In my opinion, a web designer has the responsibility to have, at the very least, an advanced level of expertise in HTML and CSS, and a moderate level of experience with JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. But what level of experience should a web designer have in computer programming languages like C++ and Java? While you might think you don’t need to learn them, I think it is very important to the direction of web design as a career field.
Web design and web development, while often used interchangeably, are actually very different creatures. Web design is mostly concerned with the look and feel of the site. Structure, theme, and presentation of content all fall under the umbrella of web design. Web development usually entails creating new methods for delivering all that information to the end user. Creating a new module for Joomla!, for example, would be considered web development. Creating a countdown clock using PHP or JavaScript would be considered web development, how that clock looks would start to fall under web design.
However different the two fields are now, they used to be very different in the past. There wasn’t much crossover. Now though, with dynamic websites becoming the norm, web design and web development are starting to grow closer together. A web designer that can’t do much web development will in the next few years find themselves falling behind. Now, if their business is strong they can hire a web developer to help them or buy extensions for dynamic sites built with a CMS like Joomla!, but why not learn to create on your own and keep that money as part of your profit?
While my computer programming experience is still in the intermediate level, the knowledge I have gained learning C++ and Java has definitely helped me navigate through the world of web development. I can usually pick apart open source code and modify it to meet my needs. Java has especially become important since Android apps are based on it. Many of my clients now want apps, so that is something I am just beginning to branch out into.
So, if you don’t want to get left behind, get out there and learn a computer programming language. Especially focus on understanding the concepts behind object oriented programming. This is very similar to the MVC structure that is used to build PHP websites. Remember, the more you understand how the tools you are working with, like Joomla! and WordPress actually work, the more successfully you can implement them into your site designing process.