At the initial sight or sound of the two-word terms “web design” and “web development,” it is understandably easily to assume that they are one in the same.  Or at least similar, for that matter.  But really, the two major parts that go into the creation of a website are substantially different from each other.

How about a few comparisons that help to explain web design vs. web development:

• Web designers are artists; Web developers are geeks (in a good way, of course).
• Web design is an art; Web development is a science.
• Web designers are architects; Web developers are builders.
• Web design is creative; Web development is technical.
• Web designers are right-brained; Web developers are left-brained.

The list could on, but these examples will probably suffice for now—and hopefully provide some initial clarity on the relationship between web design and web development.

What Does Web Design Involve?

Web designers basically practice a unique brand of graphic design.  Great web designers are creative artists that know how to bring design together perfectly with goals and desires in order to “paint a picture” that draws the visitor’s eye.  Web design is all about getting the colors right and getting the shapes and sizes right; it focuses on images, fonts, and where they should be on the page.  And naturally, it combines all of the elements found throughout a website into one cohesive look & feel.  Web design really is an art!

What Does Web Development Involve?

Web developers take the graphical web design—the look and feel, if you will—and make it work.  Web development is all about coding, software programming, and making the technical aspects of a website work exactly the way they should.  It also typically involves the ensuring that security and web hosting are setup and implemented just the way they should be…and that everything works well together from a functionality perspective. Your web developers are the mad scientists behind the scenes that bring the designer’s vision to life.

Now, For The Kicker…

Some web designers are also great web developers; and some web developers are also very proficient at web design.  If that sounds confusing, just remember, like anything in life, sometimes the right side of the brain and the left side of the brain work together in perfect harmony.  As a full-service web firm, here at Sleepless Media, we happen to be harmoniously proficient at both the art of design and the science of development.

Why Is Balance Between The Two Practices So Important?

You’ve probably seen websites that come across as way too technical and logical.  On the other hand, you’ve surely run across websites that theoretically look fantastic—but then they don’t work correctly or jam up your entire computer.  Either of these scenarios can happen when balance between design and development is off-kilter.

The bottom line is that in order for a web design to work, in order for it to achieve and carry out the goals expected of it, a fine-line combination of both web design and web development must be implemented with great care.

From start to finish, there’s a lot more that goes into building a complete website than meets the eye!  To say that web design is simply a matter of designing a website leaves out a lot of the important facts.  It’s really a multi-faceted process—one that takes quality planning and expert implementation to get right.  Let’s take a look at the major components of a comprehensive web development project…

One:  Planning

First things first, every website must be carefully planned.  Here at Sleepless Media, we usually start right away when receiving a quote request.  We’ll look at all of the information provided and conceptualize a better feel for how the overall project will flow and what details will entail.  As we evaluate projects, we maintain an ongoing dialogue with our customers to ensure we completely understand the goals and gather all of the right information.

Two:  Project Management

Once the details are all rounded up and put in order, the next step is sending over a detailed formal proposal.  After an agreement is reached and the deal is inked, then it’s time to start taking care of business.  This is where it’s integral to have an efficient, organized project management system in place—without proactive project management to track and guide the web development project over each phase through realization of its full scope, there’s really very little chance of putting all of the pieces together so they actually form a desirable, high-performance finished product.  Project management is just that vital.

Three:  Copywriting

It’s always a good idea to know going into a new web development project that copywriting is one of the most essential components of a good website.  It truly is the lifeblood of the site when it comes to SEO and drawing visitors’ attention.  The thing is, it’s not automatically a part of web design (even though the best websites are designed to work hand-in-hand with their copy).  Many folks choose to supply their own site copy—we can work with this and will even be happy to give you some pointers.  We can also help you produce compelling optimized copy; just ask us about our copy and content process.

Four:  Creating The Look & Feel

This phase is the artistic process—the graphic design, if you will.  Usually done by expert professional graphic designers using industry-standard software like Photoshop, the look and feel must be both attractive and thematically appropriate for the subject of the website being designed.  The look and feel can make or break a website.

Five:  Production & Development

Once the visual design of the site is complete and agreed upon, then the next phase of the web development process is to “slice” the design.  This is kind of a reverse engineering process where the visual and style elements are broken down into optimized pieces and tied together through standards-compliant web code.  Doing this right is really an art of its own!

