Web Design vs. Web Development

Web design is generally used as a catch-all term for making any kind of website, and many people think of web design as a bit of a dark art. They don't know what's involved in the process, only that a website comes out at the end of it. You may or may not have heard of the term "web development", and even if you have, perhaps you don't know exactly what the difference is between a web designer and a web developer. In this article, we'll explain the difference between web design and web development.

Web Design

Web design is the process of using graphic design software such as Adobe Photoshop to design the look and feel of a website. A web designer is concerned with how a website looks rather than the inner workings and technical side of how it is built. During the design process the web designer will make decisions about what fonts, colour combinations and layouts will work best together. A good web designer will always start by getting to know the client and their business. In doing this, the web designer hopes to learn what the company wants to achieve through the new website, as well as what makes them tick so that each company's unique personality and ethos is carried through into the finished design.

The web designer will decide what services, features or benefits to feature prominently on the homepage of the website, which pages and sections are required, and generally be able to structure the information of the website in a way that makes sense to visitors. Once the initial design is completed, the client will have the chance to feed back any changes, eventually resulting in a design that the client is happy with.

The finished product as far as a web designer is concerned is an image file such as a PSD (Photoshop file), which is then passed on to a web developer.

Web Development

Web development is the process of taking a design created by a web designer, and turning it into a working website. A web developer will usually get given a PSD file or similar created by a web designer, and translate the layout, colours and graphics from the design into code. To do this, the web developer will use languages such as PHP and JavaScript to control the behaviour and functionality of the website, and HTML and CSS to recreate the look and feel of the design. The capabilities of a website can go far beyond that of a basic brochure website, and a web developer can essentially build any full-blown application within the web browser, ranging from games, to databases and much more. As an example of what's possible through web development, consider websites such as Facebook, Google Maps, Google Street View and Office 365.

Web design and web development aren't usually mutually exclusive however, and you will find that many web designers know a little code, and many web developers are also quite creative and can do a bit of design. At Pedwar, we offer all of the above, and will offer you full support and guidance from the very first interaction, through to design and into the full build of the website. And, it doesn't end there. We want to form long term relationships with our clients, and will also host and maintain the website too, and are always at the end of the phone when you need help.