Choose your right career path between Web designing and Web development.
Is Web Design and Web Development the Same?
If you are looking for a career path in web technology, you should know the difference between a web developer and a web designer. You must already be familiar with these terms, but most beginners fail to get their essence. If you are confused between the two words or need some in-depth insights, then you have landed at the right place as this is the main focus of our blog. So, please continue reading.
In the initial stage of learning web technologies, most designers and developers get confused between these two terms and often use them interchangeably. And in my case, I assumed a designer designed the website and a developer wrote the code for it.
Well, I can’t say that I was wrong there, but it still requires a little more nuance since most modern-day designers hold basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. And as far as frontend developers are concerned, they are responsible for coding the complete layouts of a website. So, let’s dig into these two concepts and know their types, skills, roles, and differences.
What is the Web?
WWW is an abbreviation for World Wide Web and contains multiple web pages and websites hosted on the Internet. Web pages written in HTML are websites linked via hyperlinks.
The web browser engages with the server as it receives an HTTP request, retrieving a copy from the server on the client-side. The data is transversed across the Internet using TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol).
Who is a Web Designer?
We can say that web designers are those who transform an idea, or a story, into a visually aesthetic design such that the viewers can have a better user experience as they navigate through the website. So, the main focus of designers is the feel and the look of the website. It is similar to how an architect creates a blueprint of our house. The web designers model the layout of the website so that a web developer can start developing it.
And a good web designer needs to have both graphic as well as basic technical skills. They should have the ability to anticipate how a specific layout will look like (the graphic design) and how it will function when it’s programmed (conversion of a blueprint into a working website).
Types (Job Profiles)
1. User Experience Designer: They make sure that the website keeps the visitors engaged. They examine data before finalizing any design of the website. They also run complex tests and restructure the websites whenever needed to keep the user experience optimal.
A good UX designer needs to understand the importance of content hierarchy and know what makes a successful end-product. A UX Designer would succeed when a user follows through their predetermined path and has a positive experience with the product. It allows the visitor to rapidly and conveniently access the information they need according to their need.
2. UI Designer: Another aspect of web design is UI design. In addition to the experience provided by the UX designers, the UI designers prioritize interactions, i.e., deal with user interactions. They make sure that users can interact with elements present on the website. A UI is everything that a visitor sees when they access a website, and it should be designed according to the user’s expected workflow. The UI designer’s primary role is to create consistency throughout the product by drafting an intuitive interpretation of the wireframes presented by the UX designer. These two designers would be working together side by side throughout the longevity of the project.
A typical UI designer would take the strategically made wireframes from the UX Designer and begin working on the UI components for the product. The UI designer would spend most of his time experimenting with the components and answer questions like: “How would the buttons appear?” “How would the buttons appear when they get clicked?” “How would the buttons appear when they are hovered over?” These tedious interactions could seem small and unnecessary, but they might make or break the usability of a website or application.
3. Visual Designer: The combined duties of UI and UX designer makes a separate profile of a Visual designer. He has to create interfaces that are both aesthetically pleasing and convenient to use. Their skills involve both creativity and programming.
Most designers use plenty of tools, software, and programs to achieve the result of a visually appealing website. The crucial ones can be designing and editing software and programs, like Adobe Photoshop, for example. They may engage themselves in using stock photography resources, as well as image optimization and compression tools. They might even use CMS such as WordPress, and a website builder platform like Elementor. Additionally, the usage of Wireframe and prototype tools assist the designers in visualizing the site’s framework and then create mockups and models to test throughout the development process.
Skills
We don’t need to have a formal qualification to get into this field as a Web designer, so one recommends having prior experience in the design field or training in web designing software through university or self-learning.
Some of the skills that need to be acquired by Web designers are:
- Basic designing tools: They should have a working knowledge of designing tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.
- UX/UI And Visual Design: People often judge a website based on its look and feel, which means that a Web designer has to master his UI and UX. It can be applied using various tools like grid systems, color psychology, typography, and web fonts. Along with this, they also have to ensure the responsiveness of the views for different devices.
- HTML and CSS: It’s not mandatory, but one must have basic knowledge of these packages since they can add up to your skills.
- Time Management: This aspect is essential since you will be working in a fast-paced environment where continuous creations, iterations, and developments will be needed.
- Communication: A designer should also have good communication skills as this will enable them to convey all sorts of technical information clearly and transparently. If your colleagues and clients can connect with you better, it will directly boost your designing technique and aspirations.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): As you advance through learning new skills to become a Web designer, you should also know how SEO works and how you can use it to make your website SEO-friendly.
- Content Management System (CMS): They should also adopt the knowledge of CMS, which is a tool that helps to develop the content of a website without the need to write its code. Some basic features of CMS include content creation, content storage, workflow management, publishing.
Roles
The key responsibility of a web designer is to ensure that the layout should be appealing to the audience they are targeting and hence, catch their attention. But apart from this main concern, they include other aspects which are covered below:
- Understanding the client requirements and communicate regularly with them.
- Analyze creative ideas with clients like incorporating new functionalities or features into websites.
- The visual structure should be such that it ensures it’s in line with the company branding policy.
- Making detailed website specifications while specifying design guidelines, standards, and best practices.
- Consistently testing and improving the layout/design of the website such that it meets the current requirement.
- Good hands-on on graphics, animations, and manipulating digital photographs.
