The Comprehensive Web Development Guide: From Basics to Advanced Techniques

Website development is much more than just coding. It’s a process that involves planning, strategizing, wireframing, coding, and testing. Through this web development guide, you will learn the basics to understand what needs to happen to create and launch a successful website. 

We cover everything from key concepts, to key differences in web design, to the steps involved in developing a website. We also explain the different aspects to look for when hiring a web development agency.

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In this article

What Is Web Development?

The term web development refers to the process of creating and maintaining websites and web apps. It, of course, involves various sets of tasks including:

• Markup
• Scripting
• Coding
• Network configuration
• Debugging
• CMS development
• and more

“Your website is the center of your digital ecosystem, like a brick and mortar location, the experience matters once a customer enters, just as much as the perception they have of you before they walk through the door.” – Leland Dieno

In short, we can say that web development is responsible for turning a design into a fully functional website. This can be done either by coding from scratch (using coding languages such as HTML, Javascript or CSS) or by using pre-designed layouts and templates within a CMS platform (WordPress, Joomla or others). Both options are acceptable, just keep in mind that the latter is ideal for simple websites or businesses with a limited budget. 

Web Design and Development

These two terms tend to be used interchangeably, but as you embark on this web development journey, you need to understand that they don’t mean the same thing. 

On the one hand, web design focuses primarily on the visual aesthetics and user experience of your site. It involves understanding the needs of your target user, creating wireframes and reusable components, and outlining the basic structure of each page within your site.

Web development, on the other hand, focuses on functionality, performance, and every single technical aspect of your site. This includes writing and testing code, integrating databases, and maintaining security. 

What Do Web Designers Do?

Web designers work closely with marketers, web developers, product managers, and others in your organization to create visually appealing and user-friendly designs. 

What Do Web Developers Do?

Web developers work closely with web designers to create fully functional and efficient websites or web applications.

Main Reasons Why Website Development Matters

In today’s world, people are used to turning to the Internet for information. Information that can range from a nice restaurant to go to for dinner to reviews and ratings on a particular product before making a purchase decision. In this sense, businesses like yours need to have an updated and valuable web presence. One that shares important information, answers the public’s questions, and provides useful data.

You might think that you can create a website on your own, but the truth is that working closely with web developers can make all the difference. They have the experience, knowledge, tools, and resources to create a fully functional site that follows best practices. One that will help you build brand awareness, save money on advertising, answer questions, and most importantly, foster referral programs and loyal customers.

Think of web development as civil engineering. You pay someone with the right experience to deliver a product (website) that helps you improve your online presence.

Introduction to Web Development: Concepts You Should Master 

A key part of the success of your web development project is being able to communicate with your development team. With that in mind, here’s a quick overview of some of the words that will come up in conversations and project meetings.

Front-End

As you embark on this web development journey, you will often hear the terms front-end and back-end. It’s important that you understand what they refer to. The front end is the side of your website that the end user sees and interacts with. Front-end coding allows users to interact with your buttons, text, videos, and other elements. 

Back-End

Back-end, on the other hand, refers to the digital infrastructure (numbers, letters, and symbols) that make up your site but that users don’t see.

Web servers can be trained to understand just about any coding language, which is why you’ll find that your back-end development team has more options to choose from than your front-end team (web browsers only work with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript). 

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language, better known as HTML, is one of the most popular markup languages used to create Web pages. It’s impertinent to emphasize that it’s not a programming language, but it is used to create the structure and content of the site, including headings, paragraphs, images, links, etc. 

CSS

CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets, is the language used to specify the presentation and styling of the visual appearance of your website. It allows your web developers to specify the color palette, fonts, design elements, and even the layout. CSS also helps make your site responsive and adaptable to different screen sizes and resolutions. 

JavaScript

JavaScript or JS is the web programming language responsible for adding interactive elements such as drop-down menus, animations, forms, sliders, etc. It’s often used to make your site more dynamic and improve the user experience.

Technology Stack

This term refers to the collection of software, applications, programming languages, and tools used to develop your website or web application. The technology stack has two main components: the server side (web framework, programming language, database, web server, operating system, your server) and the client side (JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and the user’s browser). 

• Web Frameworks:Pre-packaged structures of pre-written code that define how a program should interact. They help reduce the time and complexity of developing a website.
• Databases: collects and stores data from the front-end to the back-end. Your development team needs to understand how to store, modify, and retrieve data from the databases.
• Web Server: Computers that host website files, databases, and other resources. 
• Web Browser: Where the user will experience browsing your website. You should aim to work with a web developer who has the skills and understanding to work with a variety of browsers, including Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera.

How To Choose the Right Technology Stack

Depending on the website or web application you want to build, your development team may have to choose one technology stack over the other. It’s imperative that they consider several factors before making a decision. 

