First Ever Web Design Survey Results

rainhill writes "In April 2007, A List Apart and An Event Apart conducted a survey of people who make websites. Close to 33,000 web professionals answered the survey's 37 questions, providing the first data ever collected on the business of web design and development (PDF) as practiced in the US and worldwide. Among the findings: over 70% of people in this field earn less than $60K per year. There is little gender bias in salary. And over 70% of Web workers post to a blog; this number shows very little dropoff with age."

Re:Includes the whole group?!

[codeshack]

Probably it's not a bad sample. I don't trust any web designer that doesn't read A List Apart -- it's pretty much the creme de la web design sources, both in terms of style, technique, and best practices. My old boss used to mandate it.

And yes, I am a shill. But they have taught me many clever things, and turned me into a CSS Nazi to boot. And I filled out the survey way back when it started (feels like awhile).

Re:Low? 60k for web design?

[RealSurreal]

I don't think you understand what "web design" is. A web designer doesn't go near a sql server.

Re:Low? 60k for web design?

[timoni]

I work in SF as a web/UI designer and I make more than $60K. There's a huge scale in terms of website quality, front-end and backend, and you usually get what you pay for. (BTW I think you're underpaid.)

Re:And they made a PDF...

[ploafmaster general]

I never thought I'd say this, but R T F A. I know the post didn't link to the article itself, but I think we're all intelligent enough to go up a level or two in the URL to see the article itself.

Immediately below the download button you see:
"Findings From the Web Design Survey (1.6 MB PDF)"

I don't think 1.6 MB is too huge for us nerdy Slash-dotters with our high speed connections, especially when we've been warned. And I don't think any reader here can justify clicking the link without first knowing what file type it is.

Additional details about the PDF choice:
"Note: This PDF has been tagged for accessibility, however the graphics representing the complex charts do not yet have equivalents. An updated document will be available soon."

Anyway, they have the raw data available as well in multiple formats (with sizes indicated) so you can avoid charts if you want.

Sheesh.

Re:First ever?!

[The_Crowder]

Yeah, the title of this headline is completely misleading. The Usability Professionals' Association has been surveying professionals for several years. Go to their homepage [upassoc.org] and under News is the results (pdf warning) [upassoc.org] for the 2005 survey. Are these two surveys different? Yes. My point is that the title of this headline is completely misleading.

Re:And they made a PDF...

[Anonymous Coward]

In my day, we used characters for charts:

Option 1: @@@@@
Option 2: @@@@@@@@@@@@
Option 3: @@

That's beautiful, and don't ask me to draw you a pie chart, because I will.

Re:Low? 60k for web design?

[soliptic]

True, but RTFA: the report includes web developers, who almost certainly do, as well as information architects, usability consultants, project managers... it was open to the whole spectrum of web-related jobs.

Re:And they made a PDF...

[soliptic]

D'oh - I linked you to the wrong entry in the blog, sorry. (Although it is still on-topic, in that it's about this survey.) This is the one talking about the graphing [meyerweb.com].