: Dev environment & tools for designers I'm wondering what kind of dev environment and tools are reasonable for web designers? We've hired someone who is familiar with css and html but not really

@Caterina889

I haven't been directly involved in a corporate environment for quite some time, so take this with that in mind.

I would ask why you would hire this person if you require someone to run command line tools? That's not design at all in my opinion. I've never once needed a command line for design. Now if you like doing things such as processing images through command line tools, then you should realize that's not necessarily "design". At best it may be loosely related to design as more of a production oriented task. As with all production-oriented tasks, they often require training due to unique use by a specific organization. Command line tools aren't really common in my experience for visual alterations, which is the primary focus of design. Command line tools aren't going to determine what color a UI button should be... that sort of thing. A designer is probably more familiar with things like Photoshop Actions and automation where that is concerned. The command line is really a development tool, not a design tool.

As for git... well, I've never needed it. But I can see why it's valuable in some environments. Every company can, and often will, have its own procedures for file transfers. Some have their own private repositories, some have servers, some just direct network transfers, etc. Which method any company uses can be independent to that that company. I realize git is widespread. However, I wouldn't hold it against anyone because they've never needed git before as a designer. Designers don't often transfer files more than once or twice. So a constant access to swap files isn't really that necessary for a designer. Heck Dropbox or just straight FTP is often more than enough for a designer.

I think I'd ask myself what it is I expect of a designer. If you're expecting to give the designer access to fully constructed dynamic pages and sites in order to make visual alterations, then experience with the command line and git may be mandatory. If you want a designer to create good front-end visuals and UIs then merely pass off files to developers, then training on specific procedures you use may be necessary. My own personal experience would tell me that a designer who is fantastic at being creative and unique, isn't going to be that adept at live editing actual core dynamic code. That's not their focus. In fact, such a designer will often break dynamic content merely because they aren't overly familiar with development of the back-end -- that's simply not what they do.

And I'd ask myself, if I stick to finding candidates with good Command Line and git experience, how creative and capable will those individuals be as a designer?

As with all positions, it ultimately comes down to what you need. If you want a designer to be effective with visuals and UI building, then train someone you feel excels with those abilities.

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@Pope1402555

Is it reasonable to assume that designers should know how to use git
nowadays?


I would say no, especially if their coding starts and ends just at HTML. Unless you are directly hiring for these "checkbox skills" then it isn't reasonable to assume that they would have these skills. This question should be brought up in the hiring phase since your workflow hinges on it.


I'm wondering what kind of dev environment and tools are reasonable
for web designers?


Slack, FTP Clients, Web to Print Portals, Sketch, Dreamweaver, JQuery, Ruby on Rails and Angular come to mind. It really depends on the type of webdev being done and the job requirements. Webdev is such a fast changing landscape so it's hard to say what will be "trendy" or essential with much certainty.


We've hired someone who is familiar with css and html but not really
git, github, the command line.

We could obviously train this person, but I'm wondering if we should
train them.


YOU SHOULD 100% TRAIN THEM!

Seriously. If you are even considering not teaching your company's workflow and programs, you are setting yourself up for failure. Not all workflows are taught or know beforehand and they are usually unique to each company. Yes there's some crossover but not having a new person onboard from the get-go is like just handing car keys over to a 10 year old and just letting them lose.


I'm wondering how the workflow would operate if we didn't get this
person using git.


I don't know, only you can answer that, you haven't given enough detail on your daily operation. My recommendation is train them asap but work with your management to set-up a stop-gap workflow that a person can be started in while they are getting acclimated to the primary workflow.

Say, they would sftp to a remote server where they would work and then when they're ready, another person could do the git stuff?


What do you guys do?


It depends on the job, but I work locally and then we use IBM Watson automation along with some other online marketing services like Sales Force. It really all comes down to the client, your resources and what works for you.

There is no catch-all method for everyone.

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