Future of Front End Development

Future of Front End Development: All you need to Know for 2021

Why Front-End Development?

Front–end web development, also known as client-side development is the practice of producing HTML, CSS and JavaScript for a website or Web Application so that a user can see and interact with them directly. Front end development manages everything that users visually see first in their browser or application. Front end developers are responsible for the look and feel of a site.

A front-end web developer is responsible for implementing visual elements that users see and interact with in a web application. They are usually supported by back-end web developers, who are responsible for server-side application logic and integration of the work front-end developers do. Sites created by front end developers won’t interact with information stored on a database in order to be functional. The content will be “fixed,” meaning that large pieces of new data will not be constantly uploaded.

Front end developers will be engaged in analyzing code, design, and debugging applications along with ensuring a seamless user experience. You manage what people first see in their browser. As a front end developer you are responsible for the look, feel and ultimately design of the site.

You do not need back end development skills to become a front end developer (a JavaScript developer). Front end developed sites are functional without interacting with information stored on a database. The content will be “fixed,” meaning that large pieces of new data will not be constantly uploaded. Small business owners and restaurants usually have great examples of static sites.

Is Front-end Development in Demand?

A front end developer is needed for any application for any commercial website or app,   because the visual aspect matters most initially. To add to that web development, maintenance, web design front end developer skills and you have the most highly demanded skills now. So with high demand, strong salaries, and flexibility, front-end development is a great choice whether you’re just starting your career or taking a new path in your professional life.

Front End Developer Future Scope

Developers are builders of tomorrow, hence they need to consistently stay abreast with the ever-evolving IT market, emerging technologies, APIs, and libraries. 

With the fast pace of the front-end development due to the trending technologies, the definition of full-stack development varies often enough. Unless you keep updating your skills on technologies and frameworks, you will land you up far behind the competition. Businesses want smart solutions and prefer to hire full-stack developers equipped with the knowledge of both front-end and back-end technologies than strain resources on hiring different people for different tasks.

The Future of Front-end Development 2021

Front-end development is now more than developing websites and making them look good, the emphasis is on how the digital product caters to the requirement of the user. If it fails to encapsulate user requirements, no one will invest in it. The prime focus now is creating bespoke digital solutions; tailored products as per the requirements of the target audience and for this developers must research, strategize and have the right skill sets. 

User-research must be based on their behavior, goals, motivation, and aim. In 2020 much more attention has been paid on developing strong digital solutions, websites and apps considering how the Covid-19 pandemic forced a lot more people to resort to using the internet. Therefore user-research and adopting a user-centered approach for the development has become more important than ever before. This trend will continue in 2021.

Evolution of Front-End Development 

Front-end development is no longer limited to the actions a user takes, it demands consistency, a clear visual hierarchy, and easy navigation, in other words, increased usability. 

Covid 19 has had a crazy impact on our internet usage needs; the number of mobile users has sharply increased as has the amount of time we spend on browsing the internet, add to this that because of the quarantine, our dependence on home shopping for essentials and luxuries has maxed, and there is no immediate foreseeable way in which we will go back to how things were just nine months ago, in February 2020. With the increase in the number of mobile browsing, websites have significantly decreased traffic. Front-end developers should be responsible for providing the users with the comfort of sliding, tapping, and ticking on mobile devices. 

Front-end developers are expected to build the highly interactive, accessible, and consistent mobile-first approaches. They must keep the user-centric approach in mind and make convenience as a prime focus for the target customers. Call-to-action buttons must fit in with a seamless browsing experience. The front-end side should be capable of handling all the requests flawlessly. Developed apps must have:  

• High-speed development with user-driven results.
• Secure Codebase.
• Reliable and robust development.
• Real-time and interactive programming interface.
• Highly responsive, reactive features and apps.
• High scalability.

Front end developer career path 

Skills and Qualifications of a Front-end developer

A front-end developer would have:

• Expert understanding of web markup, including HTML5, CSS3
• Proficient understanding of client-side scripting and JavaScript frameworks, including jQuery
• Basic understanding of server-side CSS pre-processing platforms, such as LESS and SASS

Any developer is as good as the language and the apps and websites they craft. Here are some programming languages we think will shape the future of Front-end in 2021.

JavaScript

JavaScript lets you add functionality to your websites, you can create a lot of basic web applications using nothing more than HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (JS for short). JS is used to create and control things like maps that update in real time, interactive films, and online games. Sites like Pinterest use JavaScript heavily to make their user interface easy to use, such as the page doesn’t reload whenever you pin something. JS is the most popular programming language in the world, so it’s an important language to learn.

HTML & CSS

Hyper Text Markup Language – HTML and Cascading Style Sheets- CSS are the most basic building blocks of web coding, without which, you cannot create a website or add images to a page, and all you’ll end up with is unformatted plain text on the screen. HTML provides the page structure and CSS the visual and aural layout. Along with graphics and scripting, HTML and CSS are the basis of building Web pages and Web Applications.

Before you get started on any web development career path, master coding with HTML and CSS, which can usually be completed in weeks.

