Developers who work on the front end of an application or website will work with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to make it more attractive, user-friendly, and functional for visitors to your site.
While some developers may specialize in only one of these languages, many are skilled in all three so they can deliver the best possible experience no matter how the back end has been set up. For this reason, you should take care to hire a frontend developer who has demonstrated skill with each of these languages if you want the best possible product created to your specifications.
Top Front End Developer Skills:
HTML and CSS
First and foremost, being familiar with HTML and CSS is essential to be a great front-end developer. These two languages form a fundamental building block of all web pages, so knowing them well will make you extremely valuable to your employer. As an added bonus, these skills are also very easy to learn.
Javascript
The programming language powers almost every page on every site. It is a popular tool among programmers, and as such, can be used to build interactive websites and applications. Understanding of JavaScript is essential for any software engineer.
Employers value candidates who know at least one scripting language since a lot of programming involves code editing and revision. Some websites will display content only if JavaScript is enabled.
Tools and Frameworks
Front-end developer skill comprises HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (or jQuery). HTML allows you to create a basic structure for your site. You can then add CSS to style it and make it interactive.
Finally, there’s JavaScript or jQuery which gives your website a bit more functionality—for example, making an image move when you hover over it or adding a click event to certain areas of your page. The general idea is that each technology plays into different aspects of making your site work.
Good communication skills
Front-end developers should have excellent communication skills, both verbal and written. While you don’t need to be an expert in both areas, it’s important that your client feels as though they can discuss problems with you without being made to feel foolish for their lack of knowledge about web design.
It will also be beneficial if you are able to clearly explain technical jargon in a way that a layperson can understand.
Responsive Design
Using responsive design in your websites allows you to create flexible designs that can easily adapt to different screen sizes. This is especially useful on mobile devices, which can vary drastically in size from small smartphones and tabs to large desktop monitors.
Responsive design is a mobile-first approach where you identify what content is essential and prioritize it for users across all screens. The added bonus?
Faster load times for your websites because all of your code isn’t loading at once on mobile devices. In order to meet all these parameters, it is important that frontend developers should able to deliver responsive designs.
Testing/Debugging
Debugging is just as much a part of being a developer as writing code is. Whether you are working on a large project or creating scripts that solve unique problems, debugging will always be an important skill to have.
In order to debug effectively, frontend developers should know how to take your program apart and put it back together again. While these might seem like two separate tasks, they are actually one in the same. Once you understand how something works at its most basic level, fixing bugs becomes easier.
Web Performance
If you want to be a front-end developer, you need to work on web performance. Focus on shaving milliseconds off of page load times by tweaking elements like images and CSS files. Frontend developers can also explore alternative strategies like AMP, which shortens load times even further but requires making some compromises.
CSS Preprocessing
CSS preprocessors are special programs that modify your CSS files before they’re compiled into a style sheet and sent to a browser. That means you can change every part of your stylesheets with just one line in a single file, and as long as you preprocess it, every other CSS file will get updated automatically. This makes your life easier—and it also allows frontend developers to use features that aren’t yet available in browsers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, being a front-end developer requires mastery of HTML and CSS, but also JavaScript and possibly other languages. Experience with cross-browser compatibility issues is necessary. Having web design skills or an eye for graphic design helps because you’ll be working closely with product designers to create visually pleasing interfaces.
