Aesthetics vs. Design

This post may not directly relate to camera journalism, but in a course called advanced online journalism students are bound to have run into two types of Web sites: the good-looking, broken sites and the boring, navigable sites. Thus, ensues the tango between designers and programmers.

As the Web Editor for The Post, I've struggled to merge these boundaries the past two quarters. To make any cosmetic change, a simple headline color change for instance, means altering each section of the site or restructuring the entire template system by which it was built. A program will make the change, but then another will follow immediately after and the previous work may be voided.

Sites like blogger are nice for many reasons because it puts a sense of freedom of design and functionality into the user. The site says, "Pick this template and move whatever you want around-- you got a site!" It's a lot harder merging the two from the ground up and meet reader demand.

Through this post I didn't draw any conclusions, perhaps because I am still looking for some. How can a Web site have all the bells and whistles with half the time and frustration? (I won't accept money as an answer either.)