Many many years ago, a web designer was someone who came up with a somewhat believable Photoshop rendering of what a webpage could look like. Sometime later, a web designer was someone with a working knowledge of HTML along with pretty good Photoshop skills. A few years later, as a web designer, one needed know some javascript on top of good HTML skills, and Photoshop knowledge but not without any discipline in aesthetics. Next, a web designer is expected to know CSS, DHTML, XHTML, XML, XSL, JSON and AJAX along with number of scripting frameworks.
Today, a typical web designer is most likely armed with most if not all of the skills mentioned above. Also, as a web designer, one must possess a working knowledge of various web languages and a pretty good understanding of the programming language in general not to mention the knowledge of databases. Otherwise, it's difficult to earn any respect or work with other web professionals. In another words, a web designers is a serious jack-of-all-trades.
