Hi and welcome to this week’s web design video blog. After recently checking out our blog’s Google Analytics data, I noticed that one of our most popular articles is an old one – and it’s titled ‘what’s the difference between a web designer and a web developer’. As this post was only a couple of paragraphs long, we’ve decided to elaborate further in a video blog – and hopefully provide a more detailed answer in our own words.
So before we start, Nick is exactly right when he says ‘In our own words’. You could ask tens of designers or developers to answer this question, and you’d more than likely get a different answer each time.
OK, so first of all in our opinion, it’s important to bear in mind that the line separating designers from developers is very blurred. For example I work alongside many ‘web designers’ who posses impressive ‘development’ skills and also ‘website developers’ who can hold their own with their design skills. So let’s start to distinguish and clarify the difference in roles, by breaking them down into 3 more accurate skill-sets.
3 Core Skills of Web Design & Development
- Front-End Web Design
- Back-End Web Design
- Website Development.
Front-End Web Designer
So a front-end web designer, in our opinion, would be responsible for the planning, layout and rendering of a website visual in a programme such as Photoshop, Illustrator or Fireworks. A Front-End designer would not necessarily be responsible for then coding their design into a HTML and CSS replica – unless that is, they also posses what i’d refer to as ‘Back-End’ Web Design Skills.
Back-End Web Designer
Back-End Web Design would be the process of converting a conceptual website visual, into a fully working HTML, JavaScript and CSS layout. As Back-End Web Design starts to border on website development, you may also hear the term ‘Front-End Website Developer’ to describe the same skill set.
Website Developer
So finally, a website developer’s role is primarily the creation and testing of server-side coding languages such as PHP or ASP to name but a few. These back-end programming languages can be used to create a myriad of website functionality from the algorithms behind price comparison websites to posting simple data within a contact form.
So, in conclusion we would classify a web designer as a creative individual who possesses either/or both front-end and back-end website design skills. And a website developer would be able to take a website’s functionality beyond what is possible with HTML and CSS by hand-coding complex programming and scripting languages. Hopefully our spin on the common question has helped clarify the difference for you.
Hi..
great article..
Nicely mentioned the roles of both web designer as well as developer, would be of great reference for aspiring young designers and developers.
Thanks..
john..
Hi James
I think it is becoming increasingly important that both Web Designers and Web Developers cross over with their skill sets, both can learn from one another, especially if your working with a team.
The individual such as myself are equally adept at both and other just as important categories.
The platforms should not really be too much of an issue as developers should ideally be more software engineers as they do deal with many different platforms that all have their ins and outs and quirks
Hi James,
Kev raises some good points in his comment (as you do in your original post)! There’s definitely a need for cross over, or at the least, understanding.
For instance, I’m not visually or graphically minded at all – I’m definitely a developer, and a techie – but by working on improving my understanding of design processes, elements of effective design and so forth, I’ve found we are able to get much better results in the long run – because we are working towards the same goal.
Hi James,
Great article but one question:
What are the skills required of a web designer?
Thanks, Tom
Tom, I think the basic skills required are a good working knowledge of HTML, CSS and a WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver. And obviously the ability to design a good looking web-site.
I agree with your distinctions. However, I think in these times a good designer should also have decent hand-coding skills for CSS and HTML. A lot of leading web interface designers like Alex Bugga & Verle have good hand-coding skills and some even know JavaScript and server-side languages.
Time and time again, I find myself in the situation of talking to a prospective client and the discussion going along the lines of:
- Hello! My name is XY, I need a web designer for my new site
- Hello! I would love to assist you with this new project of yours. I’m a web developer.
- Developer? Hmmm… Whatever! So, you do websites. Right?
What I’m trying to say is that the regular client won’t be able to tell the difference between designer and developer, anyway
I would like to know how this works in the real word. For example, at crearegroup.
When you have a new project, what does the webdesigner do? It design the website in photoshop?
then you call the webdeveloper to code it?
In your last video “How to Design & Code a CSS Sprite Navigation”, the web designer make the nav bar in photoshop, then the web developer code it in Dreamweaver right???
I would like to know the general flow of it in a real company
Besides I have heard about “front end developer” and back end developer” or even: “front end designer” ??
What’s the difference??
I’m studying HTML/CSS , jQuery, and JS, but I don’t know anything about photoshop, so I will be a front end developer??
I’m a little confused.
thanks for your answer!
Very simple and straight to the point explanation of the difference between a web design and web developer. As a consultant at Tenddeapact Solutions – Web design Ireland, I work with both front-end and back-end design processes but more with front-end.
I agree with the comment that there needs to be a cross over in skills. It is also important that the primary focus remains on what is the objective of the web site. In too many cases this gets lost as this is where the business understanding comes in.
Simon