It’s easy to become a front-end developer without any college degree. You just need to acquire the right skillset. Here’s a list of five major technical skills a front-end developer must-have.
HTML and CSS
Hypertext markup language (HTML) and cascading style sheets (CSS) are the scaffolds for any website design. HTML gives a layout to the web pages. CSS helps to style the HTML elements with colors, fonts, typeface, and more.
JavaScript
HTML and CSS are mostly for a text-only website, as they’re predominantly static. JavaScript can be an additional feature to make responsive websites.
This client-side programming language lets you add interactive features, like polls, slideshows, and forms, to a website. It provides support for dynamic elements like page animation, scrolling, audio, and video.
Frameworks and Libraries
Frameworks are used for common website elements like login and search interfaces. They have a prewritten code, are easy to incorporate and are reusable. Examples of popular JavaScript frameworks include Angular, Vue, Ember and ReactJS.
Libraries are a group of plugins and extensions. They are used when you want to add prefabricated elements to a website. jQuery is the most common open-source JavaScript library with a number of customization options.
Version control
A version control system is software specifically designed to track changes made to code over time. This software helps the developers to compare earlier versions of the code with an older version. They can either commit the current changes or restore the previous version.
Responsive Design
We use different technologies like computers, phones, and tablets to look at web pages. The web pages adjust themselves to the device you’re using without any extra effort from your end. A major role of a front-end developer is to understand the responsive design principles and how to implement them. It is an important part of CSS frameworks like Bootstrap. These skills are all interconnected and so as you learn one you’ll often be making progress in the others at the same time.
Some important things are required to keep the web applications running and updated
- Optimize graphics and enhance page speed for a good user experience.
- Check for UI/UX consistency on the website.
- Perform timely functional testing of core website elements.