“Real Design” versus “Web Design”

From Typography on the Web: Questions for Jeffrey Zeldman — Part 2

But for the first 15 years or so, there was a definite ghetto perception in many design quarters; designers who could code, and who were willing to work in a medium limited to five or six system fonts, were perceived to be working outside of the real design field. (Design respect was reserved for people and agencies that did one-off Flash sites driven by a print or animation aesthetic, and with little to no concern for usability and accessibility.)

You can see this tension if you look at older lists from the Communication Arts Interactive Annual issue. They were usually aesthetically beautiful, but ugly as f*ck in terms of usability and utility. This, thankfully, is changing. And Zeldman is one of those folks leading the way.

Also see: Typography on the Web: Questions for Jeffrey Zeldman — Part 1