Start explaining about the structure of the html document, how the css styles the document, how this part of javascript has that effect, and in no time people will have a better idea of the complexity of our work (and not a bit more understanding of it).
Re:Dreaded Favors Asked of Web Designers
by isleyaardvark on Sunday March 14, 2010 @02:44PM
(#1191085)
That's very close to Parkinson's Law of Triviality, aka the Bike Shed concept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law_of_Triviality
Show somebody a patio that you built. They'll be able to see all the pieces, and how heavy they are, and how they all have to fit together just so; they'll be able to comprehend that it takes a lot of time to move all of those pieces around and make them fit together.
Show somebody the black box that is a website, or a computer program, however, and they can't even see the pieces, much less understand how they fit together, or how complicated they are.