San Antonio internet marketing jargon: Web Design vs. Web Development

We have our own jargon, San Antonio, that doesn’t make much sense to outsiders. “09ers” are Alamo Heights residents. “The Pearl” is the renovated Pearl Brewery.

In 99% of conversations “Timmy” refers to our beloved San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan. Also, no native San Antonian calls this city “San Antone.”

Internet Marketers in San Antonio are guilty of the same thing; we can use jargon that doesn’t always make sense to the untrained ear. There’s a big distinction, in our minds, between web design and web development, for example. Learn more about what goes through our heads on those two topics below.

The difference between web design and web development

Web Design

Web Design has to do with how things look -- it’s color scheme, logo placement, page layout -- but doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the functioning components behind it. The end result of a “Web Design” effort, by itself, is often a PhotoShop or other graphic file.

Web Development

Web Development has to do with how things work -- when I click here, this happens -- but, by itself, won’t be visually beautiful.

The most important thing to know

Web design will dictate what size a photo should be on the page to look good, but it’s the efforts during development that will let you upload the photo in the first place.

This is the screenshot of a contact form that has been developed, but doesn’t have any design. Doesn’t look great, but you could send an email through it.

Here’s that same form, functional, that has interpreted the web design into its development.

You need a new website? What you want is a someone that can give you both quality web design and web development. A good website can’t have one without the other.
 

[Image Credit: katietower]