Web Design V Web DEVELOPMENT: Any definitions?

[eclipse]

Hi all,
Here I am as a budding young web-designer wannabe, and I'm not even sure where web design ends and web-development starts.

How much database stuff am I going to have to learn? Where from (as Lynda.com doesn't have any phpmyadmin tutorials)? Will I really need to learn not just XHTML & CSS (which I fought for the longest time, hoping DW would do it all for me, but since have "seen the light") but php as well?

What about the trend towards CMS's..... is there even a market for a "static" website any more?

What about that database stuff.... is there a place for someone like me that might just want to learn XHTML and CSS really well, and then "hand it on" to someone else for database CMS stuff? How would such a hand-over work? (We're just a working from home husband and wife team... and she's the actual print designer, I'm just a web-designer wannabe).

Any hints?

Cheers in advance.

 

[Cabbit]

My advice is to learn SQL and PHP as well as some Javascript/AJAX. I find more and more clients are wanting more sophisticated web sites that look great and are dynamic.
PHP is not terrificly hard to learn if you are already learning xhtml and css, SQL is also not very hard for the simple things but can get rather tricky if your joining multiple tables together then there is Javascript/AJAX and to be honest pick up a framework for one of them like mootools and learn how that works.
Just don't limit yourself to static websites thinking that scripting is hard, really the xhtml and css will give you more grief validating it and getting it to work with internet exploder 6.

 

[eclipse]

My advice is to learn SQL and PHP as well as some Javascript/AJAX. I find more and more clients are wanting more sophisticated web sites that look great and are dynamic.
PHP is not terrificly hard to learn if you are already learning xhtml and css, SQL is also not very hard for the simple things but can get rather tricky if your joining multiple tables together then there is Javascript/AJAX and to be honest pick up a framework for one of them like mootools and learn how that works.
Just don't limit yourself to static websites thinking that scripting is hard, really the xhtml and css will give you more grief validating it and getting it to work with internet exploder 6.

Thanks for the advice. I don't think I'll worry about IE6 from now on as the EU is starting measures to drop it.

 

[angelwatt]

There's no line between design and development. It's a gradient.

Really it's about what you want to learn. There's jobs out there for all levels. The more you know about the though the more you'll be able to make. The web will continue to evolve and what we consider a static page will likely evolve in itself. I suggest learning what you can as you can if you want to progress forward.

 

[frankblundt]

It depends quite a bit on the market you're in. In smaller markets there is a tendency towards having a lot of one stop shop operators at the low end of the market that offer to everything for not much. In larger markets there starts to be room for more specialisation.

I'm personally in favour of greater specialisation. I can design sites (and have) but I know that's not really my forté and there are any number of vastly more competent designers around who would turn my average solutions into something truly beautiful. And I could say the same in the other direction about designers who try to code the backend. It's not that it can't be done, it's just not likely to be done well, or as well as it could.

Likewise with SEO - that's an artform in itself, or information architecture, or usability design or copy writing, or branding or marketing.

The more you know though, the better your [insert specialisation here] will be. You don't have to know HOW to do it exactly, but if you know what can and can't be done, what works and what doesn't, what effect the choices you make will have on the other parts of the whole (choosing an image over text for menu buttons in the design for example has an effect on SEO), you will produce better designs

I try to find people who are really good at the bits I'm not and work with them. It means you have to get very good at communication and project management, but the end results are worth it (and can command a premium)

 

[roamy]

go get Netbeans 6.5 dive in a pick the technology you like best. Ruby on rails is pretty cool although it evolves every night. Visual Web JSF is my pick because it is somewhat stable and maintained. I am crossing my fingers for the return of Web Objects Builder by apple with the release of snow leopard. It was far and away the best of the best and matter of fact if you want to run Tiger it probably still is - or jump into the nightly evolution of WOips which is maintained by probably the best of the best developers out there by way to advanced for me!!

 

[dornoforpyros]

There's no line between design and development. It's a gradient.

That's actually the best answer to this question I've ever heard. Good on ya

 

[Trajectory]

The best thing I did years ago was to learn PHP and MySQL. If you can do that, you'll be able to create all kinds of websites for any type of company.

There's no line between design and development. It's a gradient.

Not really. Web Development encompasses the entire process of developing a website, which includes programming, design, etc.

Web Design is just that: The design of the website. No programming involved.

 

[angelwatt]

Not really. Web Development encompasses the entire process of developing a website, which includes programming, design, etc.

Web Design is just that: The design of the website. No programming involved.

It's all on how you specify it. There's plenty of web designer jobs that entail doing the whole thing and don't mention anything about developing. That's why there is no line because people define the line fairly differently.