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Having an online presence allows you to market your business online. With a corporate website, you can reach people who you would not have reached in the offline world and, therefore, expand your target group or even open up new markets. You can gain new customers through an attractive website and thus increase your sales.

Websites require a combination of different activities to make them look stylish, up-to-date and rich on features. Both web designers and web developers must be put into use here. There seems to be a confusion, however, about where the difference between the two funtions.

Web designer

The web designer creates the design of a website or a homepage. Just as programs like Photoshop are commonly used, the effect of colors and shapes plays a central part and the designers uses them in a targeted manner. A customer-oriented performance is very important in this field of work.

Web designers may not always be skilled in programming, but there are exceptions. In fact, there is a false belief that the people who are specialized in design, never produce code. However, many web designers, besides their responsibility for graphic elements, also contribute CSS and HTML code to the project.

Generally speaking a degree in computer science needs to be completed before choosing such a career, but today there are also many universities of applied sciences that offer web design as a field of study.

Advantages of web designers:

• They are cheaper than web developers, as they can create appealing websites and at the same time have an effect on the corporate identity of a company as well as the user experience.
• They bring a high level of expertise in marketing.
• They are best suited for simple, responsive websites.

Disadvantages of web designers:

• They are not skilled computer scientists. Web Designers know the basics of html, CSS and JS, but cannot perform this work at the same level as Web Developers.
• They usually struggle to program highly complex websites.

Web developer

Web developers have a highly technical background: they use programming languages to ensure the speed, functionality, and data security of websites at the highest level.

The web developer works with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. These are programming and scripting languages without which, for example, a technical implementation of animations would not be possible at all. Often a distinction is made between backend and frontend web developers:

• The backend web developer takes care of everything that runs in the background

While the frontend employee is responsible for customizing the website using the programming language, for example.

A web developer’s day-to-day work focuses primarily on programming, or rather, maintaining and enhancing a website’s programs and apps. As a rule, the decision to become a web developer is preceded by a degree in computer science or information technology.

Strictly speaking, it would be the web developer’s job to worry exclusively about the basic structure of a website, to develop the corresponding apps and to achieve the maintenance and further development of the website via programming.

The web designer’s job, on the other hand, would be to exclusively take care of the design of the website’s content, making sure that graphics are inserted, that there is good usability and that the right content is included.

Both professions require very good knowledge of the latest web technologies and a clear separation of the two professions does not exist in reality. The work of web designers and web developers basically goes hand in hand, and it is common practice, especially in smaller companies and start-ups, that web developers and web designers are one and the same person.

Therefore, as a rule, both professionals have knowledge and skills in the respective fields and are able to develop, design, and maintain a website all by themselves, if necessary.

Today’s requirements are very high and both web designers and web developers must always work at the cutting edge and know and master the latest web applications.

Advantages of web developers:

• They can transfer the wishes of his customers 1:1.
• they bring a very high level of expertise in html, CSS & JS.
• they are suitable for highly complex websites.

Disadvantages of web developers:

• They are often rather expensive and must be supervised by a designer.
• They are not marketing strategists and rely on the instructions of their superiors.
• The fields of corporate identity and customer satisfaction are often neglected. This can result in a high quality but often complex website.

Understanding the difference

By understanding the difference between a web designer and web developer, you can be confident you have the right person for the job every time.