Recognizing, knowing and having an eye for good design is important for a web developer!
Look at these 2 screen grabs of an Apple.com web page.
Both these web pages have EXACTLY the same HTML code, exactly the same Javascript code, and have the same code library/frameworks. They function the same. From a developer’s point of view, they are EXACTLY the same page, “HTML and Javascript code-wise” speaking. Even a git file diff will show nothing amiss.
The only difference is the lack of CSS styling on the left version (or rather, the minimal and ugly CSS styling) vs. the original Apple design on the right (with its original CSS styling).
I believe anyone (i.e. you as the audience, and you as a developer) can notice the difference right away between the 2 web pages above. Both web pages elicit a different “emotional” connection. The left version makes you think you’ve landed on a company that doesn’t care for details. The right version makes you think you’ve landed on a company that is very attentive to the smallest detail. The left version seems to be a fly-by-night company or a fake company. The right version looks trustworthy and professional.
Which web page version do you think will earn the trust of customers to enter their credit card number and buy something.
Now imagine that Apple company is your client or your company’s client. The web page on the left was your final deliverable. Do you think your client will be happy and hire you (or your company) again in the future? – probably not, and you and your brogrammers will soon be looking for a new job.
Then all the programmers will be asking “What went wrong? We’re using the latest coding practices, ES6 baby, JSLint, HTML5 verified and passed all validations, npm, nodejs, with workflow to the max using Babel, grunt, sass, etc. etc. Using Git, Kanban, Agile – we were rocking and producing perfect HTML and javascript code!!!”
Ahhh yes… but CSS and “design stuff”??? I don’t get those, they’re boring stuff. CSS is so Illogical, I don’t get CSS code. Our functional js code programming is more important. Our test-driven development shows all our tests passed, The site works perfectly, that’s the most important thing. See? No problem. You can place an order and checkout successfully… "