Introduction.
Web Development is the process of creating and maintaining websites. Web Development is an ever-evolving field that is continuously pushing the boundaries of what is possible on the Internet. In this blog, we will dive into the world of web development, technologies, and other related topics.
Any website has two layers, the frontend (User Interface) and the backend (Data management). Hence, you can become a Frontend Web-Developer that deals with the presentation of data on browsers or you can become a Backend developer that deals with the data behind the scenes or you can become a Full-Stack Web developer that works on both ends.
Let's understand each of these roles and what technologies you need in your arsenal to assume any of these roles.
Frontend Developer.
Frontend Developer is the one that deals with the User Interface (UI) of the website. User Interface is the part of the website that users deal with. It is the responsibility of the front-end developer to make this interface as user-friendly as possible.
"Good frontend development is not just about writing code; it's about understanding users, designing intuitive interfaces, and creating memorable experiences." - Unknown
The Three Pillars of Frontend Development.
To become a front-end developer, a developer needs to know three fundamentals, HTML, CSS, and Javascript. These are the three pillars for creating an attractive, responsive, and user-friendly interface. We as users, interact with a website via browsers. Now let us understand what each of these three is used for. We will take the example of a building to understand it.
HTML(Hyper Text Markup Language) is used to create the structure of the website and add elements like Images, buttons, text, etc. Like a building has doors, windows similarly HTML creates the structure of the web page.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is used to make the website attractive. Just like in a building you add paint, lights etc to make a building attractive, CSS adds color, font sizes and many other useful styling properties to make your website eye-pleasing.
Javascript is used to give functionality to various elements in your website. Just like a building has switches, electricity, and plumbing to interact with various building functionalities, Javascript adds life to your website. Apart from adding life to the front end, Javascript is also responsible to connect your frontend with the backend.
Having a strong understanding of these 3 fundamentals is important because, at the root level, Browser only understands HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Once you have a strong understanding of the fundamentals, it is time to learn some high level frameworks and libraries that make your development experience smooth and easy. Here are some of the famous frameworks and libraries you can learn that provide a great development, are widely used in industry and are in high demand.
Javascript
CSS
SASS
TailwindCSS
Bootstrap
Once you are confident with developing websites there few things you should learn to deliver higher quality.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Responsive Design Websites
User Experience (UX)
Website Optimisation.
With these skills in your arsenal, you can become a high-quality frontend developer and deliver user-friendly websites.
Backend Developer.
A Backend Developer works behind the scenes. They are responsible for handling server-side logic and interacting with Databases or external services. It is the duty of the backend developer to handle data processing and send it to the frontend so that it can be presented beautifully. Unlike frontend, backend can be developed using a wide variety of languages as per the developer wish. Here are few frameworks that can help you develop a scalable backend.
Springboot, for Java
Apart from implementing a backend, that deals for user request, backend developer also works with Database to store and manipulate the data. Hence it is also important to learn database to be able to deal with real time information.
Once, you can create useful backend services, it is time to optimise it for your growing users. It is worth learning about few things:
Different architectures
Containerization
Security
Caching
It is duty of frontend developer to make the website attractive, but backend developer behind the scenes, works to make the website smooth and as fast as possible.
Full Stack Developer
A Full-stack developer is part of entire web site development life cycle process, right from design to the deployment of the website, a full stack developer can be involved in the part of the lifecycle. As full stack developer can work anywhere, they must know technologies used in different phases:
Technologies for Frontend Development
Technologies for Backend Development
Brainstorm for UI design face to provide optimal UX
Able to design System Architecture
Also become a bridge between frontend and backend team.
Version Control Tools
It is also important for developers to be familiar with version control tools like Git, Github, Gitlab, Bitbucket. These tools help you to collaborate with other developers, maintain your code history and also merge codes.
Conclusion:
Everything mentioned above are just starting points into web development. The best way to keep improving your skills is keeping building, building projects, taking part in community activities, contributing to open source, helping others fix bugs and so on.
The more responsive designs you build, the more you will understand what design works on which device.
The more APIs you create the more insight you will get on how to segregate different endpoints.
The more data you handle, the better you get at processing data.
If you find this article useful to begin your web development journey, leave a like and comment below.
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