Web development is an intriguing technical discipline that allows for plenty of creativity and flexibility, yet to thrive in this space it is essential to gain an understanding of its various layers.
Start with planning. In this phase, dev teams work closely with clients to agree upon layouts, information structures and aesthetics for a website or app.
Design
Web development combines technical aspects like coding and programming with creative elements like design. A career in web development may be ideal for individuals with both technical and artistic capabilities; this industry provides an abundance of entry-level web designer positions up to senior software engineer jobs.
Web designers are responsible for creating the visual aesthetic of websites, including colors, fonts, graphics and user interface. They use graphic design software to develop wireframes and prototypes before turning them into code. Attention to detail is vital as even small changes can have significant effects on performance of a site.
HTML and JavaScript are both widely-used coding languages for websites, and developers use both languages in tandem to design responsive sites with different content depending on which device visitors use as well as interactive features like animations, games or social media integration.
At this stage, web designers collect information from clients in order to ascertain what type of website is necessary and who it will serve. Once this has been determined, they develop layouts and information structures before agreeing on a style direction to guide the remainder of their project – such as word counts for menu items and character limits for character menus as well as fitting images/video files into standard sizes while making sure their website looks good across resolutions.
Development
Web development involves more than typing code; it also encompasses creating, building, and maintaining websites and web applications. Web developers require skills such as graphic design, information architecture, client liaison liaison programming etc to perform this service effectively.
Web developers must possess knowledge of various programming languages, such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Additionally, they should have experience dealing with the back-end of websites – including databases and servers – while often working with APIs (Application Programming Interface) to manage third-party data or create interactive features on websites.
Planning and design stages of website creation are the initial steps. A team will develop an overall layout for their website during this phase, including information structure and aesthetic features such as color schemes or images that might be added. Once these aspects have been agreed upon, code writing for their new project may commence.
Like any piece of software, web apps require testing before going public. At this stage, the web development team will assess issues like page loading speed, navigation ease and more to determine its readiness for release.
Testing
Websites require rigorous testing in order to meet user expectations and conform with QA/QC procedures, which includes checking hyperlinks, looking for typos, making sure a website works seamlessly on different browsers and devices, and verifying any code changes do not introduce new bugs.
Web application testing involves both frontend and backend processes. Frontend processes involve testing the interface users interact with such as HTML and CSS while backend processes involve the database systems that support and power the website behind-the-scenes. Testing a Web app involves conducting both tests in conjunction with usability evaluation in order to create an enjoyable user experience that ensures optimal usability for its visitors.
As mobile technology expands, Web developers must design websites that are responsive to changing screen sizes and device capabilities. While this may present Web developers with unique challenges, this type of testing often includes assessing load speed and scalability to see whether their websites can withstand high volumes of traffic.
Web development plays an integral part in SEO, as search engines analyze technical aspects of website designs to assess quality and relevancy. This may include coding and site structure changes as well as optimizing content to be found quickly in search results pages.
Maintenance
Once a website is complete, ongoing maintenance must take place to keep it looking its best and functioning optimally. This involves tasks like making sure all links work properly, updating content regularly, backing up the site regularly, installing security patches immediately when they become available, monitoring site performance to detect problems quickly, and performing backups when needed.
Web developers or, more commonly, web devs, are the professionals responsible for maintaining websites. Depending on their skills and experience, they may work either on the front end or back end of websites; front-end developers typically handle visual aspects such as colors, fonts and images appearing across desktops, laptops, tablets and phones while using programming languages like HTML, JavaScript and CSS to make websites that look good while working well across all devices.
Back-end developers, on the other hand, are responsible for writing code that enables websites to connect to servers and manage information flow. They typically employ back-end scripting languages like PHP or MySQL in order to manage database connections and e-commerce transactions as well as engineer solutions for server issues; those capable of handling both front-end and back-end development are known as full-stack developers.