The industry of website creation and digital marketing has evolved exponentially in recent years. And it continues to do so at a good pace, including all the disciplines it covers: design, development, layout, usability, SEO, SEM, and a long etcetera.

Given that it is a relatively new field and that, as we mentioned above, evolves at breakneck speed, new terms frequently emerge. And some cause confusion. In this sense, we are going to analyze two of the main concepts related to the creation of websites, web design, and web development, and what differences exist between them.

What is web design?

Web Design is the discipline that is responsible for defining the visual section of a website. Along with other related fields, such as usability or user experience, web design prepares the visible part of a website using design tools, without going into developing the website using programming languages.

What is web development?

Web development is the field that implements the different functionalities of a website through programming languages. It is responsible for aspects such as the creation or installation of a manager for the web, or the connection with databases or other sources of information.

In the area of ​​Web Development, there is usually a differentiation between Front-end and Back-end programming. The first refers to the transfer of a web design to the programming languages ​​used by web browsers (HTML, CSS, and Javascript, complemented with libraries and frameworks); while the second is linked to the development of functionalities on the server that hosts and executes a website.

What are the differences between web design and web development?

As we have seen through the definitions of both terms, the differences between Web Design and Web Development are quite explicit. Web Design is accountable for defining the visual section of a website, while Web Development transfers this design proposal to web programming languages, both at Front-end and Back-end level.

Where, then, does the confusion between the two terms lie? Mainly in the generic use that is given to web design. Usually, when we talk about web design, we link the term to the entire process of creating a website, including the visual section and programming.

Sometimes web development is also used to refer to a website’s generation, ignoring that we will need to start from a web design to carry out its development.

What is more important, web design or web development?

It depends. Since each web project has its own specifications, Web Design and Web Development requirements will vary accordingly. It is possible that for a corporate website, oriented only to the presentation of services, we do not require a high level of web development, and we focus a large part of the efforts on its design. On the contrary, in a multinational online store coordinated with a complex stock system, web development will be key to incorporating all the necessary functionalities for its correct operation.

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