What is the difference between web site design and web site development?
In the simplest form the definition for what a web site designer does is to make a web site look nice, make sure it is easy to use, and ensure coding meets today’s standards. A web developer adds the interactive components. We will look at the various aspects that a web site designer and developer do that make their jobs different from each other and how they compliment each other.
A web site designer is mostly concerned with the aesthetics of any size web site. A designer will work with the company’s corporate colours, usually from the logo and other printed materials, to devise a colour scheme for the site. They will also speak with company representatives and review promotional materials to figure out the “feel” that the company wants. Their intention is to have the web site fit into the corporate culture and represent the company as consistently as their other materials do.
In the instance that the company does not have a solid corporate look and feel the web site designer can make suggestions to improve upon their corporate branding so that their message is as clear on their promotional materials as it will be on the web site.
Web site designers are not only tasked with ensuring that the company’s look and feel is portrayed clearly, they need to ensure that the web site is planned appropriately. This means that the designer will work with the company to figure out the number of pages that the web site requires and how the information will be organized within the site. This process is very important as it is the cornerstone in structuring the site. A designer cannot develop a web site design without knowing the amount of information you need the site to hold.
Web site planning leads to what the web industry calls usability. This involves analyzing how easy or difficult a web site is to navigate through in order to find what you’re looking. A web site designer, now knowing the number of pages needed for the company’s site, will devise one or more navigation options in order to ensure that web site visitors can access the necessary information in a limited number of clicks. Navigation options include a main navigation on the top or left of the site, a navigation system at the bottom of the site, breadcrumb links (small links above the main content to show the path that you have come to get to the page you are on), a quick links area on the right of site and of course links throughout the web site content to different areas as required.
Lastly the web site designer should be concerned about making sure that the web site coding meets industry standards. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops specifications and guidelines that designers should program web sites to. While there are many sites that are not standards compliant, getting a web site that is programmed to those standards can help in the future as newer web site browsers conform more to these standards.
A web developer is someone who is brought into a web site project because more complex functionality is required. Developers can create everything from having an online form submit to a company’s email address, adding and removing events to a web site easily, password protected areas, or building an online searchable product catalogue and shopping cart system. Developers can work in a variety of programming languages (i.e. ASP, ASP.Net, PHP, CFM) and interact with various databases (i.e. Microsoft Access, MySQL, MS SQL Server 2000). Each programming language has its merits but all desire to achieve the same goal in the end. The database that a developer will recommend for a company’s project will depend on the complexity of the project at hand.
The web developer will be interested in what kind of information the company is going to be displaying on the site and what needs to happen with it. For example, if the company had a list of events to maintain on their site, it might be easier to have a database manage the event details. Then the events could be displayed on the home page with a title and date for web site visitors to click on to see more details. The events could be searchable, sorted by date, and removed automatically when the event date has passed.
With information from the company as to what they want the information to do, the developer will design the database in the most efficient way possible, allowing for future growth for the company so that the database does not need to be designed from scratch when alterations need to be made. With the database created and populated with the correct information the developer will then program the database to “speak” with the web site.
In the event that the company would like to maintain their database information without the assistance of the web developer, the developer will then create administration tools for the company to be able to update aspects of the site themselves.
Building all these applications uses very complex and highly specialized skills that developers have. They are responsible for building applications that are sturdy, reliable and bug-free. Most developers will have a system they use in order to ensure that the highest quality product is delivered to the company.
Both a web site designer and web developer can work independently from each other however the best results are to be had when they work together as a team. The web site designer will design the site but also needs to understand the added functionality that the developer will be creating so that the design accommodates for those components. The look and feel of forms, error messages and database created content are designed by the web site designer. The developer takes the recommended design elements and implements them into the functionality of the site. Throughout the design and development process testing for standards compliance and proper site functionality is being done by both parties.
In closing, depending on the size of your company’s project, the skill sets of a designer, developer or both might be needed. Hopefully this article has given you the knowledge to know what you need to look for on your future project.
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