Types of Web Development
Updated: May 21
There are categories in EVERY aspect of life, and if you have been following my blogs you saw me mention three common classifications of web development, well now I want to dig a little further into those three categories for my readers! If by chance you are new to the blog, the three types I spoke of are Front-End, Back-End, and Full Stack Development.
Front-End Development
By definition, front-end web development is the development of a graphical user interface, or GUI, of a website through the use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so users can view and interact with the website. With that being said, the main duties of a front-end web developer include creating websites and web applications. About like you would guess, there is a list of basic skills you would have to learn, and become fluent with to be successful as a front-end web developer, including:
HTML, Hyper Text Markup Language, Coding which is commonly seen as the most basic building block of the web.
CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, is the coding language used to turn that boring HTML into the beautiful websites that you have come to know and love!
JavaScript is a programming language that takes your HTML and CSS to the next level by adding or enhancing any virtual interaction you can possibly imagine!
jQuery is a big part of JavaScript, because it is in fact the library that contains a collection of plugins and extensions that makes developing with JavaScript faster and easier.
JavaScript Frameworks give a ready-made structure to your JavaScript code.
Git and Version Control Systems help you keep track of changes that have been made to the coding over time, in other words they help you remain organized as the code changes.
Front-End Frameworks and CSS work as a pair to give the developer a point to bounce from, making it a lot easier to code in a timely fashion.
CSS Preprocessors are yet another tool that front-end developers can use to speed up CSS coding by adding extra functionality to CSS, as well as making it more scalable and easier to work with.
RESTful Services and APIs - Without overcomplicating its meaning, REST stands for Representational State Transfer, which refers to an architecture for data to be shared between sources on the web.
Responsive and Mobile Design refers to the site's layout, sometimes also functionality and content, changes based on the screen size and device someone is using.
Cross Browser Development simply refers to a website that is created on a desktop or laptop but is able to be used freely on a mobile device.
Web Accessibility refers to the rule of thumb that ALL websites must be accessible to people with disabilities!
Content Management Systems and E-Commerce Platforms - This is a term that refers to the content management system, or CMS, that websites are built on.
Testing and Debugging refers to a set of processes that occurs after the website has been completed, and yes this is a necessary step to help the developer make sure that everything is working properly!
Last but not least, you need to obtain a set of problem-solving skills to the profession at hand!
Back-End Development
Back-end web development refers to working on server-side software, which focuses on everything you can't see on a website. Back-end developers ensure that websites perform correctly, focusing on databases, back-end logic, application programming interfaces, or APIs, architecture, and servers.
FUN FACT: Whether you are a front-end or back-end developer, the skill set is basically identical!
Full Stack Development
Full stack web development refers to the process of developing both the front-end and back-end of applications. Any application has a front-end (user-facing) component and a back-end (database and logic) component. The front-end contains the user interface and code related to user interactions with the application.
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