Web Design or Web Development - What’s the difference? Introduction There is a lot of debate between web designing and web development. Does a business need both? In that case, that brings up questions on the required skill set for both during the process of building a custom website. To really answer this question, it is important to understand the difference between both or rather the purpose of web design and web development. Both roles however, web designers and web developers are integral to the overall web development process.
What’s the Difference? Web designers by their very name are responsible for the look and feel of the website, the graphical elements, and design components which will appeal not just for the product and company, but also represents the needs of the end user in mind. Based on the requirements of the website, the designers come up with a number of wireframes for consideration, including typography, color themes, logo designs and icons. In order to deliver these design requirements, Web designers are usually competent in the use of design software such as Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator to name a few. Certain organizations even have specialized user experience designer roles, whose key responsibility is to design highly functional websites, which are user friendly. By user friendly it means, building intuitive layouts, navigation, frames where the user does not feel lost, but is rather firmly engaged with the website.
A web developer on the other hand has two types of roles to choose from. You have the front end developer and back end developer. As its name suggests, the front-end developer is responsible for coding the pages the user sees while interacting with the website. So primarily, the skill sets will include coding in HTML, CSS, and Javascript, which are industry standard requirements for this role and need. The backend developer on the other hand, exhibit competency on the server side technology piece. This includes in-depth coding experience and knowledge about PHP, Java, ASP, and Ruby for instance. Their profile can also extend to mobile app development or building mobile architecture based on their programming familiarity. The responsibilities of the back-end developer may also include server administration and database management. In essence, web developers are technically in the forefront of the project leading mobile architecture or web development projects.
Hence it is obvious that both web designers and wed developers have a definite
role to play in the entire web development process. How these highly skilled individuals are used depends on the goal of the project at hand. For example, if the project involves building a custom website with specific technological requirements, then web developers will be imperative in leading the project. It does not mean that the web designer has no role to play. Your hiring will be minimal for this project for this role. However, if the project is heavily into recreating or redesigning the layout, colors, themes, and look and feel, then web designers will have a prominent role to play. However, there is no hard and fast rules about combining both roles and responsibilities.