Should I hire a web designer or web developer and what is the difference?
It is kinda funny, in the rest of the tech world the terms designer and developer mean distinctive things, and aside from a few rare unicorns, they very different roles.
Developers write code and make things work, designers make things look good. But for one reason and another, in the world of Web these skills do infact overlap to some extent, and in some rare cases a single individual is skilled at both aesthetic presentation and the practical application of abstract logic.
But for most of us involved in the Web world, no matter how well trenched we are in one or the other, we inevitebly end up crossing over and having to produce the skills of the other.
As for me (thanks for asking!) I am a developer, a pretty good one. I have my entire life assumed the I was NOT a good designer and in fact do not really posses any artistics skills at all[1], but I am of a more logical and mathematical mind (at least I thought).
But, I have also found the ALL of the best applications, websites and overall user experiences in computing and web require greatness in development and design.
I would go a bit further and say that thought into the whole User Experience to be a key.
1: I no longer believe this, I do infact have some artistics skills, but lets just say beautiful design absolutely does not come natureally or easy for me, but I can do it to a satisfactory (not amazing level!)