Making Sense of Website Design and Development

Often, the terms “website design” and “website development” are used interchangeably and though they are closely related, they are distinct disciplines in website promotion. Think of it this way: web development is about the engine and mechanics of a pickup truck and web design is about its exterior body, color, and features.

Today, many website builder platforms come with the web development encoded into the templates and include SquareSpace, Wix, and others.

Designers think creatively because that is what they are best at – building visually stylistic and intuitive web pages that are simple to navigate and inform clients of a business’s products, services and values. It’s about the truck’s design, color, and even tires and rims.

Essential elements are factored during the web design process including:

• Visual aesthetic: Designers find complimentary color schemes, import the company logo, implement fonts, images and video to create engaging content that drives visitor action.

• Layout: This is about structuring the site in a way that a user can easily navigate and continue engaging with. It’s also important for technical SEO.

• User experience (UX): Closely related, this aspect considers methods to design a site that feels seamless and natural to the visitor.

• User interface (UI): This incorporates adding call-to-action buttons or integrating forms and systems that the business utilizes to stimulate further engagement.

Web development, on the other hand, is about what is under the truck’s hood. It’s programming code that the web design is built upon and accounts for interaction in our multi-device world. Software engineers apply back-end development code to enable the polished front-end visual design utilizing:

•  HTML, CSS, and JavaScript programming languages

• Responsive and interactive design for mobile and desktop devices

• Databases, servers, and a lot of other technical interfaces

Today, many website builder platforms come with the web development encoded into the templates and include SquareSpace, Wix, and others. The appeal of these design platforms is simple off-the-shelf design for DIYers. These platforms also allow for additional CSS coding to add further custom code for web designers, like replacing hub caps for custom rims.

Next time you are in the market for a new website design, you’ll have an insight into the terminology and skillsets utilized to bring the website to life.

Hasta la próxima!