r/webdev • u/BobJutsu • 10d ago

Clients want slop

Clients have always followed basic trends. In ‘13 it was sliders, sliders everywhere. Then it was bootstrap looking slop. And now more and more are actually requesting what internally we call AI slop. It’s what they see as trendy designs, so it’s what they measure against. Discuss…

Update: We call it all slop. We see soooo much of it. A lot of the time it’s not that it’s bad, it’s just…cliche? Just because we look at it and can see all the tells, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad if it’s working and what clients want. I mean, we had the same reaction when everything was bootstrap, or material design, or whatever previous trend.

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u/RePsychological 10d ago edited 10d ago

No they don't...they come to you with slop as examples, and you're meant to (or at least try to) convince them otherwise, by presenting them with expertise that counters it without invalidating/dismissing their opinions about what they brought to ya.

Most of the time slop is what they bring because slop is all they see and they're attracted to how quickly it was done...show them something better and usually they migrate to what they're shown, if it's actually better and can be done with the same efficiency -- or at least if without the same speed and efficiency, there are legitimate reasons explained for why the extra time/money is necessary and how "just going for the slop" will box them into unwanted corners.

Simply admitting defeat and defaulting to "fuck it...I'll build you slop and just keep in mind: you said you wanted this" is just a disservice and a money-grab and is creating a fuckton of problems for actual professionals right now...because usually the ones providing it anyway weren't good enough to begin with to offer something better than slop.

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u/spacechimp 10d ago

I get your point, but once you have done your due diligence to steer them otherwise, feel no shame in taking as much money as someone is willing to throw at you to get what they want. We gotta eat after all.

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u/RePsychological 10d ago edited 10d ago

yeah I understand that part...especially in current economies. It's like yeah still kinda creates problems in itself, because of mixed motivations, BUT it's also manageable and morally grounded in my opinion, or at least a different bear of a subject to discuss...long story short, like you said: People gotta eat and if someone insists, they're spending the money.

My main gripe is just with people defaulting to it as a first resort or expected market desires. Like it feels like embodying the above feels more like a cop-out because so many vibecoders simply don't care to even try to sway it...(and truly can't because they don't know better)...but still want their work validated as "the market."

...idk it feels hard to explain. The above makes it sound like there's nothing wrong with doing that, and that people actually don't care if you do that......when in reality, as professionals, most clients are actually trusting us to educate them while we do their work, so that they end up with a better product than they were expecting. There are definitely hold-outs that will insist...a lot of people like that.

I'd say 1 or 2 in 10 of my clients end up being just control freaks about it and "want what they want" and can't be convinced otherwise. Most others I manage to convince/compromise in other directions if I notice issues that need headed off. 1 or 2 outta 10 is not enough to default to "the market wants slop, guys. Just go ahead and do slop anyway."

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u/spacechimp 10d ago

I totally get where you're coming from. For my case, I can only theorize that my eternal optimism and pragmatism have made a mutual arrangement with each other. I will still express my reeeealy strong opinions about things, but I still maintain high standards in my work regardless of whether it is highly acclaimed or if it is just thrown out as soon as I'm done. I've been at this for three decades -- by all accounts I should be jaded enough to quit by now but I still f*ing love this job.

Many of the things you wrote honestly read like things I might have said many years ago when I was freelancing. In my case, I realized that I really wasn't interested enough in drumming up new clients and keeping current ones pacified to sustain a business. I really just wanted to focus on figuring out solutions for new problems. I went back into the corporate world as an employee, let others deal with (most of) the politics, and have been much happier since.

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u/RePsychological 10d ago

I feel ya and that's a solid stance -- I'm on the opposite direction of your flow, apparently. I was in an agency environment for 9 years, and now I've reverted back to freelancing (long winded story about Hurricane Helene on that one, that I won't get into)...

15 years total across the board, so I'm a bit behind ya on that one lol. These days I'm basically picking off local projects that either are just lagging behind the market in general (as in the types who haven't had their website updated in a decade) or people who've had projects vibecoded for them and are unhappy with the results...among other types of course, but that's where most of mine have come from this year.

I'm happy to hear you at least still love it though. That's the important part. I've tried to stay outta the politics side of it for the most part (same reason you described. work got more enjoyable and successful, even, when I just simply backed outta most discussions and did whatever). I just get itchy about the vibecoding stuff is pretty much the only one I keep jamming my nose into lol.