By Mevil Bhojani 
Table of Contents:
WEB DEVELOPER:
- What are Web Developers?
- What is Web Development?
- Which technologies are used in Web Development?
- What is the role of Web Developer?
- How to Hire a Web Developer?
WEB DESIGNER:
- What is a Web Designer?
- What is Web Design?
- Which tools are used in Web Designing?
- What is the role of a Web Designer?
- How to Hire a Web Designer?
DIFFERENCES:
- How to select a Web Developer & a Web Designer?
- How much dependency do Web Developers & Web Designer have on each other?
WEB DEVELOPER
What is a Web Developer?
There is no formal educational requirement to become or work as a Web Developer. Web developers come from different educational backgrounds. People with Web Development skills and good command of programming language coming from the computer-related field can be Web Developers.
Web Developers are engaged with the World Wide Web applications using the client-server model also known as front-end development and back-end development. In the client-side applications typically used are HTML, CSS, Javascript. And in server-side PHP, Python or Java.
What is Web Development?
Web Development refers to non-design aspects of the website i.e., markup and coding. Web developers specialize in: 1) front-end development where they are responsible for visual elements. 2) back-end development where they are responsible for the server-side of the website. 3) full-stack development where they are responsible for both the roles (front-end, back-end).
Web Development is all about building and maintaining websites. It plays a vital role in creating a fast and seamless user experience. A Web Development company uses a variety of coding languages depending on the types of tasks and the platform they work on. This is a demanding job worldwide as all the businesses are going online.
Which technologies are used in Web Development?
Modern websites are built using various numbers of technologies. If you are familiar with the basics of available technologies, you don’t have to be an expert. It is up to you as to which technology you should use to build your website depending on the type of website you want to build depending on easy accessibility. While hiring a web developer, ask for a recommendation explaining why the recommended technology is the best for you. Also, hiring insufficiently experienced web developers or choosing the wrong technology can lead you to serious problems like significant costs.
Points like: understanding the choice of technology and its long-term implications on your website & your web developer is an expert in the technology you choose to build your website can help you in avoiding costly mistakes. Web developers use different technologies: 1)front-end developers use technology like HTML5 Boilerplate, Bootstrap, Sketch, LESS, SASS, jQuery, Vue. js. 2)back-end developers use server-side languages like PHP, WordPress, Shopify, Ruby, Python, Java, Laravel, and .Net.
What is the role of Web Developer?
The terms front-end and back-end development themselves could be easily understood. But both front-end and back-end development are wide and full of coding languages & frameworks. Front-end development is what users see on the website and interacts with. While Back-end development is the server-side where programming and databases are stored. It works behind the scenes to give features the power to work. Further, they are classified as Front-end Developers, Back-end Developers, and Full-Stack Developers.
- Front-end Developer: Front-end developers are responsible for creating graphics, visual elements, and creating web pages using different programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Building high-quality mockups and prototypes and giving better solutions to problems, maintaining, and improving the websites.
- Back-end Developers: Back-end developers are responsible for integrating server-side logic with user-facing elements developed by front-end developers. Back-end developers have sufficient knowledge about programming languages like PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, .NET, etc. and a better understanding of server-side CSS.
- Full-Stack Developers: Full-Stack developers hold expertise in both front-end and back-end development. They are responsible for both front-end design, database, and server development for better website functionality. Can work with cross-platform optimization for mobile applications. They work along with graphic designers and web designers. In short, full-stack developers work from project conception to finished product.
How to Hire a Web Developer?
There are various platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, etc from where one can hire a freelance web developer. Evaluate the experience, ability, and skill set of the web developer before hiring. Evaluate the quality and complexity of the web developer by checking his previous work, job success rate, ratings & feedback.
Web Developers must be aware of the latest technologies and must possess the technical skills to work on markup languages like HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, etc. And Back-End Technologies like PHP, Python, Java, etc. Should have working experience in Visual Studio, Sublime Text, Atom, etc.
To understand the level of communication and understanding, one conversation is very much recommended. It will reduce your efforts & time to the lengthy process of explaining the project in detail. A few questions will give you enough insight into the skills & knowledge of the freelancer Web Developer. If he/she falls into your criteria, you may go ahead with hiring that freelancer web developer.
WEB DESIGNER:
What is a Web Designer?
A web designer is an IT professional with both creative graphic skills and technical skills. A professional web design company helps you in creating the structure and layout of your website. It gives you a blueprint of how your website will look and feel, also how it will work on various devices. A website designer plays an important role in the design process starting from the graphics to fonts and images, keeping in mind the user experience & user interface (UX/UI).
What is Web Design?
It seems inconceivable to imagine the Internet without graphics, typography, and music. Inclusive of UI/UX design, authoring, including standardized code and proprietary software, and SEO.
