Programming has recently become a “go-to” skill for most people who want to find a well-paid job in the tech field. Generally, it doesn’t matter whether you have technical education or not, if you are motivated and hard-working, you can start your path in the tech field. Web development in particular has become one of the most sort-after domains as it arguably seems quite easy to learn, hence it being a preferred field for many.
One can enroll and participate in various workshops and training courses for a couple of months (at least 6 months) and gain fundamental knowledge. However, if the area is quite new, terms such as front-end or back-end may be hard to grasp. Thus, this article seeks to give a gentle introduction to front-end development and some essential skills new front-end developers can focus on building.
Front-end web development (client-side development) in succinct, is a blend of programming and layout design that fuels the visuals and interactions of the web. For a front-end developer, the main objective of designing a site is to ensure a user-friendly experience i.e. when the users open the site the information should be easy to find, read, and more importantly relevant. Another complication to consider is the varying screen sizes and resolutions of user devices thus forcing the developer/designer to take into consideration these aspects when designing the site. Thus, the site is expected to come up correctly in different browsers (cross-browser), function properly on different operating systems (cross-platform) and different devices (cross-device), which requires careful planning on the side of the developer. Front-end can be a difficult job because you have to make sure that every component functions the way it’s supposed to so that users can have a good experience.
Although the tools and techniques used to create the front-end of a website are constantly changing, however, harnessing the following essential skills can help you advance in your career
JavaScript (ES6):
The JavaScript (JS) language is considered a lightweight, interpreted, or just-in-time compiled programming language with first-class functions. Aside from it being a popular scripting language for web pages, many non-browser environments also find it useful, such as Node.js, Apache CouchDB, and Adobe Acrobat. Over the years, the JS language has evolved from ES1 to ES6 (ECMAScript), with some interesting capabilities for each new release. In 2015, ES6 was announced as a new standardized version of JavaScript (a.k.a ECMAScript 2015). ES6 has many new features that help to write efficient codes. This includes Object-Oriented Classes, Arrow Functions, String Literals, and much more, it is the foundation for modern libraries like React and Vue. JavaScript is an important skill for every front-end developer.
Optimization (Performance and Quality):
It is important for visitors to your site to experience a website that runs smoothly and without errors. The time it takes for your website to load can be affected by multiple factors largely related to web performance e.g. server/hosting, file types/sizes, plugins, etc. Learning how to improve the performance and quality of websites can be a crucial skill to learn as a front-end developer. Building beautiful websites is good; however, much focus must be on the effective and smooth delivery of content to users as users are usually turned off if sites take longer than time to load. Some tips to help you improve a website’s performance includes: optimized and smaller images, avoiding using unwanted CSS and JavaScript, as it can make your code girthy, good hosting provider, avoid too many plugins especially when using WordPress.
Learn to use Chrome DevTools:
Chrome DevTools encompasses web developer tools built directly into the Google Chrome browser. Most developers find Chrome DevTools very useful as it helps in iterating, debugging, and analyzing websites. Front-end newbies are encouraged to learn how to use Chrome DevTools to help them save time spent in debugging and analyzing their sites.
Learn Version Control with Git:
Git is an open-source distributed version control system. It helps developers to track changes in a set of files, as well as use it to coordinate when these developers are working on a source code together during software development. Learning version control with Git has become very important for every developer and quite a sort-after skill. For instance, after writing over a thousand lines of codes and suddenly something goes wrong, starting your work from the beginning will be the last thing you want to do. In this situation, Git will help you to go back to the previous version of your software without losing any code or starting from scratch. Knowing the basics of Git is a skill you must pay attention to.
Responsive Design:
Responsive web design refers to creating web pages that look great on all devices, in other words, creating web pages that are device agnostic. A responsive web design is expected to automatically adjust irrespective of the screen sizes and viewports. Everyone accesses the internet differently. Ranging from smartphones and tablets to laptops and desktops with varying screen sizes. So responsive design must be a top priority in any application or website you develop.
Learn to Work with Frameworks:
CSS and JavaScript frameworks are sets of files that take care of a lot of the heavy lifting for you by offering standard features. Instead of starting with a blank text page, you may start with a code file that already has a lot of JavaScript in it. JavaScript and CSS frameworks are changing how developers write code. Some frameworks were built to help you create complicated user interfaces, while others thrive at displaying your website’s content. Choosing the right framework is as important as learning it. Popular frameworks are not always a good choice, and you should pick one according to your specific requirements.
Conclusion:
At present front-end development is in high demand. Frontend developers are responsible for managing the UI / UX (User interface/User experience) of the software. This is important because users interact directly with the front end of an application.
Author
