Why do you think you're at the mercy of the programmers? Why can't you learn to build and deploy the code yourself? Seems like a bit of a bottleneck to put all your changes through a programmer.
Everyone has their skills. Not all designers are coders, even knowing how to efficiently create HTML and css isn't something that everybody needs to be great at.
I agree it is helpful that designers know the basics of html and css, but that isn't their job.
It's like asking a developer why they aren't also a designer. Why not just learn how to design.
Having said that I've met a few designers who are AMAZING programmers as well (or vice-versa) but it is a very rare and valuable combination.
I'm learning some design now through designlab (just started), but I likely won't become an amazing designer, I just want to get better and possibly improve my abilities to see what the designers see and I'm missing, and hopefully improve my ability to work and communicate with designers.