1. Project size: Small projects that are simple in complexity but require a quick turnaround can rely on CMS platforms such as WordPress or Joomla. Medium-sized projects that require the integration of multiple functionalities and platforms (e.g. financial websites, organizational websites, small e-commerce sites) can use the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, Angular JS, andNode.js). While larger projects such as social media websites or larger ecommerce websites should opt for something that allows scalability, processing large loads of information, responsive design, and quick modification, should work with PHP, Python/Django, RoR tech stacks.
2. Time to market: The estimated time to develop and launch is another critical factor in choosing a solution. For example, technology stacks such as Ruby on Rails or Python/Django are known for reducing time to market, reducing the number of hours spent on web development, and helping you save money.
3. Scalability: As your team considers their options, make sure they have a complete understanding of the “must have” and “nice to have” elements of your site. They should also consider possible scenarios for future growth. You want them to work with a tech stack that leaves room for scaling. Some of the most popular options are MEAN Stack and Python/Django.

Frameworks

As we explained earlier, web frameworks are pre-written code that your development team can use to speed up the process of building your website. They come with templates and functions for common tasks such as routing URLs, interacting with databases, and formatting output. Working with frameworks helps ensure that applications are built in a consistent and maintainable way.

Some of the most popular frameworks include Django (Python), Ruby on Rails (Ruby), React (JavaScript), jQuery (JS library), and Laravel (PHP). 

CMS

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that helps your team create, edit, and publish content. It is also useful for managing websites. It’s important to note that the CMS itself is not a necessary tool for building your website, but it does make things much easier for your web developers. 

Some of the most popular CMS in 2024 are WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Wix and Shopify. Each has its own advantages and features.

IP Address

The IP address is a unique address that identifies a device or local network connected to the Internet. It is made up of a string of numbers that is used to distinguish each website or device from the other billions.

Try typing “what’s my IP address” into your favorite search browser to find out your device’s IP. Do the same from another device (perhaps your smartphone or tablet) and you will see that they are different.

Types of Web Development

Web development involves many different things. From the screen users see when they enter your site, to the code behind it. But there’s more. Let’s take a close look at all the different types of web development, it will help you understand which one you currently need so you can hire the best fit.

Front-End Development

Focused on the user experience, front-end development uses coding and design techniques to build the elements of your website that are directly seen and accessed by end users. The ultimate goal is to make the entire interface look elegant, easy to use, fast, secure, and appealing.

It focuses on the design of elements, text, colors, images, sliders, pop-ups, tables, buttons, and more. In short, everything that plays a key role in enhancing the visual appeal and usability of your site.

As you can imagine, working in front-end development requires certain skills, including

• Knowledge of coding languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• A strong understanding of CSS preprocessors.
• Understanding of server-side CSS processing techniques and their applications.
• Knowledge of text styling, including the selection of appropriate colors and styles to ensure readability and enhance user engagement.
• Be familiar with TypeScript, a superset of JavaScript that adds static typing capabilities to the language.

Back-End Development

As we said before, the backend is everything that runs behind the scenes of a website and is responsible for its functioning. It is the code that makes it all happen. 

Backend developers are responsible for writing the code, managing database operations, and handling APIs. Of course, this comes at a price. Not everyone can handle these tasks, they require specific skills and training. For example:

• Familiarity with front-end technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
• Understanding of various back-end algorithms and processes, including configuration, administration, and management of databases and servers.
• Be familiar with server-side languages such as Python, PHP, C#, and Ruby.
• Understand how to handle user data and store it in databases.
• Be familiar with various security measures to enhance data security.
• Be adept at creating RESTful APIs to facilitate seamless communication between the front-end and back-end.

Full Stack Development

The name itself gives us clear signals about what this type of web development is all about. It includes both front-end and back-end development. 

Working with a full-stack development team is an efficient use of resources. It leaves room for flexibility and speed. But what makes it even more interesting is that you will have experts on your side with a deep understanding of the system architecture and multiple coding languages, enabling them to identify bottlenecks, conflicts, or inefficiencies that specialized developers might miss.

Desktop Development

This type of web development is related to the process of creating applications that run on computers. It is a very broad concept as there are many different types of computer applications and their complexity varies greatly. For example, you may want to create an application software (which performs specific tasks, such as photo editing) or something larger, such as an Internet browser. 

It differs from web development on many different levels. These include the tools and technologies used, accessibility features, security, and development platforms. 

Mobile Development

Refers to the process of creating software for smartphones, tablets, and digital assistants. In most cases, they are built for iOS and Android operating systems, but keep in mind that there are other options. 

This software can either be pre-installed on the device or downloaded from a mobile app store. It’s usually created using programming and markup languages such as Java, Swift, C#, and HTML5.

While mobile app development sounds very similar to desktop development, the truth is that they are quite different as accessibility, usage, connectivity and interface vary greatly. 

Video Game Development

This multidisciplinary practice includes everything from programming, design, character modeling, animation, adding visual effects, and more to a video game. It can be done by either a small team or a larger group of professionals, but what really matters is that they all have the necessary skills and training to get the job done.

Security Development

Finally, this type of development refers to methods and procedures for securing a software program or website. Experts in this field tend to work as ethical hackers, always looking for vulnerabilities in systems and networks and implementing various measures to avoid falling victim to a cyber attack.

How To Develop a Website?

