Frontend development is the designing and building of the visual side of a website; this involves the user interface, buttons, forms, etc. Building a good visual side of a website is crucial as this is what the users interact with. Frontend development consists of HTML (hypertext markup language) which is used for the structure of the website, CSS (cascading stylesheet) which is used for its styling, and JavaScript for interactivity, all these are combined in creative ways to make a beautiful, functional and satisfying website for the users.
But with all these in mind, there are many best practices in the field to ensure we are producing good deliverables and in this article, we will discuss five of them.
1. Prioritizing Responsive Design
Responsive design aims to build visual designs that work seamlessly across different device screen resolutions, sizes, etc. Responsive design is necessary in any front-end development project because we want to reach as many customers as possible. With the range of different devices being released by companies, it means users will now have a plethora of options which means our users will use varying devices. In the case of smartphones having more web traffic than other devices, responsive design is now non-negotiable. Responsive design can be achieved in many ways which include using media queries and breakpoints, showing and hiding content based on the user's context, and a lot more,
2. Using semantic HTML markup
Semantic HTML markups are HTML tags that convey the meaning of the content in it, they help give structure and meaning to a webpage layout. This is very important as it helps screen readers to better understand your webpage to read it properly to visually impaired individuals. Another reason is that your codebase becomes clearer, simpler, and easier to understand for other developers who might want to read your codebase. Examples of semantic HTML tags are:
<main>, <section>, <aside>, <nav>, <header>.
3. Prioritize Accessibility
Prioritizing accessibility in a web design project is paramount and very necessary to ensure inclusivity. This is to design with assistive technologies in mind. Ensure there is good color contrast, good semantic markup for screen readers, good and easy-to-fill forms, and a lot more. Ensure your webpage is accessible to those with disabilities.
4. Minimalism
Aiming for minimalism as a front-end developer means not overwhelming users with too many functionalities, user interfaces, and information. Ensure you display only important information simply and concisely. Ensure your navigation is easy, smooth, and friction-free, this is very crucial so as not to confuse customers/users.
5. Write good comments
Comments are statements in code that are ignored by code editors and browsers. There are like little notes a developer leaves on different blocks of their code. This is done to give a brief explanation of what the preceding code does, it ensures other developers quickly understand the goal of each section of code. Another reason is that when you return to your code little notes guide and tell you what each block of code does.
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