The "ends" of web development

Web development traditionally has two ends, the front-end and the back-end, but there also exist some processes which require involvement from both ends:

• The front-end (presentation-oriented programming - what you see)
• The back-end (data and logic-oriented programming - what you get)

Front-end

The front-end usually involves the following "3 S's":

• Structuring (HTML)
  • to enforce the sensibility (order) of visual components
  • to ensure that a web resource has accessibility to everyone
• Styling (CSS)
  • to enhance the visual look-and-feel
• Scripting (e.g. JavaScript, React, Angular, jQuery, etc.)
  • to manage user input and data changes
  • to work with the back-end

Sometimes, front-end developers may have to take part in:

• Imaging (e.g. Photoshop)
  • to adjust (resize, crop, etc.) visual assets provided by a client
  • to take the load off the design team who might work with more complex imaging and graphics projects

Back-end

The back-end usually involves:

• Scripting (e.g. also JavaScript, with some PHP, Ruby, Perl and older programming languages)
  • to process the results from database querying
• Database querying (e.g. GraphQL, MongoDB, MySQL)
  • to get/set data from a database
• Authorization and authentication
  • the former refers to allowing a user into a system
  • the latter refers to determining that the user is genuine

Every-end

Each developer may also have to take part in: ‌

• Versioning or version control (e.g. Git or Mercurial)
  • to not only submit content "to the cloud" but also to ensure backups if something goes wrong
  • to allow for collaboration by multiple developers within the same project(s)
• Deployment (e.g. FTP, Jenkins, Netlify, Vercel, etc.)
  • to get that web project onto the Internet servers!
    • usually nowadays handled by a specialized team called development operations (or dev ops)
• Documenting (e.g. GitBook!)
  • to communicate cases and learnings for obvious reasons
• Organizing (e.g. SCRUM)
  • to ensure that all the programming, layout, look-and-feel, content, images (and any other assets) all come together, so that the development experience goes as smoothly as possible
• Optimizing
  • for more universal accessibility, better usability, improved speed
  • for enhancing the experience of the "finished" product
    • note: no product ever really gets "finished"

‌As one can gather, a lot of web development involves tasks other than simply programming!

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(Originally pubished in 2023)