Newbies who are entirely new to programming must have heard of the term, Front End Web Development without an acute understanding of what it is all about. Well, if you are one and you want to delve into this field, then panic no more as this article will give you a resounding overview of the aforementioned term and the skills needed to get you started.
What Exactly is Front-End Web Development?
Front-End Development is one of the high in-demand skills in the job market today. It is the process of building and creating components that the users can interact with. It is concerned with improving the overall user experience with these components. Examples of these components include buttons, user interface (UI), layout, search bar, and many more.
A person who specializes in Front-End Web Development is called a Front-End Web Developer. In other words, it is the developer’s job to bring whatever you see on websites or applications to life simply using codes. For example, take a look at the beautiful landing page from the Tailwindcss website below;
Everything you see on this website from the logo to the nav bar, icons, headings, paragraphs, buttons, colors, and the page layout was done by a Front-End Developer.
What Skills Do You Need to Become a Modern Front-End Developer?
As an aspiring Front End Developer, you will need to learn three major skills. These include HTML, CSS, and Javascript. From here you can proceed to learn CSS and Javascript frameworks and libraries as well as other technologies that will be useful to your journey.
What is HTML?
HTML is an acronym that stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is used for creating and structuring web pages. It is made up of a series of elements that tell the browser how to display the content. Below is a simple HTML document;
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My first design</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome To My World!</h1>
<p>Let’s explore…</p>
</body>
</html>
As a developer, you will need to learn this skill so you can competently structure websites and applications. But note, do not style webpages with HTML, CSS is meant for that. For in-depth knowledge of HTML, proceed to the W3schools website or any related platform.
What is CSS?
This is another skill that should be added to your arsenal in your front-end journey. It is an acronym that stands for Cascading Style Sheet. It adds beauty to webpages by changing the display of the HTML elements to suit the user’s needs. With CSS, the layout can be controlled to work across multiple devices such as desktops, tablets, and smartphones. For in-depth knowledge of CSS, proceed to the W3schools website or any related platform.
What is Javascript?
This is a crucial and technical programming language that takes the functionality of websites and web applications to another level. It makes websites interactive by making it possible to create animated components such as images or content sliders, pop-ups, sticky navigations, and smooth scrolling among others.
What are CSS frameworks, Libraries, and preprocessors?
Having gained a solid understanding of CSS, you can then learn its frameworks and libraries. CSS frameworks are ready-made stylesheets that the developer can use to quickly create UI components rather than starting from scratch. Some used cases are navigation bars, hamburger menus, layouts, and more.
Some commonly used CSS frameworks are:
Bootstrap
Tailwind CSS
Material UI
Bulma
Foundation
According to Mozilla, ‘CSS preprocessors are programs that let you generate CSS from the preprocessor’s unique syntax.’ They add features that are not in pure CSS such as mixin, inheritance selector, and so on. These features make our codes well-structured, readable, and easier to maintain. Some common examples of CSS preprocessors are:
SASS
LESS
Stylus
PostCss
You do not need to learn all of them. Just ensure you learn the one that is relevant and specific to the job posting. However, SASS is generally used and I recommend you learn it.
Javascript frameworks and libraries
Javascript frameworks are toolsets used to shape and organize websites or applications while libraries are pre-written code snippets that provide the needed features for our websites. They help save time by writing less code. There are several Javascript libraries and frameworks in the market. Again, you do not need to learn all of them but rather, choose the one that is specific to your job posting. Some common examples are:
React
Angular
Vue
Version control is another skill that is highly needed as a front-end developer in the market. Version control also known as source control is a means of tracking and managing changes made to your code. Version control systems on the other hand are tools used to manage changes to software codes. A common example is git.
Now, imagine a scenario where a mistake was made in your code, this can easily be averted and as well as compare to earlier versions of the code.
I strongly suggest you learn git and host your projects using services like GitHub where you can also work in collaboration with other developers.
Problem-solving
As a developer, it is a prerequisite to know how to approach and solve problems amicably. You should know that companies need you to solve problems for them. It is therefore crucial to hone this skill to your arsenal.
Here are simple tips on how to approach and solve a problem:
Ensure you 100% understand the problem. Otherwise, ask useful and correct questions until you fully understand the problem.
Break this problem into simpler sub-problems and solve each unit accordingly.
When stuck on a concept, make a thorough research on platforms like stack overflow where you can find solutions to similar problems.
Solve your problem based on these solutions.
Do not take pride in researching. You do not know it all!
Practice, practice and keep practicing!
Wrapping Up!
Front End development is a technical skill and in-demand skill that is bent on building and creating components that users can interact with. It is concerned with improving the overall user experience with these components.
This article has provided a full glimpse of the basics of front-end development as well as the necessary skills needed to get started as a front-end developer.
To wrap it up, I strongly suggest you embark on this journey. There are tons of online platforms to learn from. These include Youtube, Udemy, FreeCodeCamp, and a host of others. Wish you the best of luck as you embark on this journey. Happy coding!