Now that you have a better understanding of what web development is all about, it’s time to take a look at the process web developers follow every time they are set with the task of creating a website. Keep in mind that this project can take anywhere from 2 to 3 months to complete, so give your team plenty of time to research, plan, develop, and test. 

Plan and Strategize

They start by meeting with you to determine what you want to accomplish with your new website. Having clear and SMART goals will make it easier for them to design, wireframe, and build your site. It will also serve as a guide to make all the decisions. 

You will also want to be very specific about who your target audience is. Understanding their pain points, needs, challenges, and online behavior will be critical to creating a successful website. 

Focus on Wireframes and Prototypes

Then your web development team will begin designing your website. This includes creating wireframes that help visualize the structure of the web pages and the user flow on each page.

Keep in mind that this is strictly a visual tool and the main purpose is to help you understand where text, images, and other elements will be placed.

Wireframing can be done on a whiteboard or on specialized tools such as Sketch, Moqups, Figma or UXPin.

Create the Sitemap

Once the wireframe is complete and approved, you move on to the next step: creating your sitemap. This is similar to a business plan in that it gives your developers an idea of what you want. 

Try to include information about the individual pages you want/need, the content for those pages, the categories you want to use, the hierarchy of your pages, internal linking, etc.

It’s wise to consult or add an SEO expert at this point. They have a great understanding of how to create the perfect site structure and how to make the most of your internal links. 

Work on the Back-End Development

Now it’s time to tackle one of the most complicated tasks of this project: writing code. Your web developers will focus their attention on using languages such as Python, Ruby or PHP to create the set of rules that define how your website will respond to certain requests and how objects of your website will interact.

In this step, they will also need to create your databases and define how your site will organize, manage, and retrieve data from them. And you will define your site’s infrastructure.

Keep in mind that if you are planning to launch a purely informational site, you can skip the back-end development. But if you are going to ask users to create an account, sell products online, or ask them to download something, you will need to spend time and resources on this step.

Focus on the Front-End Development

Once that’s done, you can move forward and work on the visual aspects of your web pages. Make sure it is responsive and can adapt to different screens and devices. 

While this step is easier, it also requires that your team knows how to work with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. They also need to understand webdesign best practices to choose the right color palette, typography, fonts, and more. 

This is where the wireframes created in the first steps come to life. 

Buy the Domain Name

You should now have a fully functional website. Now your team needs to make it accessible to your potential customers. To do this, you will need to purchase a domain name (a memorable website name that users can find). 

Sites like GoDaddy or Hover are perfect for browsing the available domain options and purchasing the one that best fits your business. 

Test and Launch Your Website

The last step is simply to do a test run and make sure all the content is correct, all the buttons and elements are working, the forms are linked to an email drop campaign, and your analytics software is up and running. Once everything has been double-checked, you can officially launch your site.

Maintain the Site

Once your site is up and running, you will need to regularly monitor its performance and look for any issues that may be affecting it. You will also need to update content, fix bugs, and ensure that the speed of your site is not decreasing.

Web Development Team, In-House or Outsourced

Launching a website is not an easy task, you need to rely on a team of professional web developers who can deliver a website that is tied to your target audience needs, that helps answer their questions, and that engages and converts. You also need a team that can do this in a visually appealing way where the user experience is top notch.

There are two ways to do this. You can either hire a professional web developer and add them to your team. Or you can work with a professional web development agency. 

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages. It’s up to you to decide which is best for your organization. At Sortlist, we strongly believe that outsourcing web development and working with an agency is the best option because it gives you access to a team of professionals with experience, know-how, tools and skills. Plus, you don’t have to worry about onboarding them or adding them to your payroll. You simply pay by the project.

How To Hire a Professional Web Development Company

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to help you find and hire the best web development agency to work with. Your search will obviously start with Google, but that’s not enough. You need to go the extra mile and do some research to find out what projects they have worked on, the results, if they have worked with other companies in your industry, the size of their team, etc.

Look for References

As you compile a list of potential agencies, you will need to look for references. Just do a quick search and look for comments on the agency’s Google My Business profile. You will see ratings and reviews. Other sites can help here as well.

You want to work with an agency that has happy clients and a good reputation.

Check LinkedIn

You can search LinkedIn for more comments and reviews about the agencies. Ask your peers, reach out to people who have worked with them. Ask around. Just think of it as a new way to do your research and make sure you are dealing with the best web developers your company can afford.

Ask Other Businesses

Another good idea is to check out other companies’ websites. If you like them and they work smoothly, you can reach out to someone on their marketing team or operations department and ask for references and contact information for their web development agency.

Turn to Sortlist

Or you can simplify the process and take a look at our list of web development providers. There you will see tehri ratings, cost, projects completed, experience, location and contact information. This will help you save time and work with experienced and reputable companies.

Conclusion

As you can see from our guide, there’s so much more to web development than just coding. There is a lot of planning, strategizing, wireframing, testing, and designing involved in the process of creating a visually appealing and user-friendly website. 

As you begin this process, it’s a good idea to keep this guide handy to help you remember key concepts and, most importantly, the different steps involved in the process. You don’t want your web developers to skip any of them, as they all play a key role in the success of your business.