Six:  Web Programming

With the front-end of the website in place now, the next phase of the web development process is building the systems on the back-end that make it work.  The cogs of the machinery include E-Commerce systems, dynamic databases, and content management systems (CMS), along with other detailed programming work.

Seven:  Testing

After the programming phase is complete, all of the components are put together in their intended final form and the quality assurance phase kicks into full gear.  Extensive testing for standards, functionality, and compatibility are very important to making sure full satisfaction is met.  After all, all of the prior phases of development would go to waste if the finished product simply didn’t work right.

Eight:  Launch

Only once comprehensive testing and debugging is complete will the site be ready to launch.  But once it is, this is the most exciting part…putting your new website creation on to the web after extensive planning, development, and testing.

So, would you agree that building a great website is a little bit more detailed than just patching together some code and content and calling it finished?  It’s true—quality web development requires significant planning and preparation; but as the project wraps up, it becomes very evident that the attention to detail is definitely worth all of the effort!

Overwhelmed while trying to select the best e-commerce shopping cart solution for your website?  If so, it’s completely understandable-after all, this is a really complicated area of internet technology these days.

What’s our advice?  Well, first things first, take a deep breath and try to slow down.  It’s just not worth rushing into the wrong solution.  Next, it’s time to take a look at the basics of choosing the right e-commerce solution.  Ready?

Define Your Specific E-Commerce Needs.

For example, will you be selling thousands of different products across a wide variety of categories?  Perhaps you’re just seeking the best shopping cart solution to sell a single product…maybe an e-book or something similar.  Think about the overall objective you’d like to accomplish with the shopping cart solution before going any further-it’s incredibly easy to talk ourselves into a very complex solution when something simple, easy, and more affordable will not only suffice, but probably even work better for the particular situation.

Free Solution, Premium Software, Open Source – What’s The Difference?

Because there are so many different types of e-commerce out there, it’s only natural that the shopping cart solutions being offered are just as diverse.  It can be confusing to decipher one variety from the next, but here’s kind of a quick, simple rundown:

• Free Shopping Cart Solution – This is something like the solution offered by PayPal to their customers (or something similar anyway). In this case, the shopping cart is set up through the account with that service and is designed to direct transactions on your site through the service for payment processing. It’s a win-win in simple cases…you’ll receive an easy way to accept payment and enable e-commerce on your site, while the service will take a small percentage fee to cover their end of the deal. Again, because this option is not a robust, full-scale solution, it’s probably best for those promoting a smaller product inventory.

• Premium E-Commerce Software – There are several well-known names out there when it comes to premium e-commerce shopping cart software. Most premium choices available are very good-packed with both practical and advanced feature sets and designed to handle complete e-commerce inventory management, payment processing, and beyond. In many cases, it’s worth paying extra for a premium solution for the support alone-and in this regard, it’s always a good idea to make sure that the support offered will stand up to that which is promised before committing to the purchase.

• Open Sources Shopping Cart Software – This type of e-commerce solution is becoming more and more popular with web developers and e-tailers alike for good reason…it’s free! Many of the open source options available are truly excellent. One thing that is typically lacking in this category though, is the ability to pick up the phone and call for support. Not usually a problem if your web designer or developer is your point of contact on all such issues (and they know their way around the software they’ve installed), but in the worst cases, you could end up being left out in the dark.

The Last Word.

As with any major purchase, doing the background first will save lots of hassle, headache, and expense later on.  Be sure to ask plenty of questions.  Don’t just settle for a one-size-fits-all solution for your website’s e-commerce shopping care solution.

Sometimes your e-commerce website needs are extremely custom, and would have a hard time squeezing into an off-the-shelf cart like osCommerce, X Cart, Prostores or Zen Cart. In these situations, we find that building a completely custom online store for you, that fits your every need, is a far better option for both your budget and the flexibility.

Sleepless Media specializes in building custom shopping carts in PHP/MySQL. All of our stores are SSL Security enabled and make it easy to keep your products and your entire website up to date at all times.

For more information on our Custom E-Commerce Website Development, Contact Us.