Web Design Vs Development

[An Alien]

As you grow older, your learning capacity decreases. I want to become a good web designer/developer but they I want to know which should I learn first. I already know intermediate HTML and CSS and basic-intermediate photoshop. To create good looking sites, photoshop is a very good tool. That's the design part (slicing). And the development part (coding) I already have a good idea of but still haven't mastered it yet, and also is necessary to make a site. The question is, which should I focus on first. I know the answer is both. But my problem is that I can't focus on two things at once and it gets me off-track. I also have to focus on school but at the same time want to become a good web designer. I would start with the easy one since I am still young and can learn it faster. You guys tell me which one do you think is better to start learning first. I know this sounds kinda funny but there's just too much to learn and I wanna be learn in an organized way. Every day they're being new developments on the web and there's just too much to learn. Also I wanna start my career as soon as I finish my studies so I wanna learn everything I can as fast as possible.

[justsomeguy]

A designer and a developer are two different careers, pick the one you would rather do and focus on that.

[Synook]

... so I wanna learn everything I can as fast as possible.

How about just learning one thing well?

[real_illusions]

If you learn everything - jack of all trades, master of noneIf you pick what you want to learn carefully (such as either design or development) - you will become a master of that trade.

[An Alien]

I understand that it's better to pick on thing. But it's also good to know a little bit of everything so you don't have to depend on someone else. I know this from my own experience. My cousin is a designer, not a developer, he was making a site for my dad. I could have made it, but he's professional. My dad payed him a good amount of money and now he's delaying the job because he's dependent on another guy and my dad is happy. I've also looked through many web designers and developers portfolios, they can do both very well. So this is why I want to learn and master both. I know it'll be hard but just want to know which should I start first. You guys probably have more experience than me in both so I'm asking here.

[thescientist]

I would start with what you want to learn the most about first. If you still have the desire to learn the other, you will make room/time for it. You will only get better with time and practice, so if you can devote equal time to both, and enough time to each so as become very proficient, then over time you will find yourself a "master" of both. Or not. Maybe you just won't be that good of a designer and/or developer, and you'll just have to settle on one.

[ShadowMage]

What everyone is saying is that it really doesn't matter which one you choose to study first. Knowing how to design good websites can help you develop one just as well as knowing how to develop one can help you design it. Good designs are easy to develop while knowing the limitations of development will help make good designs. It is entirely up to you to decide which one to choose.That being said, I would personally start with the development. Knowing what you can and can not do with (X)HTML, CSS, JavaScript and even PHP or ASP is important so that your designs don't get overly complicated. If you have a habit of creating complex designs you might find that developing those is incredibly challenging. After you have a handle on development and basic designs you can start to increase the complexity of your designs.

[justsomeguy]

My cousin is a designer, not a developer, he was making a site for my dad. I could have made it, but he's professional. My dad payed him a good amount of money and now he's delaying the job because he's dependent on another guy and my dad is happy.

If you were specializing in development then, then you two could have done that project.I started out designing everything I made, I'm sure most people do. When you're just starting you don't want to share the profits with anyone if you think you can do everything yourself. That's fine. But it will get to the point where you realize that there's one thing that you excel at more than the other, and you'll realize that it's actually more efficient and more profitable if you focus on that one thing and pay someone else to do the extra stuff. I make more money on a project now and my clients are happier since their projects get done quicker because I'll pay someone several thousand dollars to design a good interface for me. And I'm not paying someone who's just my friend or family or whatever, I'm paying someone who has been doing design work for many years, and they're good at it, and I know that what I'm going to get from them is going to be usable for me. And then I take that design, and simply make it work. I bill the client for the designer's time, and that's that, I get paid for the programming work and I pay the designer. That leaves me free to focus on the things that I need to focus on to make the project successful, instead of spending a lot of time trying to do something that I'm not very good at. I could create some pretty cool interfaces, but it's going to take me three time as long versus someone who specializes in design, and it's just not a good use of my time. If I'm working that long on something like an interface, then my hourly rate for the entire project goes down, I can't charge someone for the extra time just because I'm not good at and it takes me longer, I still have to charge a market rate. So if I'm charging a certain amount, say $10,000 for a project, if I can finish the programming on that in 80 hours, and if I can pay a designer $3,000 for the interface, then I'm left with $7,000 for myself, which comes out to $87.50/hour for me. Or, I could still spend the 80 hours programming, plus maybe 60 hours just trying to build an interface that would take a professional only 20 hours, then now I've spent 140 hours on the project, and even though I get the entire $10,000, my hourly rate is now about $71/hour. So, even though I've done everything myself, and get to keep all of the profits, I'm actually making less money per hour. If your schedule isn't full, if you're only working on one project, then maybe it makes sense to keep everything no matter how long it takes you. If you've got several clients waiting for their projects to get finished, and you still want more business, then it makes sense to pay contractors to do the parts where it takes you the most time, and concentrate your efforts on what you're good at.

