Is 50 too old to be a web designer

Hah! Hoop, I just love your attention to detail man. (Even when it’s directed at me :p)

The devil’s in the details :smiley:

i actually dont understand why do you learn nothing new? is it a problem? i mean what doesnt let you to learn something new?
i think any age is good, 50 is even better from viewpoints:)

No 50 is not too old but you have no idea of new generation. in this modern culture your thinking could be match so its may be a old or not.

OMG think of how many bad things must have happened to you…

I believe that age has nothing to do with it provided you strive to keep current. I am going to stick my neck out a little and say (with some included here) that the older generation are a little slower to change and adapt to new technologies and trends, especially with design. In fact I struggle to find aesthetically well-designed websites built by older designers (the inverse is normally true). I hate to say it, but it’s mostly true.

I’m NOT old and I struggle to change and adapt to new (and not so new) technologies and trends. Hell, I can’t stand Flash and the seemingly endless classitis of microformats/RDFa make me cringe.

Age is certainly not the issue, even if you tend to see the mindset among the more aged. Lawlz.

I hope 50 is O.K. I will be 55 next month!!!

I’d say you’re even more qualified then!

How could you? Microformats are a good thing and while they do occasionally imply class usage, it’s certainly not classitis because the class usage has inherent and contextual meaning - and their used validly to give browsers, search engines and social networks alike a more interactive experience. As for the RDFa bashing, it has nothing to-do with class attributes at all. RDF is for XML documents and is kept totally separate from the HTML and CSS, in fact using RDF (like with DCMI) actually reduces code bloat - it exports your META tags into a cache-able index. :slight_smile:

Yes, my baseless bashing is based on nothing at all:

Nothing:

Microformats:

RDFa:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_o5Na_9269nA/SpX-hdbeUzI/AAAAAAAACvc/H2El3--LiGw/s1600-h/drooling-dog-html-rdfa.png

Oh yes, how could I not love that markup!!

Maybe you misread me, so I’ll repost for certainty:

I’m NOT old and I struggle to change and adapt to new (and not so new) technologies and trends.

Yes, I’m seriously struggling with the above. That’s a fact. It makes me cringe. And not because I’m 50+.

*edit I notice you didn’t bring up my Flash-bashing at all. I wonder why?

Firstly: I don’t know a SINGLE developer who uses RDFa embedded within a HTML document, the only use I have for RDF is as an external file bolted into the HTML through a link element in the head of the document - much cleaner. Secondly: That microformat example is a serious exaggeration of the practice, it’s easy to find some poorly constructed code and use it as a sample of what things may look like, but it’s not an accurate representation at all. I use microformats in my designs all the time, and none of them resort in divitis, and none would use such poorly written code or invalid hideous use of the microformat specifications. :slight_smile:

PS: I have issues with Flash because it’s generally proprietary and is like being JS dependant. It has it’s uses but it’s generally abused, hence why I didn’t disagree. I would like to see Apple push dependence on Flash down, the only people who get mad about the lack of Flash support are those too dependant on it.

the only use I have for RDF is as an external file bolted into the HTML through a link element in the head of the document - much cleaner.

That’s how I would use it.

The examples are from google on their webmaster bloggitty. So, they are encouraging that markup (the RDFa one doesn’t even look valid… or can HTML5 have spans around blocks??).

Since the google god has plenty of worshippers, I expect to see just that in web pages, and I have.

You must only know the Good developers : )

Well you know what Google are like, their use of JavaScript is almost abusive! Just ask felgall :stuck_out_tongue:

In regards to Microformats and RDF (in DCMI), if you check the websites that wrote the specs for them you’ll see much better examples of the code in action :slight_smile:

I hope not, because I’m 66 and this is going to be my retirement income. It’s about time I did something with my Art Institute of Pittsburgh (1968 graduate) education!

I love this stuff, and have several SitePoint books.

I picked up two Website projects this year already, with no track record; i.e. nothing to show except for the sites I have done for myself, and my wife.

One lady owns a soy candle company, and the other is a Pizzeria in town. I did a tile job for the candle company and asked if she needed a Website (she had one, but wanted to re-do, and wasn’t happy with the guy that did here first one.). The other lady had been carrying around an ad I ran for over two months, she said. I only ran the ad for two weeks.

I’m excited.

There are so many horrible sites on the Net, that I think it’s wide open for anyone, regardless of age. If you can do it — go for it!

I installed Apache, PHP and MySQL on my computer for development work. Smart thing to do. It really helps.

Good for you! I wish you success. I’m a few miles (hundred) south of you in NE Ohio. :slight_smile:

A career as a website tester will be rewarding at your age. I have learnt in life that you are as good as you think. Believe in yourself.

Also remember Billo that there are other aspects to the design and maintenance of a website. In fact depending on what the budget of the sponsor is you may want to go into some sort of collaborative relationships in order to sub contract those aspects of the project for which you have less aptitude for.

Interesting piece of stereotyping there. What is it that makes testing particularly rewarding for 66 year olds? Just interested :slight_smile:

i think its not. the idea is important most of all.

A career as a website tester is not rewarding at any age…