Web Designers v Website Developers: Key Differences

Website Development

 

What web designers do

A web designer that is good at their job will make your website look amazing They will design the page’s style and overall feel, using various tools and software to customize the visual aspects of the website. They will manipulate the design of your website using code such as HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

 

User Interface

A web designer for the user interface or UI as it is commonly known helps enhance how consumers communicate on your website with components, or the interface. They will do this by converting ideas regarding your company’s brand and its values into a pleasant and easy-to-navigate website.

The difference between UX and UI are quite subtle. UX includes studies to build a strong basis for good user experience, while UI focuses on the real website’s aesthetics, look and feel.

 

User Experience

A good website designer will put a large emphasis on User Experience (commonly known as UX) to improve the overall experience of your website’s users. They should understand how to create a website that your particular audience will appreciate because they have an understanding of your demographics and the needs of the website’s customers. See Crazy Eggs’ post on what makes for good user experience on websites.

 

Visual components

A visual component of a website takes into account UX and UI. It is through utilising creative and coding abilities that the web designer can enhance the visual components and utility of the website. They will also help conceptualise a brand’s online image into the various visual components. Read our recent blog post about what design elements make a good website.

 

What web developers do

The role of a web developer is to build the guts that make a website function properly. A developer is generally specialised in making the website work – a web designer is more focused on the design.

A good analogy would be that web developers are comparable to engineers, and web designers are comparable to the architects that design the house.

How does the developer-designer relationship operate? A web developer will build upon a website’s framework using different types of coding to ensure that the website will run smoothly.

 

Front-end development

As the name suggests, front end developers work on a client-facing website or the “front end” of the website. Front end development is more linked to web design than back-end growth because it includes the use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to produce stuff that the user can see, such as lead client forms.

In short, those developing the front-end have coding abilities like a back-end developer, but they create website functionality with code with which the user can communicate.

 

Back-end development

The back end is where the core of the website structure is. Developers are programmers who use languages such as Java, SQL and C#. Users do not see the job they do because it includes coding on web servers and databases, not on the browser as opposed to front-end designers.

Their task is essentially to use different programs to produce logical, functional websites. Developers also spend a great deal of time testing bugs and fixing issues.

 

Full-stack development

Full-stack development includes a developer working on both stacks, the front-end and back-end. When it comes to web development, it is fundamentally the complete package, because they are an expert in all fields. If you have a website designer or developer that does everything, they are essentially working on both stacks.

 

What does Sitelabs do?

Sitelabs is an all-encompassing website design and development agency based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. We will look after both the design and all the brains behind your website.