In the process of creating your website, you need to have a number of professionals involved to get you where you need to be. The good news is, you can generally find plenty of people who are ready and able to help you out. The not-so-good news is that you’re going to need to understand a little of each of their job functions to make sure they’re good at what they do. Which is where you may be wondering just what does a frontend developer do?

General Overview

First of all, the basics of a frontend developer are that they are the ones responsible for the user interface aspect of your website. So, anything that a user of your website is going to experience is put there and designed by the frontend developer. If you’ve ever looked at a website you know that’s a whole lot of things and it’s definitely going to involve a lot of very specific experiences. Finding someone who can take care of this task for you may require a bit of time and effort.

Your frontend developer is responsible for things like:

• Debugging
• Design
• Technology
• Programming

Top Features And Skills

Debugging

When it comes to keeping your website running properly it’s important to get rid of all the bugs. These ‘bugs’ can interfere with the way that users interact with your website and could even cause users to leave your website and go elsewhere. That’s because some bugs are simply annoying and some are actually hazardous to your website, your business, and your customers’ information.

A front-end developer will constantly be looking for problems with the website that come from unintentional bugs or from those who are trying to do harm to your website. They’ll remove those bugs and put updates and changes in place that can stop the same bugs from coming back again.

Design

The look and style of your website is another extremely important aspect and it's one that a frontend developer is going to be responsible for as well. They’re the ones who make sure that your website looks the way you want and provides easy access to everything that your users are looking for. This could mean the basics of the design as well as the aesthetics.

If you or your users want something different in the looks of the website you’ll talk to this developer (or your users will probably talk to you and you can talk to the frontend developer) and they’ll make the updates. Updates to the design of your website are probably happening quite frequently as you continue to tweak and improve your style.

Technology

Of course, anything that has to do with your website is also going to have to do with technology. A front-end developer needs to have a good understanding of what technology is and how it’s going to impact your website. They need to understand how the user will utilize technology in visiting your website and getting the things that they need or want while they’re there.

If your developer isn’t familiar with the latest options and upgrades in technology they’re probably not going to be a good fit for your website. They may not be able to make all of the changes that you want or they may not be able to suggest improvements to make sure that your website is always functioning at the best possible level.

Programming

Finally, a frontend developer needs to be able to do a whole lot of programming. This is how they’re going to get everything else taken care of and while there are different languages that they can use, they’re typically going to use HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript to get the job done. The specifics are going to depend on your needs, the website, and your own expertise.

If you’re looking for the best of the best you want someone who is up-to-date on the latest updates in programming languages so they can do anything and everything you might want on your website. Keep in mind that just about anything can be done, but you’ll need a frontend developer that’s skilled enough to make it happen.

Additional Features And Skills

On top of these primary skills, there are some other things that your frontend developer might need to know, such as SEO best practices. These practices will help them with the design of the website and some of the coding. Primarily, however, this is going to be something you task to your writers or bloggers, the people who are creating the content that gets posted to your website.

Another important task is mobile integration and design. This is generally going to be a part of the overall design process, but it bears mentioning on its own as well. You want your frontend developer to make sure that your mobile website is easily accessible and the design is pleasing for your users. More and more people are using mobile to access websites now and if they’re not easy to use they tend to go elsewhere.

Continued optimization also depends on your frontend developer looking for anything that isn’t working at the optimum level. It’s not just about you or a user letting them know that something is wrong. They should be monitoring the website to find anything that could be wrong as well. And that’s going to require some added attention and care on their part.

Working It All Out

If you don’t currently have a frontend developer, or your frontend developer isn’t doing everything that we’ve mentioned here (and then some) you may want to talk to them or search for another one that can get the job done. You want to make sure that your website looks and works great for your users, and that starts with a strong team.

The frontend developer that you hire is responsible for a lot, and even though your user may not even know they exist, they’re a crucial part of your process and your success.

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