Every website has a web designer or several web designers who in some form helped make the decisions needed and performed the work required to conceive its design and implement it onto a live web server so that you can view it today. Web Designers represent a very broad spectrum of skill and experience levels and the definition of who is and is not a web designer carries a fair level of ambiguity because of the myriad of ways a website can be created today and variety of level of skill required for someone to build different types of websites.

Web designers, unlike Graphic Designers, typically have training in front-end browser friendly languages that help tell your web browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Safari, or Firefox) what information to display, where it should appear on your web page, how it should respond to certain user interactions, and how the different content on the page should interact with other content. These languages a web designer would learn might include some version of HTML, CSS, and perhaps JavaScript, and perhaps more. It’s also possible to create and implement websites without knowing any of these languages, however it’s rare to find a web designer who doesn’t utilize HTML & CSS code in some fashion.

When someone creates a website using an automated website service platform such as Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly, WordPress.com and others, they are technically creating a website, however the professional web design work has already been done for them becasue when those companies listed above created their platforms, then encoded all of the creative tools and options into their website that would allow a user to select some options and have some level of influence over what their website will look like. But the technical web design work was still performed by a professional web designer at some point.

There are certainly individuals who call themselves web designers who have a limited understanding of how websites are developed on the backend with coding languages. This type of person could also be called a web designer because they are technically building a website when they use a platform like Weebly or SquareSpace to build a website, although it may be the case that many of the tasks they perform could be done by anyone who spends a few hours reading the instructions & tutorials provided by those websites.

Therefore it’s possible for almost anyone to call themselves a web designer and have the ability to launch a variety of websites with varying levels of complexity and professional design. Because of this what’s most important when looking for a web designer to build your website is to discuss their work methods, the types of websites they are building, and understand the limitations and benefits of the specific platform or framework or system they use to build your website.

For instance, at All in Web Pro, we often build websites using the WordPress.org platform, by first purchasing a pre-designed theme from a theme marketplace such as Envato. Once the theme is purchased, and after we’ve collected all of the information from our clients that we’ll need to build out the pages and implement their vision, depending on the specific design and functional requirements of the site, we then go about the process of customizing all of the settings in WordPress, designing and developing graphics, designing and implementing the layout and flow of each page, and conduct any functional development using several plugins that add specific functional components. Depending on the site we may also need to edit or create new source code of pages, or plugins by editing the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or PHP code of the files of the website.

Every web designer is different, and their business model, customer service, recommendations, techniques, methodologies, approach, and philosophies for why they do what they do and how they do it can vary widely. There are a variety of ways that someone can gain the necessary skill sets needed to become a web designer, and with practice and hard work, anyone could potentially gain the knowledge needed to perform any level of website administration or call themselves a webmaster.

As the internet becomes Web Design becomes a more critical part of our daily lives, the need for skilled and competent web designers will become more and more important. Web Design classes are becoming more common in public and private schools, colleges, and universities throughout the world. In Las Vegas there are high schools that offer classes in which students build and manage websites among other technical trades.

With the pace of technological innovation increasing year after year, we can expect to see a great deal of advances in the web design industry over the coming years that will be sure to change our lives in new and exciting ways. Web Designers will therefore always be needed to help us develop both custom and basic websites to suit the unique needs and desires of hobbyists, businesses, brands, and the average person. There’s always more to learn and because of this, it’s always important to get to know your web designer and get to know your website so you can be more empowered to leverage the infinite power of the web to help you achieve your dreams.