Should Web Designers know code?

As someone who is a Web Developer and has to deal with 3rd party Web Designers that are trying implement our API into their client’s website, I can sufficiently say that Web Designers tend to be stupid. They don’t really understand the backend and so they make impossible designs or underestimate the time it will take to complete a project. But the question comes in, should Web Designers know how to code?

This is a bit of a loaded question. It depends. Many people say yes, and many say no. But the real answer is in between. It is all dependent on your company and your situation. If you work in a team, not every team member has to know how to do each others jobs. But some overlap is good. If you are working alone, you have to know both design and development, period. Just because Wix or WordPress does a lot for you, doesn’t mean you don’t have to know the backend of it.

On the other hand, if you are a web designer that is on a team with a web developer, you don’t have to know code but you should understand basic HTML and CSS structures. You don’t have to know all elements, all attributes, but you need to be able to recognize and read it.

But, I am also not letting us Web Developers off the hook. We need to also have basic design principles in mind. The two professions need to have some sort of way to communicate and that is best if they have a simple understanding of what the other does and how they do it.