There are two common methods of designing a website i.e., responsive web design and adaptive web design. And here the question arises, what is a responsive web design and what is adaptive web design? Let’s discuss this in brief.
- Responsive Web Design – In responsive web design, the website is dynamic. It adjusts the website according to the user’s device. The web page renders well from window to screen size. Audi.com was the first website to adapt the layout of responsive web design. With the rise in mobile use, mobile-responsive design came into action. This process is now made easier thanks to the availability of themes accessible through CMS systems such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
- Adaptive Web Design – In Adaptive web design, the website is static. Generally, an adaptive site is designed for six common screen widths, to detect the screen size with an appropriate layout.
Back in 2015, there was a Google Algorithm Update named Mobilegeddon, this update was to give priority to websites that display well on smartphones & mobile devices. Hence, Google gives priority to responsive web design compared to adaptive web design.
Which tools are used in Web Designing?
With the development of better software and tools, designing websites is getting easier. In the past years, it was difficult for web designers to design a website. They struggled to write a long line of codes. Today, with many tools available, this process has made web designing easy.
There are a lot of options available for tools, here are some best picks:
- InVision Studio: InVision Studio is a complete package for designing a website. It’s unmatched features make it stand out from other web designing tools. It helps in creating a website interface that is user-friendly, apart from the overall website being responsive and collaborative.
- Photoshop: Photoshop is another vital tool of the adobe suite for web designers. This is the right tool if you are a creative designer. This tool allows you to create authentic websites. With this tool, you can create impressive designs quickly compared to other web design tools.
- Adobe Dreamweaver: If you don’t have an expert level of knowledge in programming, this tool is for you. An impressive feature of this tool is that you can create a responsive design, so you can optimize your website according to devices. It works on HTML, so you have to put more effort into designing the website.
Also, there are other tools like Sketch, Bluefish, Google Web Designer, Wix, Canva, etc.
What is the role of a Web Designer?
The web designer’s job is to understand both graphic design and computer programming. Personality of the website is considered to be an important part of web design. Appropriate color, font, and layout depend on the type of business. So web designers have to keep in mind the business requirements and show his/her creativity accordingly.
They tend to have creative minds like architects. They understand user experience better. Web designers work hand-in-hand with the web development teams to keep the site up to date and perform tasks when changes are needed. Also, they hold proficiency in front-end development web programming languages such as HTML and CSS, JQuery, and JavaScript. Further divided into two: UI Designers (User Interface) & UX Designers (User Experience):
- UI Designers: UI web designers take care of the look and feel of the website and make sure all the navigation is easy to navigate to the users. And helps to improve the way users interact with elements, or the interface, on your website.
- UX Designers: UX web designers give a solid foundation and help the users to stay for a long time on the website and make sure the users enjoy your website. No offense, thorough research on the user’s demographics is needed and testing lots of different prototypes & restructuring.
How to Hire a Web Designer?
There are a lot of Freelancers platforms online from where web designers could be found. Every freelance web designer has skills and experience but before hiring a web designer make sure it matches your business criteria and requirements. Skills like HTML & CSS are must required.
Web designers should be updated on the latest technologies like HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, JavaScript, etc. The freelancer must be aware of how to create a responsive and cross-browser supportive web design. Using his/her previous experience reference, it would be easy to evaluate the quality of his/ her work. And a final conversation would be a great way to make a conclusive decision.
DIFFERENCES:
Generally, people mix-up web design and web development, but there is a fine line in between. Both play an important role in building the websites but in different areas. Web designers are user-focused and visually creative like an architect. While the developers build the website structure using different coding languages as construction workers. They are both necessary to build a website though they have different skill sets.
Web designers use different tools to create the visuals of the website like InVision Studio, Photoshop, Sketch, Adobe Dreamweaver, Google Web Designer, and so on. While web developers use different languages: 1)front-end developers use technology like HTML5 Boilerplate, Bootstrap, Sketch, LESS, SASS, jQuery, Vue. js. 2)back-end developers use server-side languages like PHP, WordPress, Shopify, Ruby, Python, Java, Laravel, and .Net.
There is never a confusion that what do you need? If you are willing to build a website from scratch you will need both design and development. Only this team-work will give you the website you have dreamt of for your business.
Conclusion
Hiring a company or freelancer is dependent on the type of the project, budget, and timeframe needed for the project development.
On long-term basis, for quick, personalized, proactive and cost-efficient service, hire a development company, and for independent requirements hire a freelancer; as per one’s preference. Even in small projects companies play a vital role by providing quality customizable packages.
Akshay Alex is an experienced technical Copywriter. A professional in the art of composing technical articles and e-books that are informative and interesting to the audience.