As opposed to a web designer, a web developer is generally one who is involved the more technical aspects of creating a website and its support systems.

Also known as web programmers they generally work one layer of abstraction removed from web designers. While web designers tend to focus their work on the look-and-feel aspects of the HTML, web developers tend to work on the programs that create the customized HTML on the fly.

For smaller websites, the web developer is often the same person as the web designer, and there is considerable overlap in the skill-sets. For larger websites, however, there are usually different roles which are filled with different people. Often there will be people filling each of these roles:

The following are some examples of the types of work that a web developer might be involved in:

An average web developer might require knowledge of some or all of the following languages, products, standards, and technologies: HTML, XML, CGI, Perl, Bash, C, PHP, JavaScript, Java, Cold Fusion, WebSpeed, MySQL, Oracle, Progress, Apache,IIS, iPlanet, CSS, SSL, PKI, LDAP, WebSphere, WebTrends, Unix, and about a bazillion others.

Although salaries vary and overlap quite a bit, web developers generally earn more than web designers, due to various factors, such as market demand and barrier to entry. It tends to take a more experienced person to be a web developer, whereas almost anyone can claim to be a web designer after reading "Teach Yourself HTML in 24 Hours". This fact severly irritates true web designers, who are true professionals and often have a lot of experience in print or multimedia design, in addition to web experience and professional design training.

Although most web developers know the technical aspects of how to design the look-and-feel (or style and usability) of webpages, there is a difference between knowing how and being able to. I can fairly say this, having been a web developer for about 5 years, and having been a bad designer before that: Most web developers need help with design issues. The ideal situation for a web developer is to work side-by-side with a web designer who can beat him over the head until he makes it usable by the average non-techie

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