What Is Web Development, and How Does It Work?

Websites are like stores that shape our online experiences in the huge digital world we live in every day. Ever think about how these amazing digital things are made? They are made of a lot of different kinds of code and design. Welcome to the world of web development, an area that is always changing and is what keeps the internet going. Web developers who are excellent at both technology and creativity carefully created everything you see on your screen, from sleek e-commerce platforms to engaging social media sites. The question is, what is web development, and how does it make websites come to life? Come with us on a trip through cyberspace as we try to figure out this important skill that shapes our online world.

What does web development really mean?

While "web design" is often used to describe the job of planning the features and functions of websites and apps, "web development" refers to the actual building and making of websites and apps.

When you think about all the websites you've used over the years, they were all made by Web Developers who made sure they worked well and gave users a great experience. Web developers do this by writing lines of code in different programming languages, which change based on the platform they are working on and the jobs they are working on.

How web development works

When you're ready to start building your website, you should follow a certain set of steps to get the best results. As we move on to the next part of our web development outline, here is a six-step breakdown of the process!

1. Make a plan

Making a plan is the first thing you should do before building a website. Before you start making a header, think about what you want your site to be.

Writing down clear goals is the best way to do this. A lot of people have goals like "let people buy our products on our site" and "teach people about our products and services." You could also have goals like "get users to know our team members."

Then, think about the people you want to visit your site. Who are you going to see on your site? What are they likely to look for?

During the rest of the development process, remember your goals and the people you want to reach.

2. Make a sitemap

After setting some broad goals, you can think about how your site will be set up. Making a sitemap (not to be confused with an XML sitemap) is the best way to do that because it lets you plan out all the different parts and pages that will make up your site.

You can use the internet or just a pen and paper to make a guide. You're just picturing how your site's pages will be put together and linked to each other.

In the end, this roadmap will be the key to making your site's navigation work well and making it easy for people to find their way around.

3. Buy a website address

The next step is to get a domain name. Your site's URL is its domain name. The best way to set up a website for a business is to use the business's name as the domain name.

You can check to see if your domain name is free on a site like M2Host. You might have to change your name a few times to find an open domain. After that, you need to pick a web hosting service.

When you make a domain name, try to make it clear that it belongs to your brand. Also, keep it short since people have a harder time remembering longer domain names.

You can also buy your domain name through a website builder like WordPress.

4. Make your back end

You can start coding as soon as you know how your website will look.

As we already said, you could use a CMS like WordPress to do this. If so, you can use building blocks or even themes already out there to create your site. Just keep in mind that it won't be as unique as if you had made it from scratch.

It's not enough to copy and paste the words from a template. As a starting point, templates should be changed into something new and different to help you make a one-of-a-kind design.

Three web development tools—HTML, CSS (cascading style sheets), and JavaScript—are likely to be used if you decide to code it by hand. There are three apps here that can help you make a website out of code. HTML is the base, and the other two tools improve it.

After you've completed the basic coding, you should start working on improving other parts of your back-end. For example, you should choose where to host your site and how to organize and retrieve data from it.

It takes a lot of time and work to optimize the back end, but here are some of the things you can expect to do:

• Create forms to gather information.

• Save picture files

• Set up cookies on certain web pages.

If people can buy things on your site, back-end optimization is a very important step in the development process because the information they enter has to be saved somewhere.

5. Put together your front end

When you're done making the back end of your site, it makes sense to move on to the front end. That means putting together the part of your site that people will see when they go there—the walls and counters of your site's home.

If you use a CMS, you don't have to code your site because you can choose color schemes and move things around on the page without having to code it. If you start from scratch, you have to write your code first and then add things to your website.

Some common parts of the front end are:

• Schemes of color

• Types of fonts

• Layout for navigation

While you're building your website, make sure it's easy for people to use and that it fits your brand.

6. Make your site live

You're almost done with the steps above. Now, all that's left to do is start your site! You should unquestionably test it first to make sure that everything is working right. Once you're sure everything is okay, you can make it public, though.

After that, you can keep making changes and improvements to your site to improve its ranking in search results and achieve better business results.

Differences between Web development and web design

Web development and web design have some things in common, but it's important to know the main ones:

Web development:

- Write the code that makes a website work. You can work on the website's front end or back end (server-side).

- Put ideas into action based on what the client wants or what a design team comes up with.

- You need to be very good at many different computer languages, such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, C/C++, Python, and others, as well as frameworks and libraries.

- Spend most of your time writing code and very little time doing things like making mockups, choosing fonts, or picking colors choices.

Web design:

- Make the website or software more appealing to look at and easy to use by choosing colors, fonts, and other visual elements.

- Work directly with clients to bring their ideas to life, either alone or with a group.

- Know basic to advanced computer languages and how to code in them, like HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript

- Make wireframes and prototypes to test design ideas and give feedback on business style guides, logos, and branding.

Types of Web Development

Front-end development, back-end development, and full-stack development are the three main types of web development.

Front-End Development

The "client-facing" part of web development is called front-end development. In other words, front-end web development is the part of a website, app, or digital product that people will see and interact with. Since front-end developers are in charge of how a digital product looks and "feels," they are also sometimes called web designers.

The front-end Web developers' main job is to turn visual and design ideas for websites into code. As a link between design and technology, a front-end software developer writes the design ideas that other people on a web development team have come up with.

Back-End Development

Back-end developers work on making digital products work, while front-end developers make sure they look good. A back-end developer builds the foundation of a website before taking care of it and making sure it works properly. This includes working with databases, making sure users are authenticated, setting up the server, network, and web hosting, and writing business logic. Working behind the scenes or on the server, back-end developers are in charge of the structures and systems that make it possible for computer programs to do what you want them to do.

The main job of Back-End Developers is to ensure that the site works, including being quick and fast. They need to know how to use modern frameworks to build servers, create custom APIs, and serve static websites and files. They also need to know how to handle databases and data on a web server.

Full-Stack Developer

A Full-Stack Developer knows how to build websites from the front end to the back end. They usually know many different programming languages. Because they are so flexible, they may be given more responsibility on tasks than developers who only work on one type of language. They are generalists who know everything about every stage of growth and are good at wearing both hats.

Conclusion

Designing, building, and managing websites is all part of web development, which is a broad and constantly changing field. It includes a lot of different fields, like front-end development, back-end development, and full-stack development. Web writers use programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to make websites that are interactive and easy for people to use. Learning the basics of web development can give people the tools they need to build their online presence or start working in the tech business. Learning about web development is a useful skill that you should consider developing further, whether you want to improve your online presence or start a new job.