Writinge code is a mandatory requirement of web design. Websites are crafted, and presented in code. No, I am not talking about the development of back-end server-side functionality, but the structure, presentation, and behavior described by HTML, CSS, and JavaScript respectively. You don’t expect a fine artist to understand the principles of page-layout, typography, or the peculiarities of postscript but you do expect those skills from a print designer, just as you expect the ability to code from a web designer. If you can’t make a functional web page using code, the medium of web design, you are not a web designer, it is that simple.