Graphic designing is a major part of web development as it involves designing various features and functionalities of websites or even apps. Here, the ‘development’ term is normally used for the real building of all the various elements in a website.
There are various tools that are used in web development including programming languages. Some of the commonly used programming languages are HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript.
However, there are many valuable programs that can be utilized for managing or helping in the construction of the sites, otherwise, it would be a tedious task to write a code from the beginning. The numerous content management systems (CMS) come into the category of these programs such as WordPress, Joomla!, Adobe Experience Manager, Drupal, TYPO3, and others. Explore what is web development here with us.
Defining Web Development
Web development refers to every work that is involved in the construction of a website. These work from the process of markup and coding to scripting, network configuration, and CMS development.
Normally web development term is used for web markup and coding, but it also includes other related development works like client-side, scripting, Content Management System (CMS) development, server and network security configuration, server-side scripting, and e-commerce development.
Commonly Used Programming Languages
The most commonly used programming languages in professional custom website development are HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and Javascript.
HTML is the standard markup language that is utilized in designing the look of the website or digital products. This language is the most easiest language for front-end programming.
CSS is the style sheet language used for elaborating the presentation of the document that is written in HTML. This language is also utilized in front-end programming.
Javascript is a programming language that is used alongside HTML and CSS for World Wide Web. It also comes under front-end programming. According to stats as per Wikipedia, 98% of the websites use this language on the client side for web page behavior.
Different Types of Web Development
Web development is generally divided into three types which are front-end development, back-end development, and full-stack development.
Front-End Development
Front-end development is the portion of web development that is visible to the clients. This usually includes the parts of the websites, apps, or digital products that the users can see and connect with on the outside. The Front-end web developer’s professional web development services include taking care of how the digital product looks and also the ‘feeling’ it gives to the users. For this reason, front-end developers are also known as Web designers at times.
The main emphasis of front-end web developers is to translate both the website design and visual ideas into coding. The professional front-end software developers are responsible for bringing all the design ideas that are produced by the web development teams and programs into reality. They act as a bridge between the two ends of design and technology by interlinking them.
The front-end developers normally require a strong understanding and knowledge of the various programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and additionally, frameworks such as Bootstrap, React, Backbone, AngularJS, and EmberJS. There are also many other responsibilities of a front-end developer like making responsive websites that are capable of running on all devices, performing tests of websites, and also fixing bugs that get detected while executing the process of web development besides maintaining the site structure such that it follows the SEO practices.
Back-End Development
As the Front-end developer’s main responsibilities are to maintain the looks of the digital product, a Back-end developer focuses on making it work. The Back-end developers are responsible for creating the basic framework of a website that is later on maintained. Then it is made sure that it works in the way it is required to perform after its creation through proper user authentication, database interactions, server, network and hosting configurations, and by using the business logic. The back-end developers work behind the scenes (on the server) to ensure that the systems and structures that let the computer applications execute in the way required.
The main responsibility of back-end developers is to maintain the site’s functionality such as its responsiveness and speed. For this, they need to be aware of how to create servers using modern frameworks side by side developing the custom APIs, and working on static websites and files too. They should also know how they can manage databases and the data on a web server.
The back-end developers usually make use of the server-side programming languages such as PHP, Python, and Ruby besides some of the tools like Oracle, Git, and MySQL.
Full-Stack Developer
Full-Stack Developers are those who have knowledge of both the front and back-end development. They are capable of understanding various types of programming languages and are very versatile. They are usually hired for leadership roles on the projects in comparison to other developers.
Full-stack developers can perform both the front and back-end developer’s work as they are aware of every detail of the development process. That is why they are the fourth most in-demand job in tech as per a study by Indeed.
According to a recommendation of a Software Engineer and Tech Writer, Muhammad Ansar,
“For most people hoping to break into web improvement, you should center around working up an establishment in both front-end and back-end advancement first,” “At that point, you can float towards a claim to fame later on.”
Due to the high demand for Developers that is expected to grow by 15 percent by 2026 as BrainStation stated, it’s very beneficial for the developers to learn about all the layers of web development. This will make the developers more efficient in doing custom website development especially, besides having a good foundation.
Difference Between Web Design And Web Development
Usually, Web Design and Web Development terms cannot be used interchangeably even when both have overlapping meanings. But both of them have many variations from each other. Here we are going to display how web designers and web developers are different in their professional web development services.
Web designers are responsible for creating all the elements of the website or software product, such as graphics, color, typography, and usability elements. On the other hand, web developers are only responsible for working on the server-side to enable the website to function either on the front end or back end.
A Web designer can work directly with the clients for producing designs or work in a team for creating the client’s view. While web developers always create or execute designs as the client demands or are worked on by a designing team.
Web designers might need some knowledge of programming languages or some coding skills, or some minimum level of acquaintance with the popularly used languages such as HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript. Web developers require not just expert-level knowledge of the varied programming languages like HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript but also other languages like Ruby, C/C++, and Python, besides frameworks, and libraries.
Web designers are responsible for making wireframes and prototypes for testing the design ideas, designing logos, and branding, and creating the style of the company. Whereas, web developers don’t usually produce mockups, choose typography, or select the color palettes.
Conclusion
As we went through all the basics of web development in this article, we can clearly say that it’s a vast industry. Here, you only ever got the gist of what is web development overall. If you desire to be a professional, there is no other way besides going in-depth with its learnings. Web development is nowadays emerging as a very popular field due to the extensive usage of digital technologies. In recent times, every business requires to have a good digital presence on online platforms and web development comes at the top for that.
