7 technologies that are dominating the current front-end web development landscape

The web development industry is booming right now, especially with the present pandemic having highlighted the need for businesses to have a strong Internet presence. And it’s not just important for businesses: web apps are a part of our everyday lives, allowing us to communicate with loved ones, access entertainment, and much more.

Considering their importance, it makes sense to want to know a little bit more about the technologies that power our favorite web apps and websites. In this article, we’ll try to give you a rundown of the most popular technologies behind the internet’s front-end, that is, the part that you as a user actually get to see.

These technologies make it possible to display essential information in ways that are clear and easy to navigate with an overall good design. Let’s see what they are!

The bare bones of front-end development

Before we get into all the bells and whistles that frameworks and libraries have added to the web development landscape in recent years, let’s start by looking at some of the essentials. These are the bare-bones technologies that pretty much every front-end web developer uses to build the apps that you see everyday, the ones you are sure to have run into at some point in your life as an internet user.

HTML5

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and it is, quite literally, the backbone of almost every website you’ve ever visited.

Although it is sometimes dismissed as not a real programming language, the internet as we know it would not be what it is without it, and every front-end web developer has had to use it at some point. In fact, HTML is many people’s first ever encounter with programming.

In short, HTML lets you define HTML elements which are the building blocks that make up a given website or app. You can use them to define titles, images, buttons, and more, thereby defining a website’s structure.

HTML’s latest version, HTML 5, was first released in 2008 and introduced upgrades such as semantic elements, which have since become the industry standard.

CSS

If HTML gives websites their structure, then CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) gives them their style. Although it is true that you can introduce some styling directly through HTML, it is quite limited, and CSS is a much more powerful tool for web designers.

CSS lets you define an element’s size, color, position, and much more, including animations. Moreover, CSS is what makes websites responsive, an essential feature in today’s mobile-driven world.

Sass

No mention of CSS would be complete without a nod to Sass (Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets), which is, in essence, an extension to CSS that adds a whole lot of features to plain style sheets.

Among other things, Sass introduces variables, imports, and nested syntax, which make CSS much more dynamic and easier to use. It’s no wonder, then, that Sass has gained a lot of traction and has made its way to almost every front-end web developer’s toolbox.

JavaScript

Finally, JavaScript (not to be confused with Java) is the programming language that powers most of the internet. In fact, it is one of the most popular programming languages altogether, as it is simple, easy to learn, and can be used both client and server-side.

This is often the language that takes care of the logic on the front-end of things and is also in charge of communicating with the server to get and send all the information needed to make a website or app work.

With the fairly recent introduction of ES6, JavaScript added features such as arrow functions and promises, making it even more powerful.

TypeScript

But, as great as JavaScript is, it still has its shortcomings, which is why, in 2012, Microsoft designed its own programming language, TypeScript, to tackle these problems.

The result was a language that isn’t just extremely popular but also ranks as the second most loved programming language, according to developers on Stack Overflow.

Popular libraries and frameworks

What we’ve seen so far are the essentials that are present in pretty much every front-end web developer’s toolbox, but they are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the wide array of technologies that are currently used in the web development industry.

In reality, most developers use a variety of different frameworks and libraries that let them boost these essentials and make it easier and simpler for them to write better apps.

Languages, frameworks and libraries: what’s the difference?

Before we go over some of these popular libraries and frameworks, however, let’s take a minute to discuss the difference between a programming language, a framework, and a library.

Programming languages are, as the name implies, the languages that programmers use to give the instructions that result in their desired product. They are essentially the building blocks of software and have their unique rules and syntax.

Libraries and frameworks basically include pre-made sets of code to make programmers’ jobs easier. And, while libraries tend to be lighter and aimed at a more specific purpose, frameworks usually come with more features.

So, now that you know the difference, let’s go over some popular front-end development frameworks and libraries for the web.

React.js

React was created by none other than Facebook, which describes it as a “JavaScript library for building user interfaces”. Its component-based approach lends itself to code re-use, which in turn makes React development fast.

That, together with its main-stream adoption, among other advantages, has made it extremely popular, and has turned it into one of the most in-demand technologies for web developers.

Angular

Angular is another technology with a big name behind it: it was created and is still maintained by Google. Its JavaScript-based version, Angular.js is on its way to being phased-out, but its TypeScript alternative, Angular, is alive and kicking.

In fact, it is one of the most popular frameworks used for the web. According to Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey, it is only topped by jQuery and React.js.

Vue.js

Unlike React and Angular, there is no big-name company behind Vue.js, but its creator, Evan You, actually came up with the idea for this framework after a stint working at Google. As such, Vue aims at taking the best from Angular and improving on its shortcomings.

Although Vue.js might not be the most popular web framework at the moment, it is up there when it comes to the most loved and most wanted technologies by developers, which seems to indicate a bright future for this framework.

jQuery

It might be strange to find jQuery in a list with more modern frameworks like React and Vue. However, this JavaScript library released back in 2006 still remains one of the most popular front-end web development tools out there.

The goal of jQuery is simply to make writing JavaScript code quicker and easier, and its longevity is a testament to how well it achieves this purpose.

The technologies mentioned in this article are just a sample of the sea of alternatives that is available for front-end web developers. That said, the technologies on this list are so popular, that they cover most of the apps and websites you are likely to run into on an average day on the internet.

If you are looking to get into front-end web development, be it as a developer yourself or as a product owner, these names are definitely worth checking out.