modern website is nothing like designing a book; it\u2019s more like designing a car.<\/p>\nLindsay and I looked at the cars parked on the street next to us: they have to be mass produced and they have to be tested. Each has to be built up of perfectly identical components that need to fit together in a very specific format. There are technical issues \u2013 limitations of physics, money, and time \u2013 that require confronting on a daily basis. You can\u2019t point at one part of the car and have an opinion about aesthetics because that one component changes the relationships of the others. You have to understand that you\u2019re looking at an immensely complicated system of moving parts.<\/p>\n
I love that comparison though, even if it\u2019s not particularly helpful to give others insight into what we do: a website is a car and not a book.\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve been wondering for a good long while why it feels like web design and development isn\u2019t respected as much as native app development, and why the front-end role in many organizations is seen as a nice-to-have rather than a vital part of the business. Why is it so hard to see that this gig […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223806,"featured_media":286351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"art-direction\/fancy-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"sig_custom_text":"","sig_image_type":"featured-image","sig_custom_image":0,"sig_is_disabled":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A Website is a Car and Not a Book","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car_Bookend-2.png?fit=4000%2C2000&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":330231,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/the-power-of-web-development-outside-tech\/","url_meta":{"origin":285600,"position":0},"title":"The Power of Web Development Outside Tech","date":"December 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2020, I learned about the power of web development for organizations and nonprofits outside of tech. I learned that you can leverage your skills to affect change and build long-lasting partnerships. This year, I joined the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters San Francisco (LWVSF), which,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-07-at-1.31.58-PM.png?fit=1200%2C545&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":359941,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/the-web-is-more-gooder-and-other-observations-on-todays-web-tech\/","url_meta":{"origin":285600,"position":1},"title":"The Web is More Gooder, and Other Observations on Today’s Web Tech","date":"December 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm actually working on a talk (whew! been a while! kinda feels good!) about just how good the world of building websites has gotten. I plan to cover a wide swath of web tech, on purpose, because I feel like things have gotten good all around. CSS is doing great,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/code-ok.png?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":300565,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/how-many-websites-should-we-build\/","url_meta":{"origin":285600,"position":2},"title":"How Many Websites Should We Build?","date":"December 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Someone emailed me: What approach to building a site should I take? Build a single responsive website Build a site on a single domain, but detect mobile, and render a separate mobile site Build a separate mobile site on a subdomain It's funny how quickly huge industry-defining conversations fade from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/rectangles-some-filled.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":302760,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/a-headless-cms-for-you-and-your-web-development-agency\/","url_meta":{"origin":285600,"position":3},"title":"A Headless CMS for You and Your Web Development Agency","date":"February 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Storyblok is a headless but component-based CMS with a built-in live-preview. You can use it for building fast and reliable websites and power native apps with your favorite technology. Let us start with the basics and\u00a0what a headless CMS is: A headless content management system is a back-end only content\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Link"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/storyblok-header.png?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":317663,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wordpress-com-growth-summit\/","url_meta":{"origin":285600,"position":4},"title":"WordPress.com Growth Summit","date":"July 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm speaking at The Official WordPress.com Growth Summit coming up in August. \"Learn how to build and\u00a0grow your site, from\u00a0start\u00a0to\u00a0scale\", as they say. Lovely, thick, diverse set of speakers. It's a little bit outside my normal spheres which makes it extra exciting for me. Selena Jackson: The goal of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/wpsummit-wide-purple.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":341383,"url":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/creating-powerful-websites-with-serverless-driven-cms-development\/","url_meta":{"origin":285600,"position":5},"title":"Creating Powerful Websites with Serverless-Driven CMS Development","date":"May 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Choosing the right tools to build a website for your organization is essential, but it can be tough to find the right fit. Simple site builders like Wix and Squarespace are easy for marketers to use, but severely limit developers when it comes to customizing site functionality. WordPress is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sponsored"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Developer-Header.png?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/css-tricks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car_Bookend-2.png?fit=1024%2C512&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223806"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285600"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286635,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285600\/revisions\/286635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}