March 23, 2007
The Timeless Way of Building provides an intersting insight into building and designing things for and around people.
For the People by the People
Since finding so much inspiration from Edward Tufte's books, I've made a point to branch out and read books that aren't so innately tied to web development. Most recently, is The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander, a great book about designing and building for and around people.
The Timeless Way of Building provides an intersting insight into building and designing things for and around people.
I traditionally find it extremely challenging to express my thoughts on our industry and how we do our jobs. The Timeless Way of Building has helped me get one step closer. By seeing our problems and shortcomings in the light of another industry, I’m able to gain a better and more thorough understanding of where we’re falling short. It’s absolutely fascinating, albeit unsurprising, how many parallels there are between the creation of web sites and the creation of buildings.
It’s important to understand the context of the book before we get into the details, but essentially, Alexander is discussing how buildings and architecture have lost that certain je ne sais quoi. They have become impersonal and impractical. Instead of encouraging community and interaction, they impede it. One of his explanations for how this has happened is that the people who use these buildings are rarely involved in the construction of the buildings. As a result, the buildings are built to be built, rather than being built to encourage and grow a community.
So it is inevitable that as the work of building passes into the hands of specialists, the patterns which they use become more and more banal, more willful, and less anchored in reality.Christopher Alexander
This was written about architecture and creating buildings nearly thirty years ago, yet, it’s as applicable to modern day web design and development as if it was written yesterday. As we specialize more and more with a certain technology or skill set, we make decisions that are more about the tools than they are about the solution. We wield things like AJAX with a willful indignance and disregard for whether it’s really solving the problem. In many cases, we’re so far removed from the real needs, we end up building just for the sake of building.
While I don’t particularly love or enjoy the design of Craigslist, ebay, or MySpace, they share a certain human element that makes them real. That human element, and organic growth, is something that we can’t force any more than we can force a tree to grow. We can however, understand the human side of things and create an environment, where the site can flourish.
Let’s Schedule a Chat
Given the nature of this observation, I’d love to have a Campfire chat. In order to hopefully bolster discussion, let’s say we plan for 10:30 AM CST. If you’d like to share swing by at that time, and we’ll discuss. While I don’t anticipate more than 12 people showing up, my Campfire account is limited to 12. So, I’ll apologize ahead of time just in case we do reach 12. See you tomorrow!
Hi. I’m Garrett Dimon, a freelance designer/developer in Dallas, TX. This is my site about people, design, and technology. I designed and built a bug and issue tracking application called Sifter. Still have questions? Feel free to .
Comments
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Influence on Software Design
March 23, 2007 at 04:43 PM by MarkThe next book in this series, A Pattern Language, was a major influence on the design patterns movement in software engineering.
Ironically, Alexander’s observation about specialisation and patterns is true of software engineering too. I’ve seen (and even been guilty of) several bits of code where a design pattern was used for its own sake, rather than meeting any immediate need.
Similar Trend in Legal Scholarship
March 24, 2007 at 04:41 PM by Kwok Ting Lee> In many cases, we’re so far removed from the real needs, we end up building just for the sake of building.
I’ve noticed the same thing in some areas of web design. I can recall when AJAX first shot into the limelight it seemed that people were adding something done with AJAX to their sites, not necessarily because it improved the user experience, but simply to impress their fellow designers.
I’ve noticed a similar trend in legal scholarship, too. Where once journal articles were written with the intent of influencing lawyers and judges, there is an increasing trend towards writing abtruse articles invoking the theory du jour, which are about as relevant to actual practitioners as a ladder is to a giraffe. The conversation is now almost exclusively between academics and academics, while lawyers and judges look to “trade publications” published by the bar associations or other industry groups for commentary.
Its great that some one has mentioned A Pattern Language
March 27, 2007 at 10:49 PM by DaveI first heard of Christopher Alexanders A Pattern Language after discovering references to it in Permaculture a Designers Manual, by Bill Mollison.
Permaculture a Designers Manual was the first book in the world to devote itself to the principles behind sound design and I am extremely surprised that most software designers have not heard of it or used it as a reference.
The first two chapters, Concepts and Themes in Design, and, Methods of Design cover the strategies and science behind design quite well
There is also a whole chapter dedicated to Pattern Understanding and this chapter alone is worth the price of the whole book.
Nature really is the best design inspiration you could have and this book is the most definitive book I have ever come across on using the principles and science behind the structure of ecosystems and microcosms to redesign manmade systems.
Some of the concepts like maximising edge between two systems, and, Diversity in Systems in turn leads to increased Stability and Resilience within those systems, are as simple and profound as Christoper Alexanders concepts like, City Country Fingers, and the importance of Entrance Transitions in buildings.
It really is a pity that I am most probably the only person on the planet who has the remotest interest in IT and can see the link to the application of priniciples of it (permaculture design) to software design. In fact it wouldnt surprise me if I am the only web designer on the planet that has read the entire book (several times).
If you like the concept of looking at the big picture and using it to draw inspiration for integrated design then this book is a must read.
I could also go on about The Toyota Production System which has been rebadged by a couple of western professors as Lean Manufacturing. Which covers brilliant concepts such as Value Streams, and, Process Mapping, and how Software Design and Engineering would benefit greatly by applying many of the concepts behind this system.
But I think I will leave that rant for yet another time, thanks for publishing an interesting article Garrett, pity I missed out on the Fireside chat.