Interesting discussion over at The Autistic Cuckoo on whether you paint yourself into a corner by starting with the semantics when building a new site or not — or if you risk the exact same by diving straight into Photoshop; One Way to Design a Web Site. [via 456 Berea Street].
Personally I often take the approach suggested in the post, marking sections up without thinking about placement, then going over them again with the creative glove. Often I do this based on some simple drawings or a real design being made as I go. I can’t say I lean towards either side, however I really only have one focus: To keep out of the corners while settling on the best architecture possible; if you start coding to deal with information architecture, fine — if you start sketching to deal with communication and getting the message across, that’s fine too. As long as you don’t start coding because it’s easier or sketching because you’re focused too on the graphic part, just do whatever helps you focus on the right architecture for the site.