What is essential in web design?

I need some clarity. Some people say knowing UI/UX alone is enough for web design. Others say you need to learn how to code. Which one is true?

 

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[Tau Ceti]

I think you are confused.

I know plenty of designers who can't code and I know plenty of software engineers (mostly the back-end staff) who have no clue about design.

Design in the end is just a set of principles you follow to make a webpage or the message on a page standout.

Web design in particular goes through many cycles just like the fashion industry.

Some years, retro design is all the rage, other years, minimalism is being praised. It changes often and that is up to you to see if you want to jump on the bandwagon of the latest design trend.

That being said, the basic principles of design are always the same.

You can find in countless blogs the most basic principles about design and if you follow them you can create web pages that convey a message properly and are aesthetically pleasing.

If you learn to code, you can do live design as is, you design your webpage directly by going from the code editor to the live website. Or you can use a tool such as Figma to create the designs and then send them to someone who will then take your design and create it in code.

So you don't need to learn to code to design. In fact , I would say, just start with Figma (which is free) and then later learn HTML, CSS if you want to expand your knowledge.

Anyway, that is just my opinion. I am not a designer, all my design knowledge has been stolen/ borrowed from other websites. I just copy the best parts, add my spin on it and then code it.

Are my designs the best? No. Do they do the job? Yes. And at the end of the day that is all that matter for me.

Create, iterate, improve until you reach a satisfactory outcome.