Web “Programmer” vs. Web “Designer”
Have you ever come across these two terms? Web Programmer and Web Designer?
What’s the difference? Is there any difference? What am I?… Let me see if I can answer those questions for you.
My background is from the programming side of things which means I learned how to write code for stand alone programs before I learned HTML. What this means is I learned how to write “clean” code. Code that was easy to read and edit and maintain. I put comments in the code so I can easily find specific sections of the code. And all of this the end user never sees.
What this also means, at least for me, and I don’t think I’m unique, is that I am usually more inclined to use simple clean designs that get the job done. In fact I have to fight my natural inclination which is to make the code on the back-end look nicer than the design the end user sees! 
Those that come from a graphic design background are pretty much the opposite I think (This is a generalization, I know it’s not true for everyone, and some fall in between the two extremes.) Typically designers learned using tools like Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver, etc. They are used to that interface. They are usually more concerned with how the page looks to the user than how the code looks on the back-end or how maintainable that code is.
Something a lot of people don’t think about is if your site is created using something like Dreamweaver, it is designed to be maintained by Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver keeps an index of all the pages and keeps track of versions, etc. It also applies changes to the design template across the board.
My goal as a programmer/designer is to create your site in such a way that it is easily maintainable by you using simple HTML coding. The template I create is a PHP template, but inside those files is simple HTML. Also, the content portion of each page is clearly marked in the code. The PHP template achieves the same easy maintainability that Dreamweaver does without the cost of a license.
Now there is a place where Dreamweaver shines. This is in graphic intensive sites and sites of a MASSIVE nature, meaning hundreds of pages that need to be maintained. But for the average website, I just don’t think it’s worth it.
**Tomorrow I’ll be sharing my simple “Red” border to “Green” border mouseover effect for buy buttons.