So this is why I want to learn and master both.

It's easy to learn how to do both. It takes an exceptional amount of time and work to "master" either of them, let alone both. I guess this depends on your definition of "master" though, mine is pretty strict. To me, truly mastering something really does take a lifetime of experience. Mastering something to me means that there is very little left to learn, and that you are able to complete the entire thing using no assistance. I can't imagine someone who would be able to design and develop an entire world-class application, from the interface to the algorithms, without any assistance at any part.

[Synook]

Mastering something is also a constant process; you don't just learn-learn-do-do and then suddenly can say "oh, I'm the master!". It takes constant learning, just to keep up with current trends and processes.And remember, web development is more than just the coding of HTML and CSS documents (that can even be said to be part of design). Web development involves advanced server-side scripting and programming (a whole field in itself), web-server administration, database theory and information management, as well as things like security.

[knystrom18]

Development because then when you design, you can know what's in your limits to code.

[An Alien]

If you were specializing in development then, then you two could have done that project.I started out designing everything I made, I'm sure most people do. When you're just starting you don't want to share the profits with anyone if you think you can do everything yourself. That's fine. But it will get to the point where you realize that there's one thing that you excel at more than the other, and you'll realize that it's actually more efficient and more profitable if you focus on that one thing and pay someone else to do the extra stuff. I make more money on a project now and my clients are happier since their projects get done quicker because I'll pay someone several thousand dollars to design a good interface for me. And I'm not paying someone who's just my friend or family or whatever, I'm paying someone who has been doing design work for many years, and they're good at it, and I know that what I'm going to get from them is going to be usable for me. And then I take that design, and simply make it work. I bill the client for the designer's time, and that's that, I get paid for the programming work and I pay the designer. That leaves me free to focus on the things that I need to focus on to make the project successful, instead of spending a lot of time trying to do something that I'm not very good at. I could create some pretty cool interfaces, but it's going to take me three time as long versus someone who specializes in design, and it's just not a good use of my time. If I'm working that long on something like an interface, then my hourly rate for the entire project goes down, I can't charge someone for the extra time just because I'm not good at and it takes me longer, I still have to charge a market rate. So if I'm charging a certain amount, say $10,000 for a project, if I can finish the programming on that in 80 hours, and if I can pay a designer $3,000 for the interface, then I'm left with $7,000 for myself, which comes out to $87.50/hour for me. Or, I could still spend the 80 hours programming, plus maybe 60 hours just trying to build an interface that would take a professional only 20 hours, then now I've spent 140 hours on the project, and even though I get the entire $10,000, my hourly rate is now about $71/hour. So, even though I've done everything myself, and get to keep all of the profits, I'm actually making less money per hour. If your schedule isn't full, if you're only working on one project, then maybe it makes sense to keep everything no matter how long it takes you. If you've got several clients waiting for their projects to get finished, and you still want more business, then it makes sense to pay contractors to do the parts where it takes you the most time, and concentrate your efforts on what you're good at.It's easy to learn how to do both. It takes an exceptional amount of time and work to "master" either of them, let alone both. I guess this depends on your definition of "master" though, mine is pretty strict. To me, truly mastering something really does take a lifetime of experience. Mastering something to me means that there is very little left to learn, and that you are able to complete the entire thing using no assistance. I can't imagine someone who would be able to design and develop an entire world-class application, from the interface to the algorithms, without any assistance at any part.

Hmm, now I understand. Those are some pretty good examples for "Just some guy" lol. Thanks guys, I'm interested in both but you guys helped me understand why I should stick. Now the only problem is that I need to decide which one, lol.

[justsomeguy]

Like I said, most people probably start doing both, so there's no harm in that. But keep in mind that at some point you'll probably decide you like doing one of them better, and you would probably have an easier time specializing from that point.