What Is Frontend Development?

Date First Published: 22nd July 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Design

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

Technologies Used In Frontend Development
Tasks Of Frontend Development
Difference Between Frontend Development and Web Design
History

Learn more about what frontend development is in this article.

Frontend development, also known as client-side development, is a category of web development that refers to the work involved in creating, developing, building, and maintaining what users see on their end of the website, the graphical interface, and the visual elements of websites that users interact with. The frontend of a website should be easily useable and achieve a good user experience. A person that specialises in frontend development is referred to as a frontend developer.

Without any frontend development, websites would consist of code that is only decipherable by web developers. Frontend development allows users unfamiliar with coding to use websites and web-based applications. For example, Google Apps and social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram combine both frontend and backend development in order to make their web-based applications useable by all.

Frontend development is the opposite of backend development, also known as server-side development, which focuses on what users do not see on a website, such as the programming and database aspect of creating a website that works behind the scenes to provide information to the users.

Examples of frontend elements of a website include user interface elements, such as navbars, buttons and links, audio and video elements, areas that allow users to input data, such as forms, text areas, graphics, and website themes, all of which are visible to users.

Technologies Used In Frontend Development

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

The basic markup language used for websites. It consists of hundreds of different elements and tags used to instruct the web browser on how to display content and other elements. Without HTML, it would be impossible to build a webpage. In HTML, 'markup' refers to the tags assigned to elements of a text that define how the page should be displayed. 'Hypertext' refers to the hyperlinks that a HTML page may contain, allowing references to be created to other pages that the reader can immediately access by clicking on them.

The latest version of HTML is HTML5 which was released on 28th October 2014 by the W3C recommendation.

CSS (Cascading Stylesheets)

A stylesheet language that is used to define how HTML elements are displayed in a web browser. The styling rules of stylesheets cascade down from several sources in order of priority, which is determined by how close the style is to the element. Styles of a higher priority will overwrite styling rules of a lower priority. CSS can be combined with the HTML, externally linked, or individually embedded in the HTML tags, which is known as an inline style. CSS defines how users see HTML elements and can be used to modify the border size, font family, background colour, alignment, border radius, and more.

JavaScript

A client-side programming language that is processed by the web browser and used to create interactive effects. JavaScript is used by almost all websites and can be used to validate forms, create alert boxes, display webpage animations, set cookies, and more. JavaScript can also be used to create dynamic webpages that can automatically change. For example, JavaScript could be used to create a poll that changes based on user interaction, such as the number of users who have voted for a certain option. JavaScript can be combined with the HTML or externally linked.

CMS

Using a CMS, such as WordPress, Joomla, or Wix, is a simple method of designing the frontend of a website as it does not require any knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Users can choose from a range of predesigned templates and edit their webpages in a WYSIWYG interface, allowing website elements to be edited, resized, and removed by clicking a button, representing what they would look like if they were published online.

Tasks Of Frontend Development

The tasks involved in frontend development may include:

Developing and maintaining the user interface.
Building the navigation of a website to help visitors find the content they are looking for.
Ensuring that the design used is responsive and compatible with a range of devices, including smartphones and tablets.
Ensuring the accessibility of the user interface.
Inserting, editing, and removing elements of the user interface, such as the buttons and images.
Testing the website in multiple web browsers to ensure its compatibility.
Optimising page loading times.
Testing websites for user experience.
Using markup, stylesheet, and client-side scripting languages to build websites, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Working with content management systems, such as WordPress, Joomla, and Wix.
Determining the structure and design of webpages.
Considering the principles of web design, such as the rule of thirds, golden ratio, white space, alignment, accuracy, and consistency.

Difference Between Frontend Development and Web Design

Frontend development and web design are very similar. However, web design focuses more on the look, feel, and graphics of a website rather than the functionality, which is what frontend development focuses on.

Spelling

Frontend can be spelt as 'front end' when used as a noun (e.g. working on the front end of a website) and 'front-end' when used as an adjective (e.g. a front-end developer). However, for simplicity, the spelling 'frontend' can be used as both a noun and an adjective.