Web development services … which what the?

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Yes, the term ‘web development services’ can confuse the website seeking punter on a daily basis. Many people ask me what do I do to “make a living”. Many times I respond that I am a web designer. I use this term because it is a safe phrase that lets people know what I do in general without confusing them with a specific job title that someone from outside the Web world would probably not understand.

The term web designer is a generalisation and is useful in cases like the one I just described, when you are talking to someone who is not a Web professional, but when you are talking to someone who understands the Web, this generalisation may not be enough to explain what it is that you do.

In fact, many people use the two terms “web design” and “web development services” as synonyms, but they actually have two very different meanings. If you are looking for a new job in the web industry, or if you are to hire a professional to build a website for your company, you need to know the difference between these two terms and the skill sets that come with them. Let’s take a look at these two terms:

Web Design

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Web design is the most common term used for professionals in this industry. Often when someone says that he is a web designer, he is referring to a broad set of skills where one of which is the visual design. A web designer is concerned with how a website looks and how customers interact with it.

Good web designers know how to use the design principles to create a website that looks great. They also understand about web usability and how to create websites that are user friendly. In their projects, clients want to navigate because it is so easy and intuitive. Designers do a lot more than make a website, that is, they appreciate the site and really dictate the usability of a website’s interface.

Web Development Services

Web development comes in two parts: front-end development and back-end development. Some of the skills in this overlapping the two have very different effects in the profession of Web Design.

A front-end developer takes the visual design of a website. A front-end developer will use HTML for website structure, CSS to dictate visual styles and layout, and maybe even a little JavaScript. For some small sites, front-end development may be the only type of development that is required for this project. For more complex projects, back-end development will come into play.

In the development of back-end we enter with the most advanced programming and interactions in web pages. A back-end developer focuses on how a website works and how customers do things on it by using the features. This could include working with coding that interfaces with databases or creating features such as e-commerce shopping carts that connect to online payment processors and more. Good web developers should know how to program; PHP can be an example.

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Back-end developer may also be required to create new functionalities from scratch if there are no existing software tools or packages that can be availed to meet the needs of their clients.

A visual designer who understands how web pages are built will be better equipped to project those pages and experiences. Likewise, a web developer who has an understanding of the basics of design and visual communication can make smart choices about how he will code the pages and interactions for his project.

Ultimately, whether you have this knowledge or not, when you apply for a job or look for someone to work on your website, you need to know what you are looking for – web design or web development services. Making the right choice will play an important role in the cost of what you will have to spend to get this work done.

In many cases, designing and developing front-end sites for smaller, simpler sites will be much smaller on an hourly basis than hiring an advanced back-end encoder. For larger sites and projects, you’ll really need to hire a team that contains web professionals that cover all these different areas.