What is the difference between web designer and web developer, and what are the different types of websites?

Before you move forward hiring a website designer for your new website or website redesign project, it is important to become familiar with the process and understand the differences between designers and developers, what you need from website designers, and how much it should cost for a website in 2023. We are here to provide you with training on how to buy a website for free online.

First, let’s discuss the differences between the different types of websites according to how websites are created. There are also different types of web site designers and web site developers within each category.

1) Open-Source Dashboard Websites -

CMS stands for Content Management System and this uses a database that a website developer already created long before you needed a website that they allow lots of people and companies to use to create many independent websites, but that all share a common database login area and share the same back-end code. A whole job market opened up after CMS websites were created and many are open-source which means free online to everyone, including hackers who learn how to gain access to CMS websites easily. People who make these websites are usually untrained in how websites are actually made, do not know how to code, and sell the service of using the free database to drag and drop pictures and text into a pre-created CMS database that they then either manage for you or teach you how to use the CMS dashboard yourself. These are often free and you pay a fee for the hosting. These are also not always protected by any types of security, and they will not be allowed to rank on search engines if they do not have the proper security because it puts the website surfers at risk of data breaches.
A couple common examples of CMS dashboard websites are:
• WordPress (free, open-source online database anyone can access with a username and password, which can easily be hacked, and they get hacked most often, have weekly alert issues and updates that need to be kept up on, and they end up with critical failure within a few years of ownership).
• Wix (free open-source online dashboard similar to WordPress but Wix is a company that also sells domain names and hosting).

There are dashboards that get uploaded to the hosting account where files are uploaded to. This is kind of a combination between a real website and a CMS dashboard website because there are parts that are offline, parts that are open-source, and parts that have a little security that can be set up to protect your design files. A couple examples of these types of websites are:
• ZenCart (free, open—source online store that gets a lot of alerts that result in critical failure a few years into ownership).
• Joomla (needs to download the platform for the database on a computer, then uses templates to create the website).


2) Hard-coded websites –

Within this category, there are custom hard-coded websites and template websites that are pre-coded and designed so a website designer can add the specifics for your business and brands it with your graphics, pictures, content, and features. Some features may be built into the template’s code already and others may need a skilled hard-coder to marry the code between the template and other features the template did not come with.

Website Designers create the overall look and style of your website. They are called front-end designers or UI designers. They develop what will feel most natural for your website visitors, in terms of how the website looks and behaves, for your audience. Generally, this is more of the design, look, feel, style that one attributes to graphic designers than website coders. They focus on the User Interface.

Web Site Developers have the ability to create and/or modify the back-end code of a website. Some can build the framework of websites. A skill they have is known as UX because they focus on the User Experience.

Under the Website Developers category, there are different levels of skill sets.

Some know the basics of programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and Java Script.

Others have mastered heavier-duty coding languages such as PHP, jQuery, and Bootstrap.

There are also app coding languages that are independent, newer coding languages used for creating apps that can sometimes be used as websites such as Ruby on Rails. Note: Ruby on Rails largely functions and is utilized via open-source resources that you should stay away from because they put your website at high risk of being hacked.

ikan-ikon has extensive experience with back-end and front-end, UX and UI web site design, front-end and back-end and web site development with HTML, CSS, PHP, jQuery, and Bootstrap, and has a bit of training in Ruby on Rails. ikan-ikon can also marry and debug the website code written in these languages that is not working properly.


IMPORTANT SECURITY NOTE: If something is open-source or free, you should be wary of it as your business takes on the liabilities for your customers’. WordPress websites had no security built into them when they were created and those developers do not get paid to update security that does not even exist, so that is why they constantly have alarms that soon lead to critical failures and get stolen out from the website owners’ rendering the website non-functional or made into a foreign site, or worse a porn site! This happens even to the tiniest businesses because there is a constant influx of website attacks by algortithms, which are another type of code that searches websites the same way Google robots and spiders search websites, but these bad algorithms are used for finding vulnerabilities so they can hack websites. They steal the website away from the true owner leaving the business owner without their original files, without access to their own domain name or hosting account. These attacks happen on average 50 times every day on every website until they find a way in, so if they don’t get in, it continues endlessly. This puts your customers and leads at risk for credit card and identity theft, spam, and their contact information being collected and put on the dark web for purchase by other people with bad intentions.


3) Hard-Coding Custom Website Programmers (the really heavy-duty coders who can make everything from nothing) –

There is an even deeper coding skill set of builders called programmers who know how to hard-code the more intensive coding languages, such as:
• SQL (database programming),
• Perl (networking, system administration),
• C++ (apps with system resources and memory),
• Python (task automation, data analysis).

These are used to store form information and files on server databases and custom-build eCommerce shopping carts or CMS website dashboards from scratch. For example: Facebook was created with Python, C++, and PHP, and Java Script.

Web site developers have experience hard-coding back-end databases using C++, SQL, helping to build the structure, or foundation of a website from the ground up. Oftentimes, developers are not as familiar with front-end design, UI (User Interface) design, or UX (User Experience) design, leaving them lost when it comes to building attractive websites that are also highly-functional, optimized to be fast, and have functionality features you may want. These are like the superstars you pay a fortune to swoop in and perform. Separately, you pay the cheaper website developers and website designers to make it all work together and look like you want it to look.

ikan-ikon offers databases from the hosting server with the security built in from your hosting server, bypassing hard-coding a brand-new database from scratch, saving money by not needing to re-invent the wheel. By doing this, we also save the security of the website and skip the middlemen who would otherwise need to maintain your back-end database(s) at a premium ongoing cost.


Whenever you are in need of a website, it is important to consider what you are looking for and how much money you can invest into your website before choosing a professional to hire. It is also imperative to know what to ask and to follow through asking questions to determine who is the right fit for the website you want to have built.

What is the Average Cost to Hire a Web Designer?

Hiring a website designer to build your website greatly depends on the size of the website you require as well as the structure of the website you desire. If your website is simplistic and only requires a few pages without any fancy additions, you will pay much less than a large shopping cart with hundreds of pages for each item they sell, or if you want a robust website that has imported hundreds of articles you have written in the past, includes a comments forum, the ability to sell and track product sales. The more time it takes to build your website results in higher fees.

If you choose to hire someone in Asia or India, your website may cost in the range of $1500 to start, but have many grammatical or technical errors you can’t get fixed because they aren’t bound by U.S. laws. American freelancer websites range in the $2,000 range. When you hire an agency or skilled Website Designer/Developer within the USA can cost you $2,500 to $8,000 for a basic website, depending on your needs, their skills, and the person or agency you select. Complex websites cost upwards of $10,000 to more than $100,000. Businesses with revenue in the millions and/or hundreds of cart pages pay $25,000 – over $100,000 for a website. CMS websites cost around $200 per web page while template websites cost around $500 per web page and custom websites cost $1000+ per web page. This should give you a solid idea of how much a website costs to design it. This does not include the fees to keep it live online, which we will discuss later in this article.

Because investing in a new website for your business can quickly become costly, it is important to know what you are looking for before you even get started, so you do not end up paying for your mistakes or changes to the scope of the project. With a clear vision of your website and a complete understanding of how to find the right website creator, you can move forward with a professional that you can trust to create a website you love.