Many people tend to confuse or equate being a web designer and a web developer, but these professions are very much different, and in the following part of this article you will find out just how much.
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Web Designer
A web designer focuses on the appearance of an internet site or a web application, and they are the experts on graphic design, color theory and information flow. The design of a website must always begin with the consideration of the objective that needs to be reached and then the designer can move on to the informational architecture to set the site’s informational ladder and to help guide the design process. With the next step, a web designer can start constructing wireframes and finally move to the design stage. There are several basic design principles a designer may use to achieve a tasteful and eye-pleasing layout, which also provides an excellent user experience. Let’s have a look at the principles that a web designer may use when shaping a website:
- Balance; it is very important for a web designer to create a balanced presentation. In the profession of web design, they refer to light (small, light colors) and heavy (large, darker colors) elements. Using the right proportion of each is critical to attaining a balanced site design.
- Contrast; designers look at contrasting shapes, sizes and textures to define and draw attention to particular sections of the website.
- Emphasis; this is a design principal founded in the purposefully highlighting of particular important elements of the site presentation. It is very important to keep in mind, that if everything on the page is emphasized, actually nothing stands out, therefore the highlighting of certain elements has to be done carefully, so that the attention is draw to the right sectors of the page layout.
- Consistency; a clean and consistent navigations offers the best user experience for the visitors of a website, that is why this principal is critical when designing a website.
- Cohesion; various parts of the website layout and the composition have to form a united whole. Cohesion, or unity, deals with how the human brain visually organizes information by assembling elements into categories.
After a web designer is done with the website visual plot, a web development takes place.
Web Developer
A web developer, occasionally also called a programmer, takes the created design and builds a fully functioning internet site. Now to put this very, very simply, imagine the design as a non-interactive ‘’image’’ of a website. A developer takes that design and breaks it up into components and then either uses just HTML or a much more dynamic approach blending programming languages to develop various website pages, like PHP.
There are two different types of web developers, Front-end and Back-end developers. Some of the skill of these two types do overlap, but they have very different purposes in the profession of web development:
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Front-end Developer
A front-end developer takes the visual design of an internet site (whether they created it or it was handed to them by a web designer) and constructs it in code. He will use different programming languages for the structure of the website, and to dictate the visual styles and presentation.
For some smaller websites, front-end development may be the only development needed for that particular project, while for more complex campaigns and tasks, back-end development comes into play.
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Back-end Developer
A back-end developer deals with the more advanced programming and interactions on internet pages; here the focus is on how the website works and how the visitors achieve different goals on the pages by using a certain functionality. This can include working with code that interfaces with the database, fabricating different features that connect to online payment processors, and much more.
A good web developer knows how to program CGI and different scrips and programming languages, such as PHP. He completely understands how the web forms function, and how a variety of software packages and tools, and APIs can be used to link that software together to create solutions (services) that meet client’s needs for a pleasant online experience.
A back-end developer may also be required to create a new functionality from scratch in case there are no existing software packages or tools that can be leveraged to the customers’ needs.
Website Development Process
After the web designing process of an internet site is done, the actual development begins.
Web development involves a wide perimeter of programming work, as well as loading content (either by a team of developers or the client). Codes have to be kept well organized, and it is important to constantly refer to the planning details while the website shapes into a whole. A strategic approach takes place here, avoiding any future inconveniences by continually testing as the process evolves.
A sample procedure of website development should move forward by following a few important steps:
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Building development framework
This is a step, where unique requirements might force a developer to derail from the process. It all depends on what server-side application and program languages are being used, and if the developer uses a content management system, this is the right time to implement it and get the basic engine operating; doing this early ensures that the server can handle the installation and set-up fluently.
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Code patterns and templates for each page
A website typically consists of several pages (home page, blog post, general content…), and these pages can be based on templates. Creating a unique template, or pattern, can either be a good practice step for an amateur in the web development, or it simply delivers more diverse and distinctive website pages.
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Development and testing of special features and interactivity
Depending on the developer, this is a step where the ‘’fancy elements’’ come into play. At this point the website provides a relatively uncluttered and clean workspace, and that is why many web developers like to take care of the interactivity testing. Some of them even choose to get validations and forms up and running at his stage as well; as stated earlier, it is all contingent on the developer.
