Just because you can, in your own language
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- Posted: December 13, 2010
It's thrilling to have so many people in the web design community picking up on one of my favorite teaching phrases:
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
It covers everything in web design, possibly as well as another favorite, "It Depends."
It makes you stop and think before adding that nifty cool widget that doesn't address the site strategy, that unsupported CSS3 eye candy, or combining CMSs into a single installation.
It also adds an extra layer of satisfaction for those occasions where we decide to do something anyway, even though we know it's not the best idea in the world, but heck, we CAN do it so we're DOING it!
There's a new hashtag out there on Twitter today, #jbycdmys, so use it to identify those occasions that are classic examples of people who really shouldn't be doing something in their website designs.
And for additional fun, I asked for translations of this phrase into favorite languages.
Croatian
@KristianMagda: Sam zato što možeš, ne znači da moraš.
Danish
@ot2sen: Bare fordi du kan, betyder det ikke at du skal.
Dutch
@Torettox84: Het is niet omdat het kan, dat het ook moet.
German
@christianhent: Nur weil Sie es können, müssen Sie es nicht auch tun. (formal)
@christianhent: Nur weil Du es kannst, musst Du es noch lange nicht tun.
@JPodium: German Version 1: Nur weil man es kann, muss man es noch lange nicht tun.
Greek
@nikosdion: Επειδή μπορείς να κάνεις κάτι δεν σημαίνει ότι πρέπει να το κάνεις κιόλας.
Hungarian
@intercisa: "Attól még, hogy megteheted, nem jelenti azt, hogy meg is kell tenned!" by Robert Petras
Irish
@meggio: Díreach mar is féidir, nach bhfuil i gceist agat ba chóir dhuit.
Portuguese (Brazilian)
@maskitto: Só porque voce pode fazer algo, não significa que deva fazê-lo.
Romanian
@christianhent: doar pentru că puteţi nu înseamnă că ar trebui să faci.
Spanish
@nightshiftc: Porque puedes no quiere decir que debes.
Code (I love geeks!)
@dakruhm: if ($can == true) {$should = rand(0,100);}
@torkilj: PHP: $fubar = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username=".$_GET['username']." AND password=".$_GET['password']);
And Just Plain Silly
@mathiasverraes: I can haz cheeseburger no meanz I shud haz cheeseburger #lolspeak
@James50000ft: ustjay ecausebay ouyay ancay oesn'tday eanmay ouyay ouldshay - Pig latin, my other language.
@scottbehrends: l33t speak: ju$7 83c@u53 Y0u c@N, d03$n'7 M3@N y0u 5h0uLD