Web design encompasses a number of different disciplines and skills in the development and upkeep of websites. The different fields of web design are:
- web graphics design;
- website authoring;
- web programming;
- user experience designing;
- search engine optimizing.
In this article we’ll take a closer look at these disciplines and how they relate to the development and maintenance of a website.
Graphic Design. When talking about web design, graphic design is often considered a separate field altogether. However, graphic designers use several different aspects of web development to come up with designs for websites that clients may be interested in viewing. Some web developers work solely on the graphic side, while other web designers work on everything from images to code.
Web programming. Web programmers are a group of people who use several different techniques in order to create the various scripts and programs that are part of a website. Some web developers work entirely on the programming side of a website, while others only focus on the graphic and user interface side of a website. Either way, all web developers to work together to ensure that the functionality of the website can be completely achieved. This allows the owner of a website to focus on other things while still being able to have all of his or her data displayed on the site.
User Experience Design. User experience designing involves the interaction between the user of the website and its overall design. This can be as simple as choosing a color scheme that works with your website’s overall theme, or as complicated as having the website written to be aesthetically pleasing to the human eye. User experience designers often have a background in computer science and are usually hired by web designers that are looking for a more intuitive way of making the user of their website comfortable.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Many people think of search engine optimizing as the ability to improve the number of times that a website appears within a given search engine’s results. SEO is not simply the ability to optimize your site for the search engines, but it also involves ensuring that your site is as effective in other places.
Search engine marketing. One of the most important aspects of search engine optimization is the way that you promote your site. Because a website is only visible to a search engine when someone searches for it, there is a lot of importance placed on your website’s overall design. That is why you will often see many website designers working on the front end of a website’s layout while taking into consideration other factors that should be taken into account by the search engines, such as the color scheme.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is not just about using keywords to optimize your site for search engines. It also involves putting a lot of thought into how your site looks on your website and what kinds of Meta tags and other meta tags are used. Web designers often work with SEO specialists that can advise you on the best ways of making your website search engine-friendly. SEO is the process of ensuring that your website appears on Google as often as possible and also making sure that your site’s title appears on search results.
When you consider the different areas of website development and design, it becomes clear that each of these areas has a lot to do with how well your website appears in the search engines. If your website isn’t seen by the search engines, then you’re not going to get a lot of traffic, which can seriously affect your online success.