Will Software Ever Make Us Redundant?

I am new here and not a programmer by any means. If this happens I would be thrilled, not that it hurts the programmers, but I would not have to deal with code that Dreamweaver throws out there. In my experience programmers and designers have their respective rolls. There are of course programmers that design well, although not many designers that program. An old partner of mine (best friend as well) is a very talented programmer whether it is web or something else. He would never touch anything that I could wrap my head around, he codes everything from scratch with no visuals at all. Even if there is a piece of software that comes along as stated, programmers are still safe. There would still be most programming deficiant designers as myself that need the skills you have to offer. Knowledge is a much greater asset than a piece of software.

Great post. There is a plugin for Photoshop that says it accomplishes just what your’re saying. Check Site Grinder from Media Labs. We’ve played with it a bit and it’s a little touchy but it’s a first step. 

Great post, on a topic that I’ve thought about a bit, myself.  BTW, if you’re being PC, we’re not "girls." ;) I don’t think it will make us redundant, any more than your analogy of printers/printing has made printers redundant.  As with printing, it will just change how people use our services.  Most of my clients are aware that they could cobble together something that sort-of works using Frontpage or some sort of web-builder software, but they don’t want to put the time into it, and they know I can make them something much better.  Even if the software were capable of producing error-free, cross-browser compatible pages, they still wouldn’t necessarily have any design sense, or know how to use the software itself! I think by the time there’s any danger of redundancy, we’ll all be getting ready for retirement. All we have to do is stay one step ahead.

Developers will never be out of a job. The biggest part of development, whether it be for software or the web, is problem solving. Having the perfect application will not take care of problem solving for you–sure, the perfect app will make the implementation of your solution easier, but it doesn’t generate the solution.Even the most perfect app will only be able to generate code blocks, and generic ones at that. There are C++ applications that take away the need for the developer to hand-code GUI elements, but no one can ever joke that we can replace a C/C++ programmer with software. The web is the same way. Behind the steering wheel, there must be the driver.

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I think the point to remember here is that we all must maintain a varied (but pointed) skillset.So many of the people out there who consider themselves web designers know little to nothing of design; in fact, many web designers out there are three quarters programmer, one quarter designer, if that. So really, the ever-present threat of obselescence through software (or robotics, or anything else Blade Runner/Matrix-esque) is one that, whether or not we think it’s realistic, should motivate us to do what we do and do it the absolute best way we know how.It takes supercomputers to defeat the human chess masters, and chess is a game of logic and strategy; I don’t think any program could really replicate the soul it takes to produce good design. Another important point to walk away with: even for a skill as specialized as web design, job security is scarce. All the more reason to learn as much about what we do as we possibly can, but also retain the ability, as you mention at the end of the post, to roll with the proverbial punches. We must be able to adapt if we expect to survive. Darwinism applies to business as well as to nature.

Agreeing with MarkO, I, as a long-time developer (both front-end and back-end) would love to see a piece of software like that. It would mean I could spend more time doing the actual DESIGN OF THE CODE, which is pretty much ALWAYS the most time consuming bit, and incidentally also is the trickiest bit to explain to someone who isn’t a developer.The day graphic designers can, via graphical interfaces and pixel/vector design software, create complex database solutions for high volume web sites, that are secure enough and reliable enough, I think is far away.Programming and development isn’t about syntax anyways in the first place, it is about mind set, and I think most people realise that though most online banks are pretty poor (for various reasons), pretty pixels wouldn’t solve their problem. Nor does most people think Googles setup and architecture is non-complex, even though their site isn’t the most beautiful out there.I think <a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000356.html" target="_blank">Joels Iceberg article</a> can be applied here. ;)Just my £0.02 :)/mathias 

you know i have been listening to yet another conversation where people talk about hand coding as the holy grail and dreamweaver sucking… i have been using dreamweaver for about 5 years now and i have yet to discover this grotesque code that it spits out, of course i guess if you wysiwyg with it then yeah the code would be ‘messy’ but then again if you are using dreamweaver in that capacity are you really a web designer? or just someone trying to pose as one?

I use dreamweaver to set up a new page then hand code the rest and can easil look at what im creating visually in the the same program (as long as its nondynamic) this isnt a plug for DW but rather asking people to get off the ‘dreamweaver sucks’ bandwagon. its a tool when used right can take time off your production, and if used wrong will add pain and anxiety.

now back on topic, there will never be a program as the one you describe because it would have to either have auto updated releases or learn on its own and since we are not at that stage of computer evolution (its coming though) we should all be fine, though i do think you should try to diversify yourself as much as possible, if you you a designer, learn some programming languages, if you are a programmer learn some designer, but most importantly, drop these preconceived notions of being able to do it all yourself and align yourself with friends that can do other things (meaning that its their talent to design/program, etc.

Joy Mountford, as head of Apple’s Human Interface Group told me in the early 1990’s, "The programmers of today are the garbagemen of tomorrow."  Now, I’d thought this harsh and a rather cruel POV, but watching the rapid de-industrialization - and now tech industry too - overseas she’s prescient.  So, it’s hard not to agree with our host’s question.  At some point all this becomes auto-magically done by smart systems and when not by automation, then by a cheapness of labor factor that makes the quality difference neglible for clients.  I grew up around the print/typography world and know well the case being made - Layout could only be done by applying hot beeswax to the backside of ‘clipped art’ CUT from giant bound scrapbooks and PASTED next to carefully received strips of optically caste text from Typographers who simply couldn’t believe their expertise was replicable or at least roughly/simply commodified. The same can be said of Architecture becoming moot {at least drastically discounted} through land developer-contractor agents dumping ring binders of ’styles’ in front of house buyers to fenestrate cookie-cutter floor plans. Whatching this occur is why I left building design in favor of interactive work.I love the GUI/EX work and am sad to say there seems far little appreciation {ex: budgets for quality gigs} for it in the XXIst.  I miss interesting anad challenging jobs that span the globe, but the only traction I find these last years is in small local busuness with far too limited a horizon for my tastes.  You ride the waves of technology and finance as best your skills can be developed and be prepared for major retooling more often than you expect.  

I think you have a strong point here. But I think you should consider this: web authoring software developers and browser/php developers work stimutaneously. i.e. if one problem of browser compatability is solved in the developing software, another arises between the browsers. The cycle continues and we might never get the "perfect web authoring software". And also, how about the logic in coding? each and every developer writes different code, although they arrive at the same thing, no computer can (at least in the forseeable future) work out the logic of developing complex web applications/pages.