Web development is a complicated, multilingual and constantly changing discipline that involves a great deal of conceptual and practical knowledge. It's not that easy to learn. The basics can be taught in an intensive learning environment (such as a code bootcamp) in a few months, but that's just a scratch. It takes years to learn in depth.
The fact is that web development, while challenging, is not “difficult”, like being a doctor or a lawyer. You can get a lot of what you need to know on your own and in a relatively short amount of time, especially if you just want to focus on the front end. This involves learning front-end and back-end skills so that you can not only design a website using skills such as HTML and Javascript, but also create that site and ensure that it will work properly. Once you're well informed about the real differences between web design and web development, you need to figure out which one suits YOU.
Whether you start learning how to become a web developer or web designer, you probably won't be a full-stack senior developer (and earn the highest salary) in a few months, as that usually requires years of experience. If you're transitioning or venturing into technology, you can increase your chances of being hired as a web designer or as a web design freelancer if you know how to code and be able to turn your designs into functional prototypes and user interfaces. Coding and design skills are more in demand today than ever, but both learning and executing web design can be daunting for beginners, novices, and professionals alike. Design a career you love with free online courses in design, development, accessibility, prototyping, user experience and professional skills.
However, there are DIY-style web design platforms, such as Wix and WordPress, where you don't need to program because everything is ready for the user. Web designers pay attention to how their UX designs and visual elements impact users, as well as the look and feel of the website, and then hand over their plans and designs for a web developer to code. Cristy also points out that “today, some designers can do both the design and the coding and many freelancers do both. With Skillcrush's Break Into Tech course, whether you choose to focus on web development or web design, you'll learn HTML and CSS and have access to more than a dozen coding and design courses.
Learning visual design means creating idea boards and type hierarchies, and experimenting with web fonts and color palettes. My biggest misconceptions about designers and developers had to do with how much money they make, how steep the learning curve is, and what kind of work they actually do. These are the skills that most web designers rely on, so save yourself some time learning them now and not later. A foundation on the technological side and good management of the organizational parts will help you get started and will be there for you as you develop your knowledge and career in web design.
Web design is actually a niche in the broader field of design, including graphic designers, user interface designers, visual designers, UX designers, and more.
