Comments on: Web development vs. web design

By: CnSweb

CnSweb — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:50:21 +0000

I am curious on your opinions of Web Content vs Design/Development roles. Most agencies/corporations I have worked at has had to struggle between the two since there always seem to be overlap of these role definitions.

How do you all think, from a web developer/designer, this discussion should be approached. What do you all consider the difference between the role of a Designer/Developer and a Content Manager? How do you feel work flow should commence between the Content manager and developer/designer?

As a Developer(front end HTML CSS PHP JS Flash some asp/mysql)/Designer(web design, multimedia, video, flash, marketing, strategic planning Information/UI Architect etc) I generally feel that - with exceptions a content manager should gather assets and work with a developer/designer to make sure the assets are properly communicated.

Should a content manager make decisions about design/UI/Information architecture?

Lots of questions here, but I am very interested in some unbiased opinions.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

By: Indo

Indo — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:35:40 +0000

I agree with Teacher's assessment. I am a web developer and work for a further education college. Essentially our job is to hard code and work with the backend database, pulling queries, reports etc. A designer will normally present us with a visual aid of how a website will look and we will translate these requirements into the code. Our main responsibility is how the content is managed logically and usuability issues. Often developers will need to know css and some design priniciples in order to accomodate the multimedia designer's template. This is especially true when working with Sharepoint and .Net user controls. In my experience, a successful business needs both a good developer and good designer. It's rare (although not impossible) that someone is excellent in both areas. Normally someone is strong in one and weak/average in the other.

By: Teacher

Teacher — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 06:39:01 +0000

A web developer is a "computer programmer" but for the web. They create websites that works with database (back-end) servers. They should have knowledge of the following programs PHP, Java - not Javascript (object-oriented program language), Visual Basic .net, etc., all of these requires hand-coding and dealing with back-end servers. In short, they should have working knowledge on how to make a website work with Wide Area Network (E-Commerce). For example, PayPal site was created by a web developer or an UI/UX Engineer -- the site is able to store your information on a server using SQL or other database language like ORACLE. Working with credit card processing center as well.

A web designer is a designer that makes GUI interface that deals with HTML some CSS and design programs like, dreamweaver, flash, photoshop, etc. They create visual pages typically without any back-end scripting. They might contract out a web developer to finish their job in some cases.

A UI/UX Engineer is basically a combination of these two skills Web Developer and Web Designer. These are the guys that makes big bucks.... but in this economy most of them are contractors (6 months contracts typically). Most companies are going this route or hiring these engineers from India.

By: <img /> is Everything » Blog Archive » Web Development Vs Web Design

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:32:22 +0000

[...] Web Development Vs Web Design [...]

By: Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 21:09:03 +0000

LSW, I note the webdesign in your site URL! The first few sentences of your front page suggest to me your role would be something like "Web accessibility consultant".

By: LSW

LSW — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:56:44 +0000

Well i read an article along this line a year or so ago, sorry do not have the link. In it was the same question but basically is went with the idea that Web Designer comes from Graphic Designer. These are the folks who do great looking web sites and machines do the coding. The main point being that to a web designer the Holy Grail is the design, the look of the site. So they have great looking sites that are often pretty but maybe not quite as useable... but at least the look is everything and the user needs to see it like I want.

Web Developers are more logic and contet based. They have excellant code and ikely think more about useability and accessibility. Content is king and the presentation is just eyecandy to support the content. The looks fits the content and not the content being forced to fit the look.

Being design is my weakness I accepred the title Web Developer. But upon moving back to the US this year I began applying for jobs as an Accessible Web Developer - the result of that was calls from recruiters expecting me to know Ajax (it is sort of new you know as well as Ruby on Rails), ADO, C/C , C#, .Net, Cobol and things I never heard of. So seems that Web Developer means Web Programmer or even Programmer here. What in the world would a web whatever need with COBOL?

Again many other job opeings require print knowledge for brochures etc., Ahhhh No, that is Graphic Designer or Print Designer you want, my title does point out Web right?

Bottom Line? I have no Bloody idea what to call myself. Maybe a extremeprogramming and print challenged web person?

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:21:57 +0000

I'd say "design" is my week side Steven. Like your site, mine is a recognizable WordPress template. Modified, sure, but someone else—Michael and Chris (mine), or Ben (yours)—has done the real design work. Rutledge was also making a distinction between "art" and design. Personally, this is even more challenging to get my head around. There must be considerable overlap. It's hard to image anyone can do design without also having some artistic skill. Do you think, when we are customising a WP template, we are designing, or we are being artistic? Andy says:

Art is the expression of one's own ideas, stemming from subjective motivations. There's no room for ecocentricity in design.

You can't be anything but subjective when working on your own website. For that matter, I don't think you can be fully objective working on a project for someone else. So maybe as bloggers who tweak templates originally built (designed?) by other people, we are engaged in artistic expression rather than design? My thoughts are still unclear on this.

By: Steven

Steven — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:52:41 +0000

I think I'm both. I understand PHP, MySQL, Ruby (on Rails), and other backend things about the web, but can also create a nice, simple or complex design out of XHTML, CSS, my imagination, and some inspiration.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 06:32:19 +0000

KoThatThar, I'm not sure what you mean by going deep? Do you imply that "engineer" has other meanings? I don't know that I like the term "web engineer" to be honest, as it does seem to be appropriated everywhere these days e.g. "sanitation engineer" = cleaner. As alternatives, I also considered "web architect", which probably leans more towards design rather than the hands-on building. The older term "web master" has more associating with coding. Then there's "developigner", a contraction of developer and designer...

By: KoTharThar

KoTharThar — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 01:20:16 +0000

I agree upon the fact of ambiguity between "web developer" and "web designer" since there are some intersected working fields between "development" and "design". And I, personally, lilke the new term "web engineer". :) but the meaning of "web engineer" goes deep a little bit from another point of view, don't you think? Nah..just personal opinion. After all, again, I like that new term, which is new for me, "Web Engineer"!