web programming or web design?

If you ask web designer And web developerwhat they do, then most likely both will say: “I make websites.” When people hear this answer, they most likely imagine a programmer who writes code and builds a website from scratch to the last button. But what about a web designer? He also makes websites, but only in a different way.

When it comes to IT training for children, this can also cause misunderstanding and confusion. Unknowingly, parents can send their child to web design courses for children, although initially the student wanted to learn to code. The opposite situation is also possible with a creative child who shows creativity and, for example, draws well. In this case, web design for children will be suitable for realizing their artistic potential, but not web developer courses.

The main differences between one profession and another are as follows:

The web designer assembles the layout of the future site in a special program, uses graphic editors and everything that is needed to create a visual shell. He will not answer the question of what script should be written for the registration button, but he will say why it should be located in this part of the site and be green, not blue.
The web developer takes the layout from the web designer and turns it into a real website: he writes code and creates elements from the layout on the page from scratch. He is the one who will create and program the green registration button and set up animation for it.

In this article, we will tell you more about these two professions, the skills that both specialists need, and the difference between web design courses for schoolchildren and web programming lessons.

Web design courses for schoolchildren: the main thing about the profession

A web designer develops a layout of the future website. It is he who embodies the idea of the future website, works with the user menu, sets the color scheme of the page – everything related to the visual part. But that's not all. We know that it is not enough to make a website beautiful, it also has to be user-friendly. Therefore, when designing, a specialist must analyze how exactly people will interact with the interface, what the user experience will be.

When everything is ready, the web designer describes in detail how each element of the site functions separately and together. By the way, creating a layout is only one part of the work. An important one, but not the only one. The web designer (usually in tandem with a marketer) also communicates with the client, collects suggestions and wishes about how the customer sees the future site. This stage is called a briefing. Then a concept of the future project is created from sketches and references that fit the task. Often, web designers collect so-called mood boards, where they store concepts useful for the project.

To create a layout, specialists use different graphic editors. This could be Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator; After Effects for animation, even 3Ds Max. But the main tool for many is Figma.

This is a basic practical skill that is needed to start in the profession. Web design courses from scratch for schoolchildren teach how to work with this tool.

“I want to create cool websites”: what a child will learn in web design courses for children

As we have already said above, the basic and main skill of a web designer is working with the Figma interface. Using the example of a web design course for teenagers and children, let's see what a child will learn:

Work with associative maps to determine the style of the project. Create a mood board and rules for working with it, present the idea to the customer;
Understand the basics of composition, set up modular grids for harmonious placement of elements;
Master typography: selection of fonts and their sizes for different types of headings and information;
Select color solutions and balance;
Create adaptive versions of websites;
Make interactive prototypes using Figma tools.

In addition, in the web design course for teenagers, students analyze different design styles and their features, try to create animation using editor tools. The program also includes classes aimed at developing communication skills, since the future web designer must be able to communicate with the customer and other team members.

The best people to learn web design lessons like these are creative kids who are not alien to aesthetics, even perfectionism. But this is, of course, not necessary. To begin with, it is enough to have the desire to master web design skills for children by studying on free courses or with a teacher in paid lessons. And then it will be clear how interesting this area is for the child. If he understands the key tools of the Figma editor, masters the basics of composition and color, then he can further delve into the profession, study the intricacies of different styles, create high-quality prototypes.

Web development

So, the web designer has analyzed the user experience and created a layout of the future site. Then the web developer comes into play.

His task is to turn the graphic prototype of the site into a real page with all the necessary functionality. If it is an online store, then it is necessary to set up and implement a payment system, if the layout contains a description of a specific animation, then he writes a script for it, and so on. The programmer is also responsible for the functionality of the site and its elements. Everything is created from scratch using one or another programming language.

There are three directions in web development:

Frontend is what the user sees, the “face” of the site, so to speak. The entire appearance of the page, be it buttons, icon placement, menu color, and photos, is determined by the frontend developer and how well he or she programs.
Backend — the user does not see this part, since backend developers work with servers, set up synchronization from different devices. Such a developer may have several programming languages in his arsenal, which makes him a more versatile specialist and expands his capabilities.
Fullstack (literally “full stack”) is a universal specialist who combines the two areas above, that is, he can perform the entire cycle of development work, from scratch to the delivery of a finished website.

In practice, it also happens that Fullstack includes web design, that is, the programmer himself assembles the layout and implements it as a web page. In any case, these are different skills.

We are not going to figure out now who is better to be – a front-end developer or a back-end developer, or even a jack of all trades to solve any problems in development. There are constant debates about this, but we will talk about where a child should go if he wants to become such a developer and whether any special skills are needed for this.

Web Development Courses for Kids

Let's start with the fact that there is usually no division into Frontend and Backend in courses for children. It is for senior classes, where teenagers aged 17-18 have already decided on a profession, have an initial base and therefore can make an informed choice in their future career as a programmer.

In all other cases, web programming training starts with the basics. In this case, we are talking about HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This is a basic course with a zero entry threshold, since any schoolchild from the age of 12 can master the key principles of working with the hypertext markup language and style sheets.

In the Pixel school course, HTML and CSS are included in the first training module. In 12 lessons, the child will study the main tags, style properties, learn to work with tables and lists, with the Bootstrap library. It is expected that after this module, the child will not make a first-class working site for a potential customer, but this is not the goal. It is important for the student to understand how to display different types of information on the page, how to change the content of the site, what key tags are responsible for, how to work with headings such as h1, h2.

The second and third modules already include JavaScript programming. Using JS code, a website can be made interactive and animation can be added to individual elements. This language is more difficult to master, so it requires a preparatory base. Students learn to write scripts, study variables and mathematical functions, and get acquainted with the concept of an array and sorting. The final stage of training is devoted to analyzing the ReactJS library, the capabilities of which help in creating interactive interface elements, flexible, adaptive websites.

Such courses provide skills for creating websites from scratch, including writing code, creating databases, and placing the finished website on a server or hosting (otherwise known as deployment).

What to choose?

We've already briefly touched on who is better off studying to become a web designer, and who is better off studying to become a web developer. Let's put it all together:

Web programming and web design courses are not intended for very young children. The age at which a child can begin such training is 9-10 years old, more often 12. Therefore, the first thing we recommend doing is asking the student what he would like to develop in IT. He can already make an informed choice based on both the opinion of his parents and his own interests.
Both web designers and web developers are in demand in the labor market. This trend will continue.
Learning web design will be especially interesting for children with artistic taste, who love aesthetics, perhaps do handicrafts or drawing. So they will not only be able to reveal their creative potential and apply their creative skills, but also learn to work according to a technical task.
Teenagers who already live in the world of technology and dream of creating their own website, which they lack, will do well in web programming. In addition, at this age, children are already thinking about additional earnings, and web programming, if desired, can become, if not a profession, then a profitable hobby (as, by the way, is web design).

We hope that we were able to explain the difference between web developer And web designer. In the process of creating websites, each of these areas is important: a programmer is unlikely to be able to create a sensible website without a well-thought-out layout that takes into account all the features of the user experience. And a web designer without coding skills is unlikely to be able to put together a website, no matter how ideal the layout is.

When choosing between these two areas of study for your child, start from his interests. Even the most effective program with titled teachers-practitioners will not bear much fruit if the child has no interest in such activities.