Frontend development also known as client-side development refers to that area of web development that focuses on what the users see on their end. It involves transforming the code built by backend developers into a graphical interface.
The objective of designing a site is to ensure that the data is presented in an easy-to-read and -understand format and relevant. This is further complicated by the fact that users now use a large variety of devices with varying screen sizes and resolutions thus forcing the designer to take into consideration these aspects when designing the site. They need to ensure that their site comes up correctly in different browsers (cross-browser), different operating systems (cross-platform) and different devices (cross-device), which requires careful planning on the side of the developer.
Frontend developers use several web technologies to transform coded data into user-friendly interfaces. Among these are HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript. Below are brief descriptions of the three technologies that frontend developers must be familiar with.
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HTML : is the building block of websites. It is the programming language used to describe and mark content, so a browser displays it correctly. We can define it as a set of markup symbols or codes inserted into a file intended for display on the Internet.
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CSS : looks more like a set of instructions that control a webpage’s style and structure than a programming language. It helps developers manage a website or web application’s formatting, presentation, and layout. While HTML defines elements on a page, CSS dictates how users see the content. For instance, it controls the size, border, and alignment of an image in a blog post.
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JavaScript : Frontend developers can already create websites using HTML and CSS. In fact, it wasn’t until 1995 that JavaScript emerged. However, it is now difficult to imagine websites without JavaScript as it enables developers to make sites interactive. The programming language can change website content based on a user’s action.
