Interesting article over at Boxes and Arrows, by the co-author of the Web Style Guide. Sarah Horton writes that "Beauty is Only Screen Deep" and speaks about her perception of the Web designer's job. Many think this article is unnecessary or obvious. The first comment on the piece simply says "Duh" But as editor of B&A, and a designer myself, I thought that the message still needs to be said. And it needs to be spoken by folks who were guilty of the very things Sarah speaks about and now "get" that the web is no different than other medium for the designer - in that the first lesson is to understand and embrace the medium.

The comments on the piece are as interesting, to me, as the piece itself. I chose to run this story because I was interested in the potential for conversation. Many folks who "get" the web or who have "gotten" it for a long time may not see that this is still an issue to be discussed. They think we are beyond this. But, as one commenter points out, if that were the case, then the web as a whole would be functional, usable, beautiful and useful. We would be able to find things, read pages and manipulate them to our tastes while keeping sense of the inherent design. I think that this article is a good reminder that we aren't there quite yet, but that many of us are now "getting" what we need to do to be good web designers.