The Difference Between Web Designers & Web Developers
Written by Nathaniel Deal
Most people don't recognize that there is difference between web designers and web developers. And this simple misunderstanding could make a world of difference when looking for someone to create your new site.
What is a Web Designer?
These are the creative guys. They understand how to create attractive pages that keep your visitors engaged and wanting to explore your site further.
A great web designer can convert the ideas in your head into visually stimulating designs. They create the page layout, color schemes and choose fonts that captivate a visitor and keep them coming back.
Web designers have a good knowledge of marketing and once they create the final mockup they hand them it to a web developer to do create the website code.
What is a Web Developer?
These are the technical guys. They take the mockup that a web designer has created and convert it into an internet based code that makes it work online.
Web developers use scripts and web languages that allow your user to click, navigate and experience your site as optimally as possible.
A great web developer will choose the most reliable language and optimize your web site to look the same on any browser from any computer.
They are also sometimes referred to as web programmers.
So in order to have a beautiful and well optimized site, you need to employ a company or team that understands the two most important roles involved in making a web site.
If you hire an independent web designer, you may get a graphically pleasing site but the logistics may not work properly and you could have some navigational or page loading problems.
If you hire an independent web developer, you may get a fast loading, optimized site but the design may not look as nice.
Although most web designers have crossed over into the developer fields, it's rare to find someone who is great at doing both, and vice versa.
So ask questions and pay close attention to their portfolio samples to make sure they can complete the exact site requirements you need for your business.
