Web Development Vs Web Design – Want To Know The Difference?

Web designing and Web development are used interchangeably so often that one forgets that they are technically two different functions. Adding to the confusion is the increasing number of businesses that promote themselves as Web Development Company as well as Web Designing Company.

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This blog post on web development Vs web design will delve into the two realms of website creation and elaborate on the differences between the two.

Web Development Vs Web Design

Before we go into details about web development and web designing, let’s take a quick look at the major differentiators between the two aspects of website building.

Web Design Web Development
Deals with the aesthetics of the website – the look and feelDeals with building the backbone of the website –factors and attributes that contribute to the function and performance of the website
Transform a concept into a visually-appealing layout Transform the design into a functional website

What is Web Designing?

As described above, web designing involves creating the look and feel of the website. A web designer creates a wire frame or layout based on the client’s preferences and specifications.

Read Also: Top 10 Web Development Companies In India

The wireframe will give a general idea of how the final page will look like. Once all the stakeholders approve the wireframe, sketches and mock-ups are created. These sketches and prototypes will give a precise picture of the final product.

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From the size and type of font to the colour palette of the web page, every design aspect is finalised during these stages. All these design aspects play a vital role in making the website attractive to the visitor.

Aspects of Web Designing

The process of web designing doesn’t simply end in creating a mock-up or choosing a background theme and typography. The various aspects of web designing include:

  • Creating a website format and layout that delivers the best user experience
  • Building the website prototype
  • Working on the graphic designs
  • Coordinate with website developers to convert design ideas into features
  • Creating web designs using CSS and HTML

Apart from these common tasks, specialist web designers focus on specific design tasks such as:

User Experience (UX) – It involves creating a web interface based on audience profiles and demographics.

User Interface (UI) – It involves building a foundation to improve user experience by incorporating elements for easy site navigation.

Visual Design – It combines both the elements of user experience and user interface to conceptualise the website’s unique brand and style.

Elements of a Web Design

While creating the visual design, web designers focus on the following design principles:

Balance – This principle elaborates on the need to use the right proportion of small and large elements, dark and light colours, and other elements to create a balanced web design.

Contrast – This principle is based on the colour theory that states that complementary or contrasting colours are placed opposite each other. Designers use contrasting colours, textures, shades, shapes and other elements to create an attractive page

Consistency – It is a critical design principle that ensures consistency of colour, design and layout across all the web pages of the website. It also ensures consistency with the brand image, logo and mobile app.

Unity – This principle involves building a relationship among the different elements of the web design to create a cohesive theme that grabs the attention of the website visitor.

Emphasis – This principle involves “emphasizing” on certain design elements to make it stand out on a web page to grab the attention of visitors.

Design Tools for Web Designing

The commonly used tools for web designing are:

  • Illustrator
  • Sketch
  • Dreamweaver
  • AI
  • Adobe Photoshop

What is Web Development?

Web development involves the use of codes to convert a static layout created by the designers into a dynamic functional website. There are two types of web developments – front-end development and back-end development.

Development that includes both front end and back end is known as full stack development. Front end development or building the user/client side of the website involves creating the interface and building the interaction between the backend of the website and the user.

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Front end web development bridges the technical aspects of web development with the aesthetic elements of web design. The backend of the website is the hardcore technical aspect of the website, or in other words, the backbone of the website on which the rest of the elements are woven around. 

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Front end web development bridges the technical aspects of web development with the aesthetic elements of web design. The backend of the website is the hardcore technical aspect of the website, or in other words, the backbone of the website on which the rest of the elements are woven around. 

Front End Website Development

JavaScript (JS), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are the three major programming languages used to create the front end of the website.

It also includes using content management systems (CMS) like Joomla, Drupal or WordPress to streamline the entire development process and ensure seamless functionality.

Bootstrap, jQuery, and React are some of the frameworks used in creating the front end of a website. It also includes use of styling pre processors and JavaScript libraries.

The popular front end web development tools are

  • jQuery
  • Angular JS
  • Sass
  • Sublime Text
  • Chrome Developer Tools
  • GitHub
  • Twitter Bootstrap

Back End Website Development

The backend of the website is also known as the server side of the website and involves gathering accurate data based on the actions happening on the front end. It determines the architecture of the website and focuses on the script and the database.

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The server side is coded using programming languages such as Java, Python, PHP, ASP.NET, Node JS, C#, C, C++, and more while the server database is built using MySQL, Oracle, SQL and Mongo.

