Front-End Development
2019-03-05
Front-End Web Development can seems complex and confusing to most non-technical people.
Here's the best way I've found to describe what I do: The User Interface (UI) is everything a user sees and interacts with when they visit a web page. Front-End Development encompassed UI plus other technologies needed to make a website work in a web browser.
It doesn't matter what browser they are using: Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, or something else. For security all browsers are limited to understanding only 3 scripting languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
I write the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code that browsers understand to makes pages display in the browser. I do this in a way that makes the site or application responsive.
Which means all the components on the page and the text will grow, shrink, and shift around to adapt to the size of the screen used to view the page.
Front-End Development is a complex array of technologies that are constantly evolving. It takes time, effort, and commitment to stay updated in this rapidly changing field.
Front-End Developers need to have some proficiency with the skills listed below. This is a starting point, not an exhaustive collection.
Required Skills
- HTML5
- CSS3
- Navigation
- UI: buttons / sliders / resize / drag & drop
- Login forms
- Authentication / Tokens
- Rendering lists
- Pagination
- Responsive Design
- SASS / Less / Stylus
- Flexbox, CSS Grid, Viewport Units
- Bootstrap, Foundation, Skeleton
- JavaScript & jQuery
- JSON / XML
- Node.js
- React.js, Angular, Vue.js
- Testing JavaScript with Mocha / Jasmine
- Git / GitHub
- Markdown for Readme files and Change Logs.
- Grunt / Gulp / Webpack
- RESTful web services (Representational state transfer)
- HTTP / CRUD API (Create, Read, Update, Delete)
- MVC
Tools
- POP OS (Could use Windows or Mac)
- Linux Terminal
- VSCodium
- Google Chrome + Developer Tools
- Firefox + Developer Tools
Non-Technical Skills
- Time Management
- Soft Skills / Interpersonal Skills
- Scrum / Agile
- Trello / JIRA
- Microsoft Office / LibreOffice / Google Docs
Resources
- What is a Front-End Developer?
- Front-End Developer Handbook 2019
- Decoding the Front-End Interview Process