Don’t look at me like that, there’s a lot of people that don’t know the differences! 😐
So one of the things I’ll be doing on this space is addressing a lot of questions that people have asked both personally and otherwise.
One of them is the the difference between web development and web design. I’ve had a lot of people mix them up time and again, as well.
The truth is that design and development are two completely different things. Design is basically creating a structure while development is bringing that structure to life. They can be performed by the same person, but the job description is actually very different and it’s more advisable to major in one rather than doing the both of them.
At this point, I’m going to draw an analogy between the two of them using relatable terms: Let’s consider an architect and a mason man (or builder).
The architect is the person that draws the plans of a building. He does all the work that has to be done and presents his final plan on paper. He’s the designer; he creates the design of the building and also dictates which structure is best for the building. He may or may not recommend building materials.
The mason man, on the other hand, is the one that gets the plan made by the architect and then puts brick ontop of brick, plasters cement and brings the design that was done by the architect to life (forgive my lack of building vocabulary).
Now let’s switch to web development: the architect is the web designer while the mason man is who?
The web developer, yes! Like me 😁
Basically, web design is generally called UI/UX which means User Interface and User Experience designing. The role of the UI/UX designer (or web designer) is to create the structure of websites. They are the ones that determine where the buttons should be, what they should look like, the colors of the website, the design scheme and literally everything else that has to do with visual presentation of the website. Their jobs are presented in design formats including pdf, pptx, jpg, etc.
Please note that this is not an indepth representation of the roles of UI/UX design. Such indepth knowledge will be published in subsequent posts. This is just a way of differentiating the functions that are carried out by web designers and web developers.
It is also important to note that UI/UX does not only apply to web design but it also encompasses every other area of technology – anything that has a User Interface needs a User Interface designer. Including mobile apps, technology hardware (phones, laptops) and the likes of them.
Now that we know who a web designer is, do we still need to go in-depth into who a web developer is? 🌚
Okay fine, let me do it for the sake of posterity.
So a web developer is basically someone that takes the UI design and writes codes out of it. They bring the design to life either by coding them or by reusing already existing components and Content Management Systems (CMS) to bring the design to life.
At this point, I’ll like to introduce the third element in our topic of discussion – coding.
What exactly is coding and why didn’t I bring it up before now?
Coding is simply writing code. Code is a language that computers understand. The internet is built on the strength of computers being able to send messages between themselves and they do this by interacting through code. The developers are those that write the code so that the computers can interact with themselves.
Now a lot of people have asked me what really is coding and how they can find their way into coding. The truth is that coding transcends just the web. Bluetooth runs on code, so does your laptop and your phone and printers. TVs are also being built using code – what I’m trying to say is that coding is vast!
So before you ask the question of how to go into coding, first of all understand what aspect of coding you want to go into. There is web development, mobile app development, Blockchain development, artificial intelligence, machine learning and a lot of other coding-related activities.
You want to start coding for the web? That’s web development. You want to start coding for mobile apps? That’s mobile app development. You want to write codes for the Blockchain? Then that’s Blockchain development.
Don’t just mash everything up into one. Do some research, learn the differences and know the exact one you want to get involved in. It’ll do you a whole lot of good and carve a relevant career path for you in tech.
Now I had to take some time to explain coding because web development can actually be done with and without coding.
Remember I made mention of Content Management Systems (CMS) earlier? This refers to Software services such as WordPress, Drupal, Wix, Bubble and even Google Sites. These services run on prebuilt code but have a User Interface that is made more friendly to the users. They feature drag-and-drop web builders – components that you can modify to suit your web design without having to write the actual code.
These software services (CMS) are actually much easier to use because the web developer doesn’t have to concern himself with too much computer logic. They just pick components that appeal to the users of their website and put them together to make websites.
The discussion gets more complex and complicated but I’d like to stop here as I strongly believe I’ve been able to draw the differences between coding, web design and web development.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I’ll be willing to respond as quickly as possible.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk 😂