The tasks involved in building the backend of the website are:

  • Writing codes for the server and database interaction
  • Ensuring server-side code is secure and error free
  • Optimizing server-side code to handle the large volumes of traffic that the website expects to have
  • Implementing algorithms

The essential tools for backend website development are:

  • Programming languages such as PHP, Perl, Java, Ruby, Python, Erlang, Node JS and more
  • Web servers such as Nginx and Apache
  • Database management systems such as MongoDB, PostgreSQL and MySQL
  • Local development environment such as XAMPP, Wamp Server and Laragon to run and test codes before making them live
  • Website performance testers such as Full-Page Load Tester and Google Page Speed Tester
  • Microservice platforms such as Kubernetes and Docker

Many small and medium businesses that want to create an online portal look for web development and web designing services. Whether you are looking to build a new website or revamp your existing online portal to give it a new life, you can consult us.

Read Also: 25 Stunning Website Designs That Will Blow You Away

We have in-depth experience in website designing and development and can give you the best value for your investment. Contact us right away to create a stunning website for your business.

We have in-depth experience in website designing and development and can give you the best value for your investment. Contact us right away to create a stunning website for your business.

Thinking Of Hiring a Web Designing Company? Consider These 10 Points

With a plethora of web development companies out here it is indeed difficult to choose the right one since everybody has vividly sugar-coated their portfolio page with impressive track record. So the decision making process is crucial.

It is essential to pay attention while making this crucial decision because websites improve your business’ credibility and enable you to reach out to potential customers. Availing the services of an expert website development company will help in enhancing the growth of your business. Make sure that you consider the 10 points given below before selecting the best website designing company.

  1. Check their Credibility

It is important to make sure that the web developers you are going to work are reliable professionals in that vertical. Check their ratings at several online review portals and read the testimonials offered by their previous clients to know about several aspects of projects delivery, troubleshooting and response to queries.

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Also, check if they have the required authorization and proper credentials to show that they are experts in several areas of expertise.

  1. Portfolio & Past Work

It is imperative to check the past work of the website development company to get an idea about the abilities of their expert team. Checking their portfolio would help you understand their areas of experience. However, as mentioned earlier everybody has sugar-coated portfolio section. So to not get deceived, go through their portfolio websites and have a look how it’s functioning in your pc, smart phone and tablet. Make sure that you have gone through each nook and corner of the website.

  1. Workforce and Size

When having an initial discussion at the web development company, make sure that you inquire about the size of their web developers’ team. It will help you get an idea about how qualified they are, the number of available resources, and who will be your point of contact. Also, get to know the team who will be coordinating the web designing activities.

The web design and development company that can cater to the diverse needs of both small scale and large scale businesses must be your choice.

  1. Check Core Services

The web design company you choose must have essential skill-set and the ability to meet different demands of your projects, such as marketing, development, and design to offer best results. Check if they are efficient enough to provide comprehensive development, design, and marketing services that on par with the industry standards.

Ensure that they have the expertise in dealing with customized web projects that demand latest coding prowess and sophisticated problem-solving skills.

  1. Overall Cost

Before availing the services of a web design company, you must check the total costs involved in making your business website fully functional. If you are keen on developing a site for your e-commerce business with advanced features, then it is essential to know the total costs involved to get better ROI.

Do not choose a company that quotes the highest price assuming that they wouldn’t offer top-notch services. Choose those companies that provide best web development services at a very competitive price.

  1. Acceptance of Fresh Ideas

Have a right level of understanding with your web development team before beginning the project. Don’t forget to ask the questions mentioned below before you choose a web design company.

  • Are they open to the fresh ideas you have?
  • How would they ensure that your business gets benefited by the website?
  • How will they help you stand out from the crowd?
  • How would they add value to your business site?

Finalizing the company that answers in affirmative to all the questions above will help you stay assured of having a website that delivers excellent competitive advantage and better customer orientation.

  1. Commitment towards Time

Ask the web developing company the time they would need for completing your project before entering into a contract. The company you choose should understand your business activities before the project’s commencement.

Some companies would inform you the deadlines within which they will complete various aspects of your site, such as CMS, content and web design. Select the website development company that offers you clear-cut information about the delivery time, as it indicates that they have a structured working style.

  1. Designing Style

While some web designers prefer to create sites with minimalist and clean look, some love using bold colors and bright looking templates for developing the sites. Few web design companies specialize in both these styles. Choose the company that stays updated with the latest website trends like agile development following scrum based approach.

  1. Meeting Goals

Ensure that you discuss the goals of owning the website with the website development company before proceeding to avail their services. Choose the web developers who offer realistic ideas, inputs, and strategies that they think will help in achieving both long and short-term business goals.

  1. Future Relationship

Even though launching your website is the last step of web designing, the web development company you choose should be ready to check the progress, publish fresh content or provide some creative ideas in future.

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They must be able to offer maintenance support for your site right from monitoring the design elements to employing effective digital marketing practices. Choose the web development company that has the record of maintaining a perfect relationship with their customers.