In 1992, before the internet was made available to the public, there were only 10 websites online. Fast forward to 30+ years later, and that number has reached 1.88 billion and increasing at a rapid rate.
What’s our point here?
These websites are going to be your competition when you decide to build one for your business or brand. Knowing the types of web development can give you a basic understanding of the process, which will aid in hiring the right people for the job.
Your website must be SEO-optimized, fully functional, user-friendly, and have fast load times. To achieve this, let’s first look at the type of developers and web services, so you can determine what you need for your web development project.
Table of Contents
What Is Web Development?
Web development involves creating and maintaining a website. The goal of a web developer is to create a fully functional website that offers a great user experience. Basically, the website should be user-friendly, secure, easy on the eyes, and mobile-friendly. The last item is particularly necessary today because 90% of the global internet population utilizes their mobile devices to access the internet.
Web developers use multiple programming languages, including Python and JavaScript. However, web development can range from creating a web page from a template or developing a comprehensive website from scratch.
Now that you understand the basic definition of web development, let’s look at the three main types of web development.
Front-End Web Development
This part of the web development process involves creating the frontend elements of a website, which are features that the client or end-user immediately sees.
The responsibilities of a front-end developer include developing a website’s style, images, alignment, text, color scheme, and so on. They work hard to ensure that users have a seamless experience.
Front-end web developers have to know which website dimensions they should use to optimize the website and ensure responsiveness across all devices.
Top Languages for Front-End Web Development
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
This markup language is the most widely used one in front-end development. It’s used by developers to add structure and formatting to a webpage and its content. Using HTML, you can add headings, lists, tables, and photos to a webpage.
HTML is a building block of web development; even the best tech websites utilize it.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
CSS is a design language that is combined with markup languages like HTML to control the presentation of a web page. With CSS, you can control font styles, colors, paragraph spacing, layout designs, and background images or colors.
CSS is a huge time-saver because you can establish a style for every HTML element and apply it to however many web pages you want.
JavaScript
This is a popular, open-source object-oriented programming language. It’s mainly used for web development, but it can also be used for developing games and mobile applications. While HTML provides the foundation of a website, and CSS is the blueprint of how it’s styled, JavaScript enhances the functionality of web pages to improve user interaction.
This added functionality turns a static web page into a dynamic one. Along with HTML and CSS, JavaScript creates the backbone of the front-end web development process.
Back-End Web Development
There are three different types of web developers, and back-end web developers are the ones responsible for writing code that runs a website. This code links the website to the server and ensures the proper flow of data to the website and guarantees that transactions are carried out properly.
The back end is a crucial component of web development, but you may not get to see the technology used. However, back-end web developers have to keep themselves updated with current technology by networking with others in their field.
Top Languages for Back-End Web Development
JavaScript
JavaScript is the most used programming language that’s used by all types of web developers for both front-end and back-end web development. In fact, according to a 2021 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, roughly 65% of professional developers use JavaScript. The programming language has been holding the top spot for the ninth year consecutively.
This is not to be confused with Java, a completely different programming language. JavaScript offers numerous features, such as a lightweight scripting language, dynamic data type, async processing, and a divided server processing load.
Python
Although Python is a relatively slower programming language, it’s a high-level interpreted one. It’s also one of the most commonly used languages, with about 48% of professional developers using it.
Python is used in advanced-level programming, including web apps, machine learning, and data analytics. It offers features like libraries with numerous types of functionalities and object-oriented and platform-independent language.
PHP
Launched in 1997, this back-end programming language has been widely used since. This back-end language is established in HTML and is used for database administration, eCommerce website development, and session tracking.
According to data by W3Techs, around 77% of websites use PHP to some extent. Some of the most popular sites using PHP are Facebook, Wikipedia, WhatsApp, WordPress, and Pinterest. Its features include platform independence, interpreted language, multiple web frameworks, and flexibility and compatibility with HTML, XML, and JavaScript.
PHP is an open-source programming language, but it’s not well-maintained, so it’s not suitable for big web development projects.
Java
Java is a back-end programming language that follows the object-oriented programming model. It’s only used by 4.6% of websites, mostly in building enterprise-level applications.
Java is one of the oldest programming languages with features like public encryption keys for added security, multi-threaded programming, and object-oriented language.
Full-Stack Web Development
This combines the two types of web development mentioned above. Being a full-stack web developer means knowing about the different types of website design, web development, and debugging. They should also have skills in database management and be well-averse to recent web development trends like deep learning and blockchain.
Web Development Services List
Now that you’re aware of the three types of web development, let’s look at the most common web services you can get from web development agencies.
- Full-Stack Development: Instead of hiring back-end and front-end developers, your team can comprise of full-stack developers who can work with both the server and client sides of a website.
- eCommerce Development: With the increase in online shopping, the need for eCommerce websites has increased as well. In 2021, global retail e-commerce sales reached $5.2 trillion. Because of its vast use, this service is provided separately.
- Custom Website Development: This involves having a team of web developers create a customized website from scratch. This can be a long and tedious process, but the end result is a more professional and scalable website that provides a better user experience.
- CMS Website Development: A CMS, or content management system, such as Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress, is used to create, edit, and publish content. The websites built on such platforms have great visual design and are SEO-friendly.
Final Words on the Types of Web Development
Websites come in many forms depending on their purposes. You can build a corporate, eCommerce, or video streaming website, among other types. No matter what the purpose is, you should know the different types of web developers and the particular services you need, so you can hire the right person or agency for your project.
