Website Design vs Development: What's the Difference?

Website Design vs Development: What’s the Difference?

We all know how important it is for businesses to have an online presence in this digital era. Along with social media, having a website is undoubtedly a must-have for businesses to connect with customers online. 

Having said that, no online customer will buy from a business if their website is dull, boring, & non-responsive. This is where website design & development comes into the picture. If you want a strong online presence, we suggest you create a killer website to generate traffic & sales. Fusing these two elements will make your business go BOOM!

In this article, we’ve compared website design vs development along with some of their interesting aspects. So take a look.

What is Website Design?

The design of websites portrayed on the internet is known as website design. Rather than software development, it typically refers to the user experience parts of website creation. 

Web design comprises a website’s visual aesthetics & usability. It also consists of color scheme, layout, information flow, and anything else associated with the visual elements of user interface & experience.

What is Website Development?

Web development is the process of creating a website for the Internet. Web development includes everything from creating a single static page of plain text to creating large web apps, electronic companies & social network services.

Web development comprises building & maintaining the core structure of a website. 

Website Design vs Development

We’ve explained the major differences between website design vs development & what goes into creating them. 

Web DesignWeb Development
Focuses on the appearance & usability aspects of a websiteFocuses on the technical aspects like programming & coding of a website
More creative in natureMore technical in nature
Transform ideas into visually appealing designsTransform ideas into fully functional websites
Tools include adobe photoshop, illustrator, sketch, etc.Languages such as PHP, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Python, etc., are used.

These are the differences between web designs & web developments. However, the end goal is to create a visually appealing & fully functional website for a business. 

Let’s understand more in-depth about website design & website development to get the complete picture. 

Popular Web Design Tools

  • Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.)
  • Wix
  • Squarespace
  • WordPress
  • Adobe Dreamweaver
  • Figma
  • Canva

Popular Web Development Tools

  • GitHub
  • Chrome Developer Tools
  • Framer
  • Python/Django
  • Node JS
  • Visual Studio Code
  • Sass
  • Bootstrap
  • Frontend & Backend Frameworks

Types of Web Designers

There are 3 types of website designers. Let’s understand their roles briefly.

1. UX Designers
UX designers strive to make sure that the website is arranged in a way that engages users and provides a satisfying user experience. Their responsibility is to develop data-driven & human-centered designs.

2. UI Designers
A website’s design team should include UI designers as well. They emphasize human interactions with the website. More precisely, their job is to improve a website’s usability and optimize it to skyrocket conversions.

3. Visual Designers
Visual designers deal with a website’s visual components and layout. A visual designer works on a web design’s UI and UX aspects. A visual designer’s responsibilities focus on making the interface aesthetically beautiful & simple.

Types of Web Developers

There are 3 types of website developers. Let’s understand briefly what they do.

1. Front-end Developers
The Front-end of a website is a place where users interact with the website. Everything you see on the Internet, from fonts & colors to dropdown menus & sliders, is a combination of HTML, CSS & JavaScript that is controlled by your computer’s browser. 

Front-end developers have to code websites using coding languages & other CMS tools. They are responsible for the visual elements of a website. Thus, they have to work closely with graphic designers as well.

2. Back-end Developers
Back-end development is working on server-side software. It is concerned with everything that cannot be seen on a website. Back-end developers ensure that the website functions properly by focusing on databases, back-end logic, application programming interfaces (APIs), architecture, and servers.

3. Full-stack Developers
Last but not least, full-stack developers write codes for both the front & back ends of a website. They are quite familiar with how these components operate separately as well as together. Full-stack developers set up servers, code Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), & query databases. They also create web pages using CSS, HTML, & JavaScript.

Skills Required for Web Designers

  • HTML & CSS basic knowledge
  • Responsive & interactive design
  • Conversion Rate Optimization 
  • Wireframing & Mock-ups
  • Designs tools & software
  • Branding
  • Typography
  • Color theory
  • UI/UX Design

Skills Required for Web Developers

  • Attention to detail
  • Problem-solving 
  • Time management
  • Logical work approach
  • Computer skills
  • On-site SEO

Wrapping it Up

There is a notable difference between web designing & web development. In Simple, Website design is more about how the website looks. Once the website design is finalized, Website Development can start which would be a simple frontend static website or a full-fledged web app.

Both web designers & developers play an important role in a website’s creation. When combined, both these website creation aspects make a website come to life. 

If you are interested to learn more about website design or website development; feel free to visit our blog page. We’ve got tons of similar articles for you & more!

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Amin Memon

Co-Founder at Draftss.com & Abun.com. Proficient at leading cross-functional teams, managing multiple projects simultaneously, developing creative ideas and Marketing that work to help solve problems and build lasting brands across all channels.

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