The revolution of websites has introduced a new era for humanity and no one has looked behind since the advancement. With the help of the internet, the whole world is linked with each other. Websites and their application have made a drastic change in our lives and they are also changing the world with the help of their benefits.
In this contemporary epoch, everything is shifting to an online platform. Right from business to social and personal interactions, everything is shifted to the web. The total number of websites been developed is tremendously increasing in the upcoming years.
Over the past few years, websites have crossed billions with the rapidly increasing number of business owners investing in websites. Rather than that, the increase of the web as a platform has encouraged businesses to completely shift to an online platform.
This has boosted the demand for web developers. The web development industry is growing faster as compared to any other industry. The web development industry is well-known for providing innovations and new technologies. It has a huge and talented community of organizations, developers, and specialists, who are searching for new development platforms, tools, and programming languages.
What is a web and how does it work?
A web is a place for posting pages for information over the internet, and linking pages together by using links. It is possible for anyone to post by uploading on a web server. The page will be readable to all who search it by using its address on a web browser.
By using this it is very easy for people to share documents. The web page is very easy to access with the help of internet connectivity on your computer. But the web page can also be boring when you need to write the address for every page you want to search..
What are the building blocks of web development?
Even if you are not a technical person you will have heard about a lot of frameworks and packages. There are dozens of frameworks such as JQuesry, Angular, Bootstrap, JavaScript, ReactJS, HTML5, and so on.
1. HTML, CSS, JavaScript
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language which is the primary markup language for showing all web pages. HTML is a building block of HTML web pages. It consists of a pair of tags and the graphical content within the tags.
The simplest way to know this is Hyper Text Markup Language is a basic building block of your page and it also defines the basic content that you will display like the order of text and images displayed.
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets which is a resource in the style sheet language that is used for describing the demonstration of the document. It will refer to both looks and formatting of the presentation. The CSS can also be applied to HTML, and XML, and is highly essential for D3.js.
The style part is CSS is the style sheet language that describes the font size should be 12 pixels. When the Cascading Style Sheet element is applied straight to the HTML elements in the form of an attribute it is known as in-line CSS.
JavaScript mainly is a text-based programming language that is used for both client-side and server-side which will enable them to make web pages interactive and responsive.
HTML and CSS are used for giving style and structure to web pages whilst, JavaScript can give interactive elements to keep the users engaged. Moreover, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript were not designed to support the website that would be interactive on both desktop and iOS.
The latest specifications in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript have very minimum or no support for the core programming model like state management, reusable modules, etc.
2. Document Object Model
DOM is a model for showing and connecting with the objects in XML, HTML, and XHTML documents. The Document Object Model is divided into three major parts; Core, HTML, and XML. It also enables programs and scripts to access dynamically and update the structure, content, and even the style of the document.
The structure of DOM has a DOM tree that is used to address, navigate, and manipulate the structure of the document. The DOM tree can be easily navigated in reference to the relationships of its branches. It will give us a parent, child, siblings, and descendants.
3. Scalable vector graphics
SVG is known as a family of specifics to design 2-dimensional vector graphics. Scalable Vector Graphics aren’t made from pixels. But it is created with paths that have a starting and ending point, with curves and angles in between. As SVG is not made from pixels, it can be easily scaled up to big or small files without compromising image quality.
Scalable vector images and their behavior are easily defined in XML text files. The XML text can be included in an HTML document. The text means that images can be designed and easily edited in the text editor. Eventhough DOM has included XML as a part of the DOM specifics.
4. Web inspector
The Web Inspector will always come with WebKit-based browsers. We can easily use Chrome’s Web Inspector. Here it is shown how it looks like:
We will be able to use the Web Inspector to see the present state of the DOM. We even utilize the Web Inspector for the JavaScript console to debug and test the code. At last, the Web Inspector will even allow you to highlight an element, by right-clicking on it and then inspecting the element.
It will enable you to see the DOM elements for the particular thing which you highlighted on your screen.
5. Transpilers
A single transpiler can take one version of a coding language and transform it into another version very quickly. JavaScript versions 6,7, and 8 all offer some amazing functionalities that will make web development much simpler. One primary instance is JavaScript’s 6th version’s capability to export and import multiple modules. It is essential while writing an enterprise web application.
There are two majorly used transpilers Babel and TypeScript. Both of them will enable you to write code to the next specification of JavaScript but will transform your code back to a JavaScript version that most browsers are supporting. TypeScript is used more than JavaScript standards by getting in Java-like features like strict typing on parameters and variables.
6. Precompiled CSS
The languages which are above CSS are SASS, SCSS, and LESS, as they can be compiled down to CSS to be used by the browser. The main advantage is to provide the capability to create reusable styles and constants.
Suppose that you developed a web application and you also have a complete set of colors that you will use. Using CSS, there are various ways to set a color for a group of different components. If you are using SASS language you can simply define a set of constants, you can also update it in the future by doing it in one place.
7. JavaScript Libraries
There are two popular libraries of JavaScript JQuery and Lodash. It has been written in standard JavaScript language and among other things, it will provide utility methods to guide for developing a web application. If you are willing to delete some of the difficulties for iterating with arrays and objects.
8. JavaScript frameworks
If you are developing a complex web application, you will need help for defining reusable web components, managing states, and making a user-oriented dynamic experience.
Here the technologies such as Angular, ReactJS, and Vue will take part. These frameworks can do everything with the standard HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. If your application is complicated, till that time you have written all the codes and plumbing necessary you are one step closer to making your JavaScript framework.
9. React.JS
React.JS is developed and maintained by Facebook, it runs on a browser and it is also used as a front-end library by the developers. Same as all the other libraries it also runs on various web services such as Apache, or in partnership with backends like Ruby on Rails or PHP.
