The web design and web development look very similar. And we often use both these two terms to mention building a website.
But what’s the difference between these two? And whether these two are the same thing or not.
What is the difference between web design & web development?
Before understanding the differences, first, we have to understand what they are.
What is a web design?
Web design refers to the design aspects of a website. Such as layout, color, font, user experience, user interface, etc.
A web designer can design a website in two different ways: using graphic tools & writing code.
Web design using graphic tools
Web design can be done through design tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe XD, Figma, Canva, etc. However, these are not the final product for the web. These designs need to be converted into a functional website.
Sometimes people design a website using graphic design software in the first step and then convert it into HTML & CSS, or WordPress, or something else. PSD to HTML conversion is one of the examples that you may have come across.
Web design by writing code
A web designer also can design a website by writing HTML & CSS, or using WordPress page builders like Elementor, Beaver, Visual Composer, Brizy, etc, or using a cloud-based online platform like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, etc.
Even though you don’t need to write code while using drag & drop page builders but it inserts code on your behalf.
What is web development?
Web development refers to building a website that is connected to a database.
That means if you design a static website or use HTML & CSS, you can’t call it web development. Because it does not have connections with a database.
There are two kinds of web development such as front-end & back-end.
Front-end web development
Front-end web development is implementing the design, creating posts & pages, and uploading content in a dynamic approach.
However, Front-end web development has many similarities with web design.
Back-end web development
Back-end web development is creating features & functionalities of a website. Creating a login system, getting users’ input & inserting them into the database are some examples of back-end web development.
Now you understand the basic concept of web design & development and their main difference. In a nutshell, web design has nothing to do anything with the database. On the other hand, web development is related to the database.
Key differences between web design & development
| Key differences | Web design | Web development |
|---|---|---|
| Graphical | Somewhat it’s related to graphic design. | It’s not related to graphic design. |
| Programming | It’s not related to programming languages. | It’s related to programming. |
| Database | Not connected to a database. | Must be connected to a database. |
| Online Status | Not always need to be available online such as web design in PSD files. | Always needs to be online. |
| Dynamic content | There is no way to work with dynamic content. | It can work with dynamic content. |
Conclusion
Web design & development are related to each other. You can think of these two as the parts or steps of building a successful website. From the above discussion, you came to know that these two are not the same and have lots of differences.
In the same vein, the role of a web designer & developer is different. A web designer works on the UI & UX of a website. A web developer implements all the concepts of a designer and creates features, functionalities, and everything in between to make it fully functional.
