August 28, 2003

Design Patterns for Contributors

James Robertson also pointed to a new Jared Spool article on Design Patterns. The problem Spool addresses is a familiar one: how to maintain some level of quality control when you have dozens or hundreds of people building pages on a big site. Spool says that approval workflows, templates, and styleguides aren't doing the job. The solution might be found in design patterns. As he describes it:

A design pattern is a document that describes a specific design problem, such as presenting a login screen or creating a new account. A typical pattern describes the problem, the chosen solution, the rationale behind that solution, related patterns that the designer should be aware of, and other relevant details, such as the results of usability testing.

Interesting idea, I think. But it does assume a certain skill level in the contributors. I've found that skill level is often not there, but the need to ensure quality and consistency remains. The best solutions I've seen either use server-side includes or CMS-driven templates. But, these solutions might not scale well, especially for more complex (ie, more than just "content") pages. In these situations, design patterns might be a good choice.