Web Designer or Web Developer?

Are you the type of person who actually knows the difference between web designer or web developer? Most small business owners will get a glazed look in their eyes at that question, and feebly say, “Uh, sure?” when they really don’t know. It’s a very important distinction, though, because you want your business web site to be as effective at doing what you need it to do as possible, without spending an arm and a leg in the process.

These days, web professionals fall into one or more of 4 basic categories:

• Back-end web developer: These developers are programmers that use programming languages like Ruby, PHP, Perl, Java, and Python to create stunning behind-the-scenes interactivity features in your website. These guys don’t typically make pretty sites, they make effective code that is used behind a pretty site.
• Front-end Web Developer: A front end developer makes the pretty, user-friendly site you’re familiar with. They use HTML, CSS, Javascript, and so forth to bring the designer’s concept to life, allowing your users to navigate your site easily without any glitches.
• Web Designer: A web designer creates the look of the website, the navigation bar, the icons, and other things, but they don’t have the skills to bring those elements to interactive life in the browser.
• Web Team: A good web team will include all 3 of the previous: the back-end developer, the front-end developer, and the web designer. These guys will build your website from the ground up, making it beautiful, effective, and wonderfully interactive.

So, which one do you need? A web designer or web developer? Or would it make more sense to have the whole team? This depends on what you’re doing. If you have an existing site, and you just want to update the images so your site looks up-to-date, you probably just need to hire a web designer. You can also use a website support package. On the other hand, if you need a new design for an existing site, you should probably hire a web team, to make sure that all of the interactive elements continue to work as they should between your current site and your new site.

Now, let’s say you’re starting from the ground up. Things get a bit more complicated here, so here’s a breakdown of when you might need a web team:

• When you need help with both back end programming, like data management for eCommerce or content development, as well as user experience, navigation, or aesthetics.
• When you don’t have a design already, and need it to incorporate eCommerce and other types of data management.

On the other hand, if you’ve already got a design and just need someone to program your data management for eCommerce and content development, you might just need to hire a back end developer. This is also the case if you’ve got an existing design that you’re happy with, but want to add in database connectivity.

If what you really need is the user experience development, such as the navigation controls or aesthetics, a front end web developer will be your guy (or gal)!

By properly selecting the right type of developer, designer, or combination of all types for your project, you can ensure that you get the page you want and need, with all of the bells and whistles you need.

Comment below if you have any questions or comments. Also, if you want additional information in regards to the topic, here is direct access to my calendar to schedule a free strategy call.