Web Designing

Web design is the process of creating websites. It contains several different visible feature, including web page layout, content production, and graphic design. While the terms web design and web development are often used interchangeably, web design is technically a subset of the broader category of web development.

Websites are created using a markup language called HTML. Web designers build webpages using HTML tags that define the content and metadata of each page. The layout and appearance of the elements within a webpage are typically defined using CSS, or cascading style sheets(CSS). Therefore, most websites include a combination of HTML and CSS that defines how each page will appear in a browser.

Some web designers prefer to hand code pages (typing HTML and CSS), while others use a "WYSIWYG" editor like Adobe Dreamweaver. This type of editor provides a visual interface for designing the webpage layout and the software automatically generates the corresponding HTML and CSS code. Another popular way to design websites is with a content management system like WordPress or Joomla. These services provide different website templates that can be used as a starting point for a new website. Webmasters can then add content and customize the layout using a web-based interface. While HTML and CSS are used to design the look and feel of a website, images must be created separately. Therefore, graphic design may overlap with web design, since graphic designers often create images for use on the Web. Some graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop even include a "Save for Web…" option that provides an easy way to export images in a format optimized for web publishing.

Design is the process of collecting ideas, arranging and implementing them, guided by certain principles for a specific purpose. Web design is a similar process of creation, with the intention of presenting the content on electronic web pages, which the end-users can access through the internet with the help of a web browser.

ELEMENTS OF WEB DESIGN

Web design uses many of the same key visual elements as all types of design such as:

Layout : This is the way in which graphics, ads and text are arranged. In the web world, a key goal is to help the view find the information they seek at a glance. This includes maintaining the balance, consistency, and integrity of the design.

Colour : The choice of colours depends on the purpose and client. It could be simple black-and-white to multi-coloured design, conveying the personality of a person or the brand of an organization, using web-safe colours.

Graphics : Graphics can include logos, photos, clipart or icons, all of which enhance the web design. For user friendliness, these need to be placed appropriately, working with the colour and content of the web page.

Fonts :  The use of various fonts can enhance a website design. Most web browsers can only read a select number of fonts, known as "web-safe fonts", 

Content : Content and design can work together to enhance the message of the site through visuals and text. Written text should always be relevant and useful, so as not to confuse the reader and to give them what they want so they will remain on the site. Content should be optimized for search engines and be of a suitable length, incorporating relevant keywords.

Multimedia : Relevant video and audio stimuli in the design can help users to grasp the information, developing understanding in an easy and quick manner. This can encourage visitors to spend more time on the web page.

You can make your career in web designing as a :

• Web Graphics Designers

• HTML Programmer

• Web Layout Artist

• Web Designer

• Flash Content Designer

• Entry Level Web Developer

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WEB DESIGN AND WEB DEVELOPMENT

WEB DESIGN

Think about web designers as those who transform an idea, or a story, into a visually appealing design, and use their layout to build the user experience throughout the whole website. They design the website’s look and feel. As an architect would create a plan of your house prior to start building it, similarly a web designer would model the layout of your website before a web developer can start developing it. Professional web designers build the whole website in design components, with a pixel perfect layout of all the web pages, icons, typography and other intricate features.

These are some of the main roles of a web designer:

• Using software tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Sketch to build the final layout design of the website

• Have good skills in graphic design and logo design

• Have a good feel for user experience, to identify the simplest approach possible to achieve the desired                      function. This includes the layout, buttons, images and the general format of the website.

• Web designers need to keep themselves up to date with the latest design trends. It’s also important to keep                design consistency that is made popular from other web giant companies, such as Google, and Facebook. This          makes the website environment and interface easier to navigate and use, as it is already familiar to the users              eyes.

• Web designers have to also keep in mind the branding of the website, colour palettes to be used, and the                   typography and readability of the website.

WEB DEVELOPMENT

Think about web developers as those who turn the designs into a live website. Web developers uses web languages and software tools to develop the design and functionality of a website. Web developers are further split into two sub-categories- front-end developers and back-end developers. 

Front-end developers use three main languages; Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript (JS). With these languages, a developer is able to create a full-fledged website. From the main design layout, to inserting images, applying different types of typography and font families, implementing animations, the flow of different pages, form interfaces, and more.

Back-end developers are those who control the server data and requests. Usually a website requires back-end services if it contains dynamic data. This means, for example, users submitting a form with personal data (such as creating an account), or saving an article for your blog page. Generally, if the website requires data to be saved, and making it accessible at a later stage, it means that it would also need a database connection. Database connections are made possible by a direct connection from the server itself. Thus, a back-end developer then uses server languages such as PHP or ASP.NET, and writes database queries by using languages such as SQL or MySQL.

Here are some of the main roles of a web developer:

• Building the actual interface through which a user interacts with the website. This interface is built by front-end developers using HTML, CSS, and JS languages.

• Front-end developers provide the markup design to back-end developers, so they can implement a dynamic website, and submit all the required data on the server and databases.

• Back-end developers create the backbone of the website using languages such as PHP and MySQL.

• Both front-end and back-end developers can use the same development environments or IDEs (Integrated               Development Environment). These are software application tools where you code and build the structure of the website.