React.JS was actually developed to work on web browsers. But the library has a ReactDOM library which is designed specially to work parallelly with the browser’s DOM. With the passing of time, the library has changed into a cross-platform framework which is known as React Native.
10. Angular
Angular is the most trendy and latest web technology which is made especially for developing amazing web applications. With the help of this framework, you will be able to easily develop front-end applications without using other frameworks or plugins.
The features of Angular will include well-designed templates, MVC architecture, code spitting, code generation, and much more. All the expressions are similar to code snippets that are within curly brackets and do not need any loops or conditional statements.
11. Dart
Dart is a product of Google that will provide a lot of chances to develop structured and fully-functional applications. It is the latest generation language with great performance which gives flexibility to Dart developers.
Dart language is frequently updated by Google, but when it is compared with JavaScript it has fewer abilities and a small community.
12. CoffeeScript
CoffeeScript is compounded into JS. It will enhance the readability of JavaScript which will make the code of it simple and short. It can be even used with Node.JS. It is not an alteration or a subpart of JavaScript. But, if you need it for coding purposes you need to have a good knowledge of JavaScript.
CoffeeScript also has some drawbacks such as a need for compilation, a limited set of features, and some specialists writing in it.
13. MeteorJS
MeteorJS is a framework written in Node.JS and it will make it possible for you to make real-time web apps for various platforms. The framework used for making simple websites for your personal use will really stand out with the MeteorJS framework.
It is an open-source JavaScript Web Framework, which means the website loading time is comparatively less. JavaScript framework makes it possible to get similar results with short line codes that normally.
14. Vue.JS
Vue.JS is the latest framework in the group of JavaScript frameworks whose main motto is to provide a logical and more batteries-included approach to web app development rather than other famous libraries such as React and Angular.
15. Front-end frameworks
Front-end frameworks also known as CSS frameworks are packages that contain pre-written standardized code. Front-end frameworks are the best choice when you want to hit the ground by developing new websites.
There are plenty of CSS frameworks with strengths and weaknesses. When you choose of the correct framework for developing your project make sure that you research its complexity before choosing. It is not wise to choose a complex framework for a simple project, however a simple framework will be not suitable to large projects.
16. Bootstrap
It is one of the most well-known open-source CSS frameworks. Bootstrap was developes by Twitter creators and was released in the year 2011. It will include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript components and it enables to develop responsive websites for all sizes and complexities.
Bootstrap is also accessible to the developers who have just stepped into web development.
17. Semantic UI
Semantic-UI is mainly a component framework that is used for websites theming. Semantic-UI is based on a concept that at the core of websites are not the individual tags, but they are individual components such as buttons, modals, and dropdowns.
18. Foundation
It begins as an internal CSS style which is created by a design agency known as ZURB. It is a perfect choice you want to have a flexible or powerful framework that will not stop you in any of the ways.
19. Materialize
It is a front-end framework which is based on the visual language of material design. Materialize is speedy, bold, intentional, and it also has a low learning curve. Various webistes have already been developed using Materialize.
20. Material UI
It is in the list of world’s topmost famous frameworks, which is also encouraged by Google’s Material design. Material UI is an open-source framework based on ReactJS.
With the components used in Material UI it is simple to utilize the Material Design elements in your mobile or web apps.
21. Backend frameworks
A framework is also referred to as a platform which is the next layer in your website. You can imagine it as a lego price which is making your website. Moreover, a framework is mainly a group of libraries of field tested and optimized codes that will provide building blocks that you can use to develop a website.
They will enable the developers to reuse the code from similar functions without reinventing the code. Your backend developers will have a framework or platform that they used most oftenly.
22. NodeJS
It is a highly scalable backend library which is written in JavaScript. The NodeJS technology is known to be speedy, asynchronous, and lightweight. It is event-oriented and has a non-blocking input and output which makes it simpler for the web applications to manage the real-time data streaming.
In addition, the library is the most suitable for developing latest solutions which rely on web sockets event queue, and microservices. Due to the flexibility of NodeJS most of the developers uses it as a convenient framework for enterprise development.
23. CakePHP
CakePHP is one of the first PHP frameworks which was released in the year 2005. From that time it has traveled a long way and now it is widely known as modern PHP framework which allows CakePHP developers to develop the website efficiently.
It uses classic MVC conventions and it is highly extensible which makes it a perfect choice for developing big and small applications as per the demand.
24. Flask
It is also a python based backed framework. Rather then using Django it is lightweight and best for developing small projects. It even provide support for things such as Jinja2 templating, secure cookies, unit testing, and much more.
Flask also offers extensive deocimentation and it is a great result for python developers who do not need any thing which Django needs.
25. Phoenix
It is a backend framework that works with Erlang’s virtual machine and it is written in Elixir. The fact that Elixir is a functional language, it can be as famous as the object oriented languages. Whereas, it was specially designed for developing scalable applications.
It always uses a combination of tried and tested technologies with the latest ideas of functional programming.
26. Django
It is a high level python framework that will promote fast development and well-managed, realistic software design. It is also known as the most safe and secure web development framework and it is also fast to react at the awareness.
Django is a Model-View-Template framework which follows conecntion over configuration pattern. It even provides techniques and tools for the developers to develop a safe website or add security features in the framework.
27. ASP.NET
It is an open-source server-side framework for making web app using .Net and C# which is developed by Microsoft. Since the year in which it was released it has been drastically changing and is popular amongst every other frameowroks.
28. EXPRESS.JS
Due to the increasing popularity of Node.js, Express.js is rapidly becoming one of the most trending and popular frameworks recently. