Why Front-end Development is Harder Today

There’s no point in arguing what type of development is the hardest, but front-end development is harder today than it used to be. As the Internet has grown and matured, front-end developers have more responsibilities than they used to. Back in the early days of the Internet, web development only meant knowing how to write HTML. But a lot has changed. Here is why front-end development is harder today than it used to be.

1. Too many browsers

Each browser — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc. — has their own rendering of the same HTML code. This means that while you can design a web page, it might look slightly different on each browser. To fix this, you have edit the code on each browser. To make matters more complicated today, we have multiple screen options to view these browsers. This makes front-end development even more difficult.

2. Completely different languages

HTML, JavaScript, and CSS are the building blocks of front-end development. Those languages are all vastly different from one another. HTML isn’t too hard to learn, CSS is okay, but JavaScript itself is hard to understand. Many people use libraries such as jQuery to help understand JavaScript. Overall, being a front-end developer requires a lot of work.

3. Constantly changing designs

Front-end design is always changing, which means front-end development is also changing. Front-end design is now more based around user experience. While a developer isn’t a designer, the technologies blend together. Understanding design trends will definitely help out with your development skills. Working in front-end development means that your job is always evolving.

Overall, the problems front-end developers face are seemingly never-ending. The problem is less about learning all of the different code; it’s mostly about making sure websites work on each and every browser and device. So if you want to be a front-end developer, be prepared for the always-changing environment of the Internet.