What Skills do Front End Web Developers Use?
Front end web developers use three primary coding languages to code the website and web app designs created by web designers:
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
The code they write runs inside the user’s browser (as opposed to a back end developer, whose code runs on the web server). Think of it a little like this: the back end developer is like the engineer who designs and creates the systems that make a city work (electricity, water and sewer, zoning, etc.), while the front end developer is the one who lays out the streets and makes sure everything is connected properly so people can live their lives (a simplified analogy, but you get the rough idea). A front end web developer is also in charge of making sure that there are no errors or bugs on the front end, as well as making sure that the design appears as it’s supposed to across various platforms and browsers.
HTML & CSS
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>This is Shubham</title> <!-- ENTER YOUR TITLE HERE--> <style> <!-- STYLE YOUR WEBSITE USING CSS-->
</style>
</head> <body>
<!-- BUILD YOUR BODY FROM HERE-->
</body>
</html>
HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the most basic building blocks of web coding. Without these two things, you can’t create a website design, and all you’ll end up with is unformatted plain text on the screen. You can’t even add images to a page without HTML!
Before you get started on any web development career path, you’ll have to master coding with HTML and CSS. The good news is that getting a solid working knowledge of either of these can be done in just a few weeks.
The best part: HTML and CSS knowledge alone will let you build basic websites.
I’ve build my personal website with these two alone, with a little use of Javascript. To check out click here.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a client side scripting language use to make web pages alive. It lets you add a ton more functionality to your websites, and you can create a lot of basic web applications using nothing more than HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (JS for short). On the most basic level, JS is used to create and control things like maps that update in real time and online games. Sites like Pinterest(opens in a new tab) use JavaScript heavily to make their user interface easy to use (the fact that the page doesn’t reload whenever you pin something is thanks to JavaScript!).
It’s also the most popular programming language in the world, so regardless of your dev career plans, it’s a super valuable thing to learn.
WHAT MAKES JAVASCRIPT UNIQUE?
- Integration of HTML/CSS.
- Simple API(Application Programming Interface).
- It is enabled by default in Major Modern browsers.
JavaScript Frameworks
JS frameworks (including AngularJS, Backbone, Ember, VueJS and ReactJS) give a ready-made structure to your JavaScript code. There are different types of JavaScript frameworks for different needs, though the five mentioned are the most popular in actual job listings. These frameworks really speed up development by giving you a jumpstart, and can be used with libraries like jQuery to minimize how much from-scratch coding you have to do.
Front End Frameworks
CSS and front end frameworks (the most popular front end framework is Bootstrap) do for CSS what JS Frameworks do for JavaScript: they give you a jumping-off point for faster coding. Since so much CSS starts with exactly the same elements from project to project, a framework that defines all of these for you upfront is super valuable. Most front end developer job listings expect you to be familiar with how these frameworks work and how to use them.
I hope you like the blog, so do like it and have a wonderful journey in learning Front-End Web development.
