[jaimzob]

Partially, the problem is that "designer" is such an elastic word. You could argue that an interaction designer should be able to code, at least enough to make a realistic prototype - if a design isn't interactive then how can it be an "interaction" design?

Coding is less critical for visual designers though. It's better if the visual designer can render his design in html/css (or whatever), but you probably don't want to turn down an otherwise brilliant visual designer if they can't.

The "should designers code" question seems to come up again and again because interaction and visual design gets rolled into one discipline (and often one person).

[davedx]

I disagree interaction designers need to learn to code these days. There are tools.

http://www.axure.com/