Taking a Closer Look at the Work of Front-end Web Developers

A web developer is responsible for the front- and back-end of website development – which is one of the most valuable assets of businesses in this vast, growing digital era. Buttons, navigation, layouts and designs, and a majority of the features users interact with are made through front-end web development, written in code through HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript, and other programming languages. On the other hand, back-end development focuses on the server-side: databases, servers, APIs, and other aspects, powered by Java, PHP, Ruby, Python, and several other programming languages.

Many front-end innovations in recent years happened in apps and websites such as social media and enterprise platforms. These two areas saw an unprecedented rise in the dawn of the digital age, prompting any front-end web developer Singapore or elsewhere to work on more aspects of web and app development.

To be specific, front-end developers work on app and website aesthetics, compatibility, responsiveness, user experience, interface design, and other design and navigation elements in collaboration with other IT professionals such as data engineers and other developers.

More than just visuals, front-end developers are also mindful of the accompanying functionality that users must be able to experience. In bringing designs to life, especially for social media platforms, front-end developers have created functions that essentially serve as bridges that connect users to decision-makers. To help you further understand the concept, here are some examples:

Creating a Reader-friendly Comment Section

One of the most common features in social media networks is the comment section. As one of the busiest areas for interaction, front-end developers created ways to ensure all content in the section are easily viewable and identifiable, such as usernames (or display names), user-generated copy and contents, and the time stamps posts and replies are not compressed in one line. Developers carefully direct the structure and behaviour of the page through HTML to achieve this objective.

Appearance Preferences

Visual interaction plays a huge part in web development. Just as much as effective verbal and written communication as a whole is necessary for every business, especially to IT outsourcing Singapore companies, providing options for user comfort can enhance the overall customer experience . For example, Twitter and YouTube’s light, dim and dark options for background preferences are great specimens of how front-end developers can improve clarity, appearance, and comfort in interacting with the site or app.

See More, See Less

Many readers actually skim instead of reading content word-for-word, and this is the same with many website visitors or app users. Instead of reading the whole article right off the bat, readers mostly pay attention to the synopsis first to see if the story catches their attention or not. Search engines do this by featuring specific parts of copy it deems most important in their search results. Many apps and online platforms such as Facebook and Spotify employ a “See More” button before revealing the entire content. This way, users can view a truncated portion of the entire message instead of displaying upfront all of the copy, which can be irrelevant and annoying for the reader. A front end web developer can create such behaviour without reloading the page with the right tools, such as JQuery.

Conclusion

The fruits of front-end development are everywhere: from chat apps to sprawling mega-websites. Every web developer has at one point either worked with a front-end developer or did front-end roles. There is still a lot to know about this world of web development, front- and back-end, and the integration of the two.

If your business or organisation needs astounding web design and development services, you can check out Frontline, one of the most active IT outsourcing companies in Singapore. We offer front-end web design solutions and other software development services among other innovations that can help boost your sales and productivity. Contact us today!