Content or design: which comes first?

[Destinie]

For me the design used to come first but now it's definitely the other way around. I feel that I need to figure out how much content I will have before I make the design. This is because if I have a very lengthy site I want to make sure that the design accommodates the text and makes it easier for someone to spend more time reading it. Plus, I feel like I waste my time designing for a site that doesn't have enough content to warrant me actually making it. I don't want to spend hours on a layout and eventually scrap it because the content just didn't work out. (It's happened a lot for me... /sob)

*high-fives other professional web designers lol*

[Robin]

I almost always develop content first. In fact, sometimes the design and layout of a site has been a mere afterthought--I think this might be my "Bachelor's of English-self" showing through rather than my "webdesigner-self". LOL!

I envy those who can spend hours and hours in image programs making beautiful layouts...(mostly because I have no patience for visual art LOL)

[Todd]

I hate making layouts. I know it's silly because I love making fan sites, but I am very content-oriented. My writing is my strength and the part of shrining I love the most. I definitely start sites by writing content first. There gets a point where I stop writing though and make the layout. It might be because I don't want a site waiting on that task I hate, or that I want to see some of the content I've written in a layout... Either way, I make my layout in the middle, and then go back to finishing up the content. By the middle I generally know what I need in terms of navigation and whatnot.

[Crystal]

I'm like the opposite Todd. I love designing layouts but writing content is my bane. I've gotten better at it I think but it's still a pain to do sometimes. I have a short attention span.

[Camy]

I always do the designs first. I make all them in Photoshop, which allows me to also create the home page like this. That way I have everything thought up.

The rest of the pages though aren't done this way since I just go with what goes with the design. I mostly do the character's information first, along with essays if any, and then go to the easy parts and done~.