When we work on websites, our designers typically focus on how they can create a good user experience (UX) for site visitors. They use tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator to create the elements that will make up your site.
UX design is an emerging form of web design that’s all about making sure everything you create has the user in mind. UX designers make sure websites are designed for different devices, and the layout is practical and easy to follow. Designers may have some knowledge of code, such as HTML and CSS, but a lot of their work focuses on a website’s appearance.
So while web designers focus on the visuals of a website, web developers work on bringing those visuals to life.
They’ll use different programming languages, like HTML, PHP, and JS, to develop a website’s core functionality. Functionality might be things like what happens when someone clicks a button or how the main navigation loads when a user scrolls or clicks on it.
A developer may work with a content management system (CMS) to get your website online and available to users. Some common systems include:
- WordPress
- Magento
- Joomla
- Drupal
A good portion of a web developer’s work is also focused on maintaining websites, so doing things like upgrading the CMS, managing the security, and offering web support for any issues that arise. If you want to improve your website, you should think of web design and development as two essential areas that work together.
To be successful, your website needs to look good, create a good user experience, and be optimized for search engines. A good design and development team will make sure you meet all of these criteria.
