Sass, Compass, Grunt, Jekyll, Cuthert, Dibble and Grubb.
Tools are everywhere these days. All designed to make our job easier. I’m all for it. If something can reduce time taken, then that is a good tool. However, the concern for me is that we might be becoming a bit too hung up on tools.
The aim of the game we are in is to produce websites or apps. They will contain HTML, CSS and various scripts. How we get to that goal is up to us in reality.
No matter what tool is used, the outcome will be the same. It’s no different to opening a toy train with a screwdriver or a knife. You can add a new battery and away you go.
I’m the first to admit, I’m not great with technical stuff. Command line I can get by but still get nervous adding new stuff. I don’t really understand a lot of the tools and how they work, although once shown, it’s not too bad. Basically, I just don’t really get it.
I used to be hung up on it. I felt inferior to others. I thought I looked daft and not worthy of the job I was in. Some people were ok about it but some looked at you as if you were a poor dev who was out of his depth.
Yet here I was producing the same work, just a different way.
Since I switched to the UX team, I’ve done less with dev work. I use different tools now. I don’t feel inferior as there seems to be less “snobbery” surrounding the latest stuff.
We should never lose sight that a tool is a tool and that there is more than one way to hammer in a nail.