Poll: Which is more important: Design or Development?

Depends on the project, but I would say equaly important.

I would agree.
…Internet -vs- Intranet.
…Media Rich -vs- Content Rich.
Who is the audience target?

Development and content are in my opinion the most important components of a good website. SEO, accessibility… I think that a website that is well structured and informative, and (x)html and css validated are the key of a good website.

with the question being “Which is more important: Design or Development?” I would say Design, because the development should be modeled from the products of the design stage. However, since “somthing else” is a choice, I had to choose that. I feel that analysis is by far the most important stage of creating an effective website.
i.e.: Use Cases (UML), Site Goals (Interviews, Brainstorming), and Target Audience (Customer Profiles, Demographic Reports)

People think that design is only layout and darwing. A design project has in mind all the process, if the designer don’t know how to make it, it can`t work.

You wrote:

People think that design is only layout and darwing. A design project has in mind all the process, if the designer don’t know how to make it, it can`t work.

And while I understand what you’re saying, I have to disagree. I’ve worked on many Web projects where the designer had a strong understanding of what the site was going to look like, and in some cases how it was actually going to behave, but she or he couldn’t build it if someone held a gun to his/her head.

I’ve also worked on teams where the designer knew more than the developers about how to implement his or her systems, so it depends. But saying that “if the designer doesn’t know how to make it, it can’t work” is incorrect, in my opinion.

Yes, I concur with these elements being equally important. 2 sites can look equal from a design standpoint yet one will be superior due to the style of development used to create the site..

A great example is Amazon.com. Totally, this site is based on development more than design, and they are probably the most successful Web site on the Internet.

A great Web Site Designer does not place one over the other. We don’t have too.

They are equally important and can be equally achieved..

I’m a designer (and I can’t help feeling like a bit of a traitor) but I voted for development. In my opinion, form follows function (closely) in most cases. Here’s why: I designed a “pretty” corporate website three years ago, but it didn’t function all that well over a variety of browsers or increase overall search engine ranking for the client. (go figure, they wanted that too!)
They loved my design work, as did the nine out of ten customers they surveyed, but in an effort to boost rankings and functionality, I got the boot and the client called in… “the techies”. They were smart and technically capable but these were obviously not design people. The client now has a “Frankenstein” website, replete with cheesy, winky-blinky GIFs, but hey – it works most everywhere and gets picked up and ranked well by search bots.
I blame it on my own position on multiple learning curves at the time – I’ve learned since to engage others to solve technical problems beyond my expertise. Now – if I could just get that client back, I could put that eyewatering Frankendesign out of its misery too!

Other: Planning and Content

Determining your project goals – audience, objectives, measurables, etc. is the most important part of a project. Why have a site? Who is seeing this? How do they get there? What’s the point?

Content is a key part of this – and is usually the point of any site. Why do people come to your site? It’s usually not for the pretty pictures or sleek code. It’s for the content of your site. This ties into the planning – who manages your content? How does the content work toward your stated goals?

Answer these questions up front and the design and development will be all the better for it.

While Development obviously is very important, the Design stage is VITAL to any project. For example, you cannot build a house on an unstable foundation. The Design stage is your Development foundation. Without it, the whole process will fall flat.

Big upz 2 lukewarmfusion! I spend much more time in visio & word, than I do in photoshop & dreamweaver.

I think both are important. Design and development co-relate each other. It is impossible to develop a certain project when it is not desgined well.

Both are equally as important but further on from that, utilizing your visitor’s
minimal time spent surfing on your web site is also critical.

design, development. same thing to me. asking which is more important is like asking if the mocha or the latte is more important in your coffee? what makes it bearable, two or three shots? there is no break-even point in the process. one cannot exist without the other.