pissing people off?

At work, I’ve managed to catch up (pretty much) on the really big projects that have been filling my plate for, oh, the last two years … and for the last few days have been able to do some of the things I should do daily but rarely actually get to. Most notably, I’ve been able to do some browsing of the great big university site and see what some people are doing right (for them, dripping-with-praise e-mails!), and what many people are doing wrong.

Now, I have a good relationship with the people I work with and support — I do. As a group, they almost all respect me and my rather strong opinions about good principles of Web design and development. They may not agree, but most tend to ask my input when they’re struggling and respond pretty well when I give them unsolicited advice. Again, I don’t have the time or opportunity to do that often, but …

Well. Today, I’ve sent out at least a half-dozen e-mails to people to let them know they’ve screwed up. In one instance, I told a director (same level as me) that a document on the department’s site was completely inappropriate for a public page. In several others, I chastised for failing to follow one of my biggest principles — ALWAYS have a unique page title for every single Web page. No duplication allowed.

As the director and go-to person for all things (public) Web-related where I work, I have to tread a very fine line between insisting on professionalism and competence, and allowing for creative freedom and personality. Because I’ve been doing this for nearly a decade, I have extremely strong opinions about what constitutes good Web design / development. For example, a couple of nights ago I put together (with Daniel hovering over my left shoulder) what amounted essentially to a “Coming soon” Web page for his parents’ new rental property LLC. I did it quickly and without much fluff or fanfare (or graphics), but I did employ all of my most strongly held principles — no background color, Verdana font for everything, etc. His dad mentioned last night that he’d rather see it in Times New Roman. My knee-jerk? Scream in horror and run in the opposite direction.

I resist doing that when I’m dealing with the people at work, because I do want them to have the sense that I’m not dictatorial in my Web dogma. I freely and elaborately explain, in my training classes, why I feel what I do — and honestly, for every preference I’ve got, I have a long list of reasons describing why — but then tell them that ultimately, the choice is theirs. It’s a tough balance.

Meanwhile, I’m working on writing a mammoth Web style guide for the 150ish people who turn to me for assistance. In large part, this “style guide” will be as much a catalog of my stated preferences and explanations as it is a guide on how to do things.

I just hope the bump up in my “suggestions” doesn’t lose them to me. I’m not saying that’s likely… probably, I’m just being paranoid.