Web design is a process that involves creating content for a web site that can be delivered to a user through the Internet using a web browser. The web site can contain various types of content including documents, images, sounds, and interactive applications. It typically resides on a separate computer called a server.
In web design, HTML tags are used to place images, including GIF or JPEG type image files as well as video and other digital media forms on a web page. Plugs-ins such as Adobe Flash, QuickTime and Java are used to display media on older browsers which are then embedded into a web page using the same HTML tags. Improvements in web design have introduced Cascading Style Sheets which are employed to format the elements of web pages on a more consistent basis throughout the web site.
There are two types of pages, either static or dynamic. The content and layout of static pages do not change with user requests and need a web designer to manually update the page. Most simple HTML web pages are static web pages. On the other hand, the appearance of dynamic web pages changes depending on input from the end-user or other changes in the environment of the web page. Content can either be changed on the client side (the end-user) or the server side where the web page is hosted. Dynamic content that changes on the client side is typically written in JavaScript while content on that changes on the server side uses uses other scripting or coding languages such as Perl, PHP and ASP.
There is a difference between web design and web programming. Web design is more like graphic design intended to produce an environment that is easy to use and aesthetically appealing. Web programming is a more complex nuts and bolts of the web page that involves web-based scripting languages to create a more dynamic web site.