What is the Difference Between Web Design and Development?
Web design and development have come a long way in the last two decades.
A polished website requires a team of people to launch, and we’re going to discuss two critical roles on that team: web designers and developers.
While designers and developers frequently collaborate, they typically perform different tasks to get a website online. It is possible for someone to be both a designer and a developer simultaneously, but these are typically two separate roles.
Web Design Vs. Web Development
The focus is on the distinction between web design and web development. Web design is concerned with creating the look and feel of a website using design tools, whereas web development is concerned with bringing that look and feel to life using programming languages.
What are Web Design and Development?
Let's begin with a comparison of web design and web development.
Definition of Web Design
Web design is concerned with the creation of various graphical elements for use on the internet. Designers may create infographics, ads, and logos, but a website's visual look and feel is a major focus — and the focus of this blog.
Web designers typically do the following:
- Prototypes of wireframe designs
- Create landing pages, inner pages, and home pages.
- Build and redesign websites in collaboration with developers and project managers.
Designers typically focus on how to provide a good user experience (UX) for site visitors when working on websites.
They may use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator to create the elements that will comprise your website.
UX design is a new type of web design that focuses on making sure everything you create is designed with the user in mind. UX designers ensure that websites are designed for different devices and that the layout is practical and simple to use.
Designers may have some knowledge of code, such as HTML and CSS, but the majority of their work focuses on the appearance of a website.
Definition of Web Development
So, while web designers are concerned with the visuals of a website, web developers are concerned with bringing those visuals to life.
They will create the core functionality of a website using various programming languages such as HTML, PHP, and Java. What happens when someone clicks a button, for example, or how the main navigation loads when a user scrolls or clicks on it, are examples of functionality.
To get your website online and accessible to users, a developer may collaborate with a content management system (CMS). Among the most common systems are:
- WordPress
- Joomla
- Drupal
A significant portion of a web developer's time is spent on website maintenance, which includes things like upgrading the CMS, managing security, and providing web support for any issues that arise.
If you want to improve your website, consider web design and development to be two interconnected areas. In most cases, it is not designer vs. developer. You must know how to design a website as well as have a modern website that works well for users.
What Does a Web Design and Development Agency Do?
When you work with a company that specializes in both web design and development, you get the best of both worlds.
First, you have a team dedicated to ensuring that your website is modern and captures your brand's identity. Second, you can be confident that your website will accomplish your goals.
Do you want a homepage animation? Designers and developers can help with this. Do you want to make interactive graphs that tell stories? Designers and developers can also do this.
If you hire a full-service agency, they will almost certainly include search engine optimization (SEO) in your web design package so that more people can find you when they use Google, Bing, or another search engine. SEO is critical because organic search accounts for more than half of all web traffic.
To be successful, your website must look good, provide a good user experience, and be search engine optimized. A good design and development team will ensure that you meet all of these requirements.
Your web design team, which is typically led by a project manager, will collaborate with you to determine your needs and desires so that you can get the website you've always wanted. They'll spend time learning about your company and its competitors so you can be confident that your website accurately represents it.
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