Distinguishing Between Design and Development in the Field of Web Design

Many times in the field of website design you hear the terms "website design" or "web designer", and "web developer"/"web development". These terms can be confusing to those not in the industry. I'd like to take this time to expound a little bit on what differentiates these two terms. The difference between design and development is mainly the same as form versus function- the web designer is interested in design aspects (the front end, or user interface), whereas the web developer's role is in implementing the functionality of the site (or how the site works, in other words). The functionality of the site is work that is done on the backend (i.e. behind the scenes), and the design is considered front end. A web designer normally is proficient in Photoshop, and ideally has a graphic design background. They should be very knowledgeable about color palettes, particularly those preferred in their niche, if possible, and about usability standards. They should also be very familiar with the selection of effective imagery, and creating visually stunning layouts. If they design for a specific niche, such as attorney web design, they should be very well versed in what color schemes are most effective, produce a superb first impression, and convey the best message the website can deliver. The reason for this is an attorney's website should contain much different imagery than a poker website, for instance. The images should always convey trust, dependability, and professionalism. They should also be knowledgeable in the field of website usability. This helps increase the effectiveness of the website and contributes highly to the ease of use. After gathering requirements, the next step in the process of attorney web design is having the web designer create a concept or comp, which is normally done using Photoshop. This mockup or concept is created in Photoshop and often times presented to a test audience prior to going to development. Often times the web designer is proficient in Flash as well, though there are Flash designers dedicated to this single task. Once the design is finalized, it is now handed off to the web developer. He or she then takes this created design and either hand codes it or uses a trusted WYSIWYG editor such as Dreamweaver. They develop the site by coding it in HTML, CSS, XHTML, PHP, etc. depending on the needed functionality. The web developer then implements all of the functionality that is behind the scenes such as shopping carts, search functions, and any database work.

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