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.

Read Also: Top 10 Exceptional Movies and Documentaries for Web Designers

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.

Web Design and Development Company vs Freelancers

Website design and development is an essential investment for businesses, which is why business owners make sure that they derive the maximum benefits out of their investment for online presence. But, the correlation between investment and quality of service may not be similar. This is why you have to invest money in the right resource for developing your site.

Your business can gain the upper hand when you have an excellent website and online presence. Make sure that you work with the right technical team to build your business platform. However, deciding between the well-organized activities of a web development firm and a freelancer with tremendous flexibility can be difficult.

Web Development Company or Freelancers

We have listed out the differences between the Web Development Company and freelancers to clear all your confusions before taking the right decision.

1. Technical Skills and Experience

If you are hiring a web development company for your project, you will have a vast team of technical experts with top-notch skills at your disposal. You will be able to interact with a tester, a project manager, a developer, a designer and other experts to cater to your diverse needs.

If you are hiring a freelancer, you will have only one person handling all the tasks of your project. So, it means a single person will be doing all the functions such as testing, designing and developing. Will the output be better than a team of specialists? Obviously questionable.

When your project demands some complex and diverse tasks, the web development company with several years of expertise in handling similar projects comes in handy. With the support of numerous resources, they can quickly sort out all the issues that arise during project development.  However, same expertise can never be expected from a freelance web developer.

2. Quality Testing

It is true that it is essential to have a good business website and applications to stay successful in the long run. The online platform that you own must be both attractive and responsive to make your customers stay hooked and explore the products/ service offerings.

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Even though both the website development firm and the freelancers will meet the project requirements, the website development firm will have the advantage of QA testers to identify the bugs and remove it whenever needed. So, it is wise to opt for their services instead of a freelancer.

3. Meeting Project Deadlines

The web development company usually considers the deadlines with utmost importance, as it can go a long way in maintaining their reputation among their clients and contacts. So, they ensure that the project gets delivered much earlier than the given deadline.

If a technical expert in their team is sick, he or she will be replaced immediately with another techie to assure continuous backup while working on your project. On the other hand, when you work with a freelancer python your project deadline has to be extended if he or she falls ill, which can affect your business.

4. Effective Communication

When you avail the services of a web development firm, you need not have any worries regarding the progress of your project, as they are equipped with a well-organized team. The web development firm will have a project manager who will lead the technical side and maintain internal communication. It helps them to communicate about work progress, perform corrections if required and monitor the changes.

If you are selecting a freelancer python for your project, you can contact him or her directly. But, if your project is a bit complex then you will be working with several freelancers at the same time and should explain the changes in the concept to each one separately. It can also be a time-consuming process.

5. Advanced Security

When you are developing a digital platform for your business, the first significant point that comes to your mind is security. When you have an online store, you must have a highly secure online platform to gain the trust of your customers.

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Web development companies will be able to meet all your security requirements, as they continuously stay updated about the latest vulnerabilities, security threats, and evolving technology.

A freelancer will face difficulties in catering to your high-end security requirements, as he might not have access to advanced security solutions like a web development company. The web companies have the responsibility to take care of the safety of their clients’ businesses and focus on offering superior encrypted security solutions.

6. Customer Support

A web development company will have a well-maintained customer support team that will resolve all the client queries before the launch of the website. When you work with them, they are responsible for taking care of any issues or challenges arising out of the project.

Most of the companies involved in web development also offer services with a warranty to make their clients stay assured that any problem related to the online platform will get easily handled. However, a freelance developer will not be able to offer similar full-scale customer service.

7. Project Costs

Web Development Company can be very expensive to work with when compared to the freelancers, which attracts the business owners towards them. When you wish to develop an online platform that supports several services and has complex requirements, then you must avail the services of the web design company to get better value for your money.

If you are interested in hosting a world-class website to reach out to your international clients, then a web design firm must be your priority, as they are efficient in offering appealing, smooth and swift solutions.

 

In the end, the answer to the question Web Development Company or freelancer depends mainly on the expectations you wish your website would achieve. You can hire a freelancer if you want a simple site just for presentation along with a quick deadline. If you want a website that will host product/ service to cater the needs of the global audience, then you will need the services of a web development company.