HTML allows web authors to:

• Publish online documents with headings, text, tables, lists, photos, etc.
• Insert spread-sheets, video clips, sound clips, and other applications directly.
• Design transaction forms for conducting remote services, searching for information, making reservations, ordering products, etc. 
• Retrieve online information via hypertext links, at the click of a button.

XHTML is a stricter, more XML-based version of HTML supported by all major browsers, that uses the syntax of XML, the Extensible Markup Language. XHTML stands for Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language and has all the same elements for paragraphs, etc. as the HTML variant. Because XHTML is an XML application, you can use other XML tools with it, such as XSLT, a language for transforming XML content. 

jQuery

jQuery is a part of the JavaScript library, it is a collection of plugins and extensions that makes JavaScript development easier and faster. Rather than coding every line, jQuery lets a front end web developer add ready-made elements to projects, and customize where required. jQuery can be used for crafting countdown timers, search form autocompletes, and automatically-rearranging and resizing grid layouts.

JavaScript Frameworks

JS frameworks including AngularJS, Backbone, Ember, and ReactJS give a ready-made structure to your JavaScript code. Different types of JavaScript frameworks have been developed to counter different requirements. These frameworks speed up development and can be used with libraries like jQuery to minimize coding extensively.

Of course there are many other languages and libraries front end developers would like to add under their belt, but if we want to speak of career development, the importance of a responsive web design is paramount.

Responsive and Mobile Design

More people access the internet from their cellular devices than from desktop computers in the US alone, so it’s important to employers that front end developers have responsive and mobile design skills. Responsive design simply means that the site’s layout, maybe even functionality and content, change based on the screen size and device someone is using.

Mobile design includes responsive design and creating separate mobile-specific designs. Sometimes the developer may want visitors to have a completely different experience on a desktop computer as compared to when visiting from their smartphone. In such instances the mobile site should be developed to be completely different. A bank website with online banking options would require a separate mobile site that lets bank customers and account holders to view things like the closest bank location and a simplified account view because mobile screens are smaller.

When a website is visited from a desktop computer with a big monitor, a user would get multiple columns, big graphics, and interaction created specifically for mouse and keyboard users. The same website on a mobile device, would appear as a single column optimized for touch interaction, though using the same base files.

The life of an app or app developer is never complete without the endless rounds of testing, bug finding and then debugging processes. That is another important facet to front end development. 

Testing and Debugging

Frontend Testing checks the presentation layer of a 3 Tier Architecture. Simply put, it is checking the GUI, anything that is visible on screen for the client -side. For web applications, front-end testing includes checking functionalities of forms, graphs, menus, reports, etc. as well as associated JavaScript. Frontend testing covers a variety of testing strategies. 

A tester must have sound knowledge of business requirements to perform this type of testing. Developers must be aware of current testing and debugging processes. Frontend testing examples are Unit Tests, Acceptance Tests, Accessibility Tests, and Regression Tests.

Unit testing is the process of testing individual blocks of source code, these are the instructions that tell a website how it should work. Unit testing frameworks provide a specific method and structure for doing so (there are different ones for each programming language).

Acceptance testing also called, UI testing, browser testing, or functional testing is where you ensure that the website behaves as when an actual user is visiting and taking actions on the site. You can write tests that will perform searches or making sure that if a user forgets to fill out a required form field, your form error box should pop up.

Regression testing is defined as a type of software testing to confirm that a recent program or code change has not adversely affected existing features.

Regression Testing is a full or partial selection of already executed test cases which are re-executed to ensure tested, existing functionalities work fine. It is done to make sure that new code changes do not have side effects on the existing functionalities and ensures that the old code still works once the latest code changes are done.

Accessibility testing is a subset of usability testing where in tests are done keeping in mind users with all abilities and those with disabilities. The significance of this testing is to verify both usability and accessibility. Accessibility aims to cater people of different abilities such as, visual, physical hearing, cognitive and/or learning impairments.

A good web application should cater to all sets of people and NOT just limited to disabled people. These include:

• Users of old technology, incapable of running the latest software)
• Users of non-standard equipment
• Users with poor communications infrastructure
• Users with restricted access to the internet or technology
• Older people and/or new users, who may be non-tech savvy

Debugging is simply taking all these bugs, issues and errors that testing uncovered or your users uncover once your site is launched (and inform you in reviews), and fixing them.

Conclusion

The front-end development scenario is changing day-by-day; and the answer is still a resounding “No!” to those who inquire “Is front end development dying?” Multiple frameworks and libraries have been introduced until now and businesses are trying to keep pace with the ever-growing number of competitors. Front-end development companies like Appedology and our developers work hard to keep ourselves updated with the latest IT trends of IT and provide top-notch bespoke solutions that go far beyond the initial design clients often ring us. Front-end development has a lot of scope in the coming years for creating seamless, smooth UX based apps and sites for businesses around the globe. In this technology-centric world, the app or website interface must satisfy usability and capacity criterion to handle requests. This indeed is the best way to increase the conversion rate of any website and meeting the right developers to get your digital products crafted is the most important move for your company. Call us, let’s get talking.