It’s a little confusing to understand the difference between web designing and development, especially if you’re not too closely related to the field. Moreover, these two words are used interchangeably, making a distinct line even more blur.
I find myself asking, is that designing work, or does it come under development? What is involved in working with web design? Are web design and web development the same? Are they interchangeable terms with the same meaning? And the real definition gets hidden behind these jumbled thoughts.
So here it is, the difference between web designing and development to clear the distinction once and for all.
Web Designing
Have you ever come across a website that is so eye-catching that it stays in the back of your mind? That’s what a web designer does.
Making a website attractive with illustrations, gifs, and quirky designs are the work of the web designer. They take a story, and inspiration, or the root of what the website is, and turn it into an engaging and styled web page. There work is similar to that of the architect who designs your entire house before the engineer and the builder can turn it into a fully functioning home.
Web Designing brings life into the simple functioning of the web page. It takes time and brain to make a web page visually appealing so that it sticks out to its users. Now that we know they have to handle the design part of the work, let’s look at the other side of the coin, the user experience.
An impressive website that is hard to navigate and is only visually appealing won’t have people coming onto it. You may like the look, but the functioning loses in that battle. So, what does a web designer do here?
Web Designers have to take care of the fact that their designs should be user-friendly, ensuring that the website visitors are impressed but at the same time, can navigate through the process. A successful website has been made with a proper design strategy implemented in the early staged of the project.
Web Designing may sound like an easy job, but it involved decision-making, implementation, and creativity, to say the least. You have to start with the understanding of what the website is all about, curate a focus point and purpose and then move forward. All kinds of web design including moving company web designing involves sketching, drafting, which is then moved to wireframes, mock-ups, and then to the final approved design. You have to carefully design the website in components, taking care of the layout, the pixels, icons, typography, etc. It might be impossible to do this task without having professional training. You can always hire a digital marketing agency, like King Crescent, to get the job done.
Here are some of the skill invested while designing a website:
- Having a good grasp and knowledge about designing tools like Photoshop, CorelDraw, Illustrator, etc.
- A good understanding of user behaviour and experience which helps to carve the simplest route to achieve the desired function. This covers the layout, buttons, images and the general format of the website.
- Be aware of the latest design trends that are making a noise, while keeping it consistent with the popular web giants.
- Keep things in sync with the branding of the website, including the colour palettes, typography, and user interface.
Web Development
You have a smartly designed page, but it’s not functional. Would beat the purpose of having a webpage, right?
Web Development is the action where the designed page is converted into a fully functional live website. With the help of programming language and coding, the interface of the website is made into a functional one.
You can create a WordPress website if you’re just looking to make a blog page or a personal webpage, but for professional websites, you need a team of web developers.
Let’s further divide web developers into two categories; the front-end developers and the back-end developers.
Front-end developers have some basic knowledge about web designing as well as back-end developing, as they are the middlemen between them. The front-end developer builds the interface, inputs the codes, and makes the website into a functional one with the help of three main languages; Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript (JS).
With front-end developers, you now have a working website as per your desired layout, typography, animation, website architect, user-friendliness, and more.
Now we come to back-end developers. They are the ones who handle server data and requests. Back-end services are required for dynamic data. For eg: if you have an e-commerce website, and a person ordered from you, their address, order number, and other information will be stored in the backend. If you run a survey among your customers, the back-end will save the responses and you can sift through them.
Database connections are needed when the data stored need to be accessed at a later stage. Back-end developers then make use of languages like PHP, ASP.NET, SQL or MySQL to complete the task.
Let’s look at the skills required by web developers:
- Having a good grasp of computer languages like Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript (JS), PHP, ASP.NET, SQL or MySQL.
- Understanding how the designs have to function and coordinate with the web designer to implement the same.
- Have basic knowledge about colour combinations, font families, typography, etc.
- Be in touch with the market trend, and able to implement the same, if required.
Web Development and Web Designing are both integral works to curate a fully functional, well-designed website. You cannot have one without the other. A well-designed website without a good working won’t serve the purpose whereas a functional website that doesn’t attract the users won’t meet the decided goal.
I hope the distinction between web designing and web development is clear. In case of any doubt, feel free to drop a comment below.