Web Design and Development

Web design is the practice of planning and building the pages that make up a website, covering both how they look and how they are structured. The foundation of every page is HTML, the markup language that describes a document’s content and structure using elements such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links and images. A browser reads this markup and renders it into the page a visitor sees, so well-formed HTML is the starting point for any website.

Beyond plain structure, several technologies control appearance and behaviour. Styling separates how a page looks, such as its colours, fonts and layout, from its content, making sites easier to maintain. Scripting adds interactivity, allowing pages to respond to user actions, and variants of HTML such as dynamic HTML combine markup, styling and scripting to update parts of a page without reloading it. Graphics formats, including GIF images, supply the pictures, icons and decorative elements that pages display.

Richer media can also be embedded in pages. In earlier eras of the web, technologies such as Flash and Shockwave provided animation and interactive multimedia, and streaming formats delivered audio and video so they could play as they downloaded. Tools for editing images and creating graphics support the production of this content. Effective web design combines clean HTML structure, thoughtful styling, appropriate graphics and any needed scripting or media to produce pages that are clear, usable and consistent across different browsers.

Frequently asked questions

What is HTML’s role in web design?

HTML is the markup language that defines a page’s content and structure, such as headings, paragraphs, links and images, which the browser then renders.

Why separate styling from content?

Keeping appearance separate from structure makes a site easier to maintain and lets the same content be restyled without rewriting the underlying markup.

What does scripting add to a page?

Scripting makes pages interactive, letting them respond to user actions and, with dynamic HTML, update parts of a page without a full reload.