- Showing design ideas using various graphical tools such as user flows, process flows, site maps, and wireframes.
- Working with other web professionals, including web developers and graphic designers.
- Preparing design plans and presenting the website layout once the structure is ready.
- By providing post-sales technical support.
- Being in touch with recent design trends by undertaking Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activities.
Who is a Web Developer?
A web developer is someone who is involved with the development using a client-server architecture. The languages involved in development are HTML, CSS, JavaScript in the client-end and PHP, Java, Python, Node.js for the server-end. In addition to this, different protocols are in use for communication.
A web developer builds and maintains the complete structure of the fully functional website using programming paradigms. The complexity of the programming aptitude involves high-end analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. It requires coding, configuring the server and database, testing, debugging, post-launch functionalities, hosting, and maintenance. A web developer should have solid technical skills and a complete understanding of the concepts.
Types (Job Profiles)
1. Frontend Developer
The frontend developer is liable for making the look, feel, and intelligent segments of a site. They are frequently confused for a website specialist and are responsible for placing the text, pictures, and tones on a site when we see them on a telephone, tablet, or PC. Do you see a change when you hover over it? Or how a popup seems when you click on something on a page? It makes you a front-end developer. They ensure all that you see is coordinated, stylishly satisfying, and functional.
2. Backend Developer
The backend developer is also an essential part of web development. They are the working hand for server-side technologies. They are responsible for building up the infrastructure of a website and keeping it running. They maintain the interactivity as well as coordinate the working between front-end and back-end.
3. Full-Stack Developer
The full-stack developers are remarkable designer types as they can program and work on both frontend and backend portions of a site. They can make a whole working, powerful site as they comprehend the two closures of web improvement. Full-stack developers will, in general, have the ability to code in numerous programming languages with their insights and experience. They are the most functionally available, compared to the front-end and back-end engineers during the improvement cycle. They are also responsible for the deployment, hosting, and maintenance.
Skills
- HTML: Hypertext Markup Language is used to develop web pages and their contents.
- CSS: Cascading Style Sheet is needed to style the HTML document. It also describes how the content of the pages should be on display.
- JavaScript: It is a high-level and lightweight programming language used to build the logic of web pages.
- jQuery: It is a JavaScript library used for manipulation and event-handling of the HTML document.
- React: It is a JavaScript framework used for building interactive components and makes the development efficient.
- Angular: It is a JavaScript framework used for web application development.
- Java: It is a high-level and class-based programming language used to build web applications.
- PHP: It is a scripting language used for web development.
- Ruby and Ruby On Rails: It is an open-source programming language used for building web applications.
- Python: It is an object-oriented and functional programming language used for web development, data analysis, AI, etc.
- C#: It is a web application that runs on the .NET framework.
- MySQL: It is a relational database management system used for data handling and data warehousing.
- MongoDB: It is a database based on documents and stores them in JSON format.
- SEO: Search Engine Optimisation is used to improve the visibility of the website on the internet.
- Testing: It is required to check web applications for the availability of bugs, security, performance, etc.
Roles
- Regulate meetings with customers or executives to examine the necessities, plan, and usefulness of a site or interface.
- Incorporate blueprints, sound, and video into the website.
- Make and test applications, interfaces, and route menus for a website.
- Compose code for the site, utilizing programming dialects like HTML or XML.
- Collaborate with others to analyze the site.
- Monitor the incoming traffic of the website.
Web Designer vs Web Developer: What is the Difference?
Hopefully, now you can easily differentiate between a web designer and a web developer. To bring everything together, let’s briefly break down the significant distinctions between these two roles:
- Designers focus on the appearance and usability of the website that is necessary for ensuring a solid UX and UI. Whereas developers focus on the technical aspects of the project, such as programming and coding. The designer’s vital role is to conceptualize the idea and appearance on a website while creating a mockup based on visual, UX, and UI elements. Whereas the developer’s role is to determine whether the idea is financially and technically feasible and if it so, they program and code the site.
- Web designers usually use design editing software such as Adobe XD, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc, and CMS like WordPress, and a website builder such as Elementor, along with wireframing and prototyping tools. While the web developers use tools and programs that include coding libraries and frameworks like React, Angular, Node.js, etc., code versioning like Github, and the issue tracking platform such as Jira.
- Web developers need a considerable amount of logical thinking, technical knowledge which includes understanding complex programming languages and frameworks. Comparatively, a web designer needs less technical knowledge but must have strong intuition, creativity, and imagination.
- The average salary per annum for freshers who are web designers is assumed to be Rs 2,85,645. Whereas for freshers who are web developers, it is Rs 3,08,040.
- In terms of freelancing, web developers expect a broader market in contrast to web designers as the clients prefer designers for long-term projects. As clients prefer consistency in design, they believe in hiring designers for the long term rather than developers who can manage projects independently while keeping clients in the loop for an update.
Conclusion
Finally, we can say that both web designers and web developers play a critical role in designing, developing, and maintaining websites. They have an interdependent role in delivering quality products. However, they differ in terms of technicalities. And we must be well aware of these before setting our foot in the industry. Having a good understanding is helpful for us in planning out our career paths while focusing on our strengths and aptitude.
And there we have it. I hope you have found this useful. Thank you for reading my blog. And thanks to Sana Eram for helping me edit and improve the blog.
References
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