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Filling with content
This is a part many developers consider as the boring part; all the content provided has to be loaded to the website. It is a quite mundane task, but there is still no room for mishaps, because even the simplest pages require tight typography and conscientious attention to details.
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Testing and verification of functionality and links
Great time for a full website review. This is where a developer walks through every single created page, usually using the file manager as guide, and makes sure absolutely everything is in working order and that no detail has been missed (visually or functionally).
Launching the website
The purpose of the launch stage is to prepare the site for public viewing, and this is the step that requires final polishing of design factors, deep testing of features and interactivity, and most of all, the consideration of user experience. The essential early step at this point is to move the website to its permanent web server. It is important to test it in the production environment, because different servers have different features and some unexpected behavior might occur. This is what a web developer usually does, when it comes to launching an internet site:
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Polish
Polishing a basically completed website can make quite a big difference; identifying small components of the site that could be improved with small details is a step no developer skips, after all, a web developer wants to be as proud of the website as the client is.
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Transferring to a live server
At this stage the last-minute review of the website takes place, and this could mean one of three different things: transferring the site to a live web server (although web developers usually test the website in the production environment), ‘’unhiding’’ the site, or removing the ‘’under construction’’ page.
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Test
Here, a web developer runs the website through the final diagnostics using available tools, such as broken link checkers, code validators, spell checker, website health checks, and more. This is where finding mistakes is rather welcome, because they can be mended before the client or the visitors get to complain.
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The final cross-browser check
A good developer always checks the site in multiple browsers one last time. simply because the code is valid, it does not mean it will sparkle with a crisp presentation in IE 6 (for example).
Post-Launch
After the little tasks, related to closing the project, are taken care of, business steps back in the picture. What happens at this time is providing the client with any necessary instruction for use, packaging source files and any required training.
Web developers normally leave the clients as briefly informed as possible, but they do predict any questions a customer could ask. The project is never left with the closed door; a good developer lets the client know, that he, or she, is available for future maintenance, and he is committed to ongoing support.
As stated earlier, this is simply a sample process of web development. There are many modified versions out there, depending on the client’s base, design style and the nature of the product (web applications, e-commerce sites and digital marketing all have unique requirements).
Thoughts on web development
Website development project does notreally start with coding and does not end after the day of the launch. The phase of preparation affects all the following stages, defining how productive the development process is going to be.
The post-launch period is also rather significant. The project should be agile and flexible enough to have a possibility to change the website according to users’ feedback or spirit of the time. Keeping in mind that there is no such thing as insignificant website development phase preventsa developer from unexpected troubles and giveshimthe confidence that everything flows as it should, and he has complete control over the project.
What is a PHP developer?
A PHP developer develops programs, applications, and internet sites using the dynamic scripting language PHP, which is known for web development and business applications.Depending on the job function, a PHP developer may be classified as web developers or software developers. Because the language is so ever-present in web site development and business, PHP can be a good choice for self-employed or contract developers.
PHP web developers may create user interfaces or work behind the scenes. The PHP language is frequently used in combination with SQL for databases. It is also used for basic website functions such as accepting usernames, passwords, and managing guest books. It can display photo galleries and various other types of active content.
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Advantages of using PHP
PHP is a program language built for the web, it is easy even for a beginner, very compatible with different servers, platform-independent and has many benefits;
- Safe for the server; not only PHP is compatible with the serves, but the PHP’s process model means that any ‘’bad requests’’ will not bring down the whole server – errors will only have a minimal effect.
- Clarity; in comparison with higher-level languages, which have more ‘’sorcery’’ running code behind the scenes, PHP is less abstract. With this language, a developer can see in detail how his code is structured.
- It is easy to install and deploy
- Great, modern frameworks
Final words on Web Development
Web development does indeed take a lot of time, skills and knowledge, and there is a lot of different approaches and ways to develop a great website.
In case you have any questions regarding this particular topic, you are more than welcome to contact us. And if you are in need of a great internet site, developed with the PHP language, which gives the chance to create an easily adaptable website, we promise to deliver excellent result for a very reasonable price, so instead of waiting too long, contact us today.
