Web Designers are responsible for the layout, visual appearance and usability of a website. This role may overlap with that of a Multimedia programmer and web architect. Using a combination of graphic design skills and technical knowledge of how web pages are created, the work involves:
- liaising closely with a customer or client at the design stage to answer questions such as: why is the site needed? who are the target audience? who are the leading competitors? etc;
- producing a design that will be attractive to the target user, has a logical navigation system and has all the features required;
- writing web pages in a combination of codes, such as hypertext mark-up language (HTML), Javascript, Actionscript, ColdFusion, Java, Perl and Flash, or using code-generating programs, such as Dreamweaver;
- deciding on how images and other material will be digitally optimised and presented for the web;
- ensuring that material on the web site is accessible to all groups including those with disabilities;
- testing the site for functionality in different browsers and at different resolutions;
- fixing errors.
Web designers will have knowledge of graphic design packages such as Fireworks or Photoshop in order to produce basic layout and manipulate images. Skills in cascading style sheets (CSS), e-commerce and server side technologies, such as PHP and Perl, and internet security are also important. As users gain faster access to the internet via broadband, web designers with skills in multimedia and interactivity are likely to be in greater demand.
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