Namit Jaitly
If you are looking to get into IT and make a future in the business, you need to know about different IT fields available and different skills required for them. Even in website creation there are two major fields that are co-dependent on each other Web Designing and Web Development. To help you determine which career path you would be better suited for, ask yourself which aspects of website creation you are most drawn to. For example, do you prefer visual design or are you intrigued by the idea of coding a website? If it’s the latter, a role as a web developer will probably be more fulfilling.
I also recommend exploring the career progression opportunities, industry demand, and potential for growth each role offers. A quick internet search will show you that there are plenty of places to find web design work, as well as web development jobs on both the freelance and agency levels. It is crucial to consider the financial aspect which requires you to evaluate the skill level required for both fields. Naturally the field with combination of more complicated and sophisticated skills will help you charging more and providing better work to clients.
They may sound similar but web developer and web designer operate on two very distinct areas. While the web designer focuses on the designing and the front end aspect, the part which will be visible to the user and help creating a detailed and immersive look. The web developer on the other hand, is to take the design provided by the designer and coding it into a perfectly working efficient website. So there is a connection between the two fields but they operate on completely different aspects i.e., front-end for web designer and back-end for web developer.
While deciding whether you want to be a web developer or a web designer you must study clearly the different requirements of skills and technologies in both fields. Web development is more related to the technical side, the mathematical algorithm and logical side of the projects while on the other hand, web designing is linked to the designing and the creative end of the web development that will involve your creativity more and the logic and algorithm less. You must evaluate your own interests and try to co-relate them with the requirements and specifications of both the fields.
WEB DESIGNER
Web designing is one of the most important tasks in creating website, a designer’s role involves creating and designing the UI and layout of a website. Their goal is often to make sure the site is both visually pleasing and user friendly and encourages visitors to stay around for as long as possible. In addition to the general framework and layout structure, this also means considering and constructing conversion-generating elements, as well as designing web pages in a way that translates well across various devices.
A web designer’s job also requires a significant amount of research and testing. It is critical to ensure that the website is designed in a way that meets the expectations of users and client specifications. A web designer must also consider how their design will affect the website’s coding. Designers create a site structure and mock-up, which developers then code to make it a reality.
Types of Web Designers
Web designers can be listed in three major categories:
- UX- UX designers have the responsibility to make sure that the website is being designed in a way that it engages the users and creates a good impression upon the first look. UX designers usually have to conduct a lot of research and gather crucial data that involves testing and finalizing the pan for the website layout.
- UI- UI designers are also involved in the layout and prioritizing that the website is user friendly and maintains a sufficient amount of user interactions and connecting the pages. UI designers view the layout from the users perspective and make sure the website will receive a good feedback.
- Visual Designer- Visual designers make sure that the website has enough visual elements and that the website is not too bland. They make sure that the visuals embedded or used match to the theme and have context behind them.
WEB DEVELOPER
The primary responsibility of a web developer is to create and maintain the core structure of a website. Their job entails a great deal of technical work, including the use of complex coding and advanced programming languages. In a nutshell, they turn the ideas and concepts laid out by designers into real, live, and fully-functional websites. The primary responsibility of a web developer is to create and maintain the core structure of a website. Their job entails a great deal of technical work, including the use of complex coding and advanced programming languages. In a nutshell, they turn the ideas and concepts laid out by designers into real, live, and fully-functional websites.
It may be useful to compare the role of a web developer to that of another profession, such as construction, in order to gain a better understanding of it. A web developer is like a construction company for a new house. The developer takes the architect’s (web designer’s) design plans and blueprints and lays the foundation to ensure a functional, sound structure is in place.
Types of Web Developers
- Front-end Developers:
Front-end Developers are implied wit performing the job and coding on the front end or the user end of the website. Languages used by front-end developers are CSS, HTML, JavaScript and CMS (Content Management System). Front end developing involves coding and developing the visual side of the website, creating a website’s layout and making it visually pleasing and user friendly.
- Back-end Developers:
Back-end developers code the database and server using advanced programming languages such as PHP, C#, Java, Ruby, and SQL, NodeJS and other several frameworks. This can also be known as behind-the-scenes side of the website programming developing the server end of the website. The users of website cannot see this end but the website will be unable to perform in the absence of a sufficient back-end.
- Full-Stack Developers:
The third and final type of web development is full-stack, in this type both front-end and back-end is developed by the programmer. A full stack developer has sufficient knowledge of both designing and developing aspects of the website, and knows all the languages and frameworks involved in the designing and developing parts of a website. A full stack developer can be considered the complete package as he has the creative ability and knowledge to prepare a good website design and also has the logical and algorithm knowledge to develop a clearly defined and error free back-end.
I hope this information can help the readers in understanding the basic differences between web designing and web developing. Being a full stack development student myself, I realize how important it is to not only understand the relation between web designing and web development but also to respect the co-dependency as a good website can only be created with a combination of both an attractive user friendly design and proper language coding, done with efficiency to support the design.
Written by Namit Jaitly
Web Development Trainee@NSPL RTC
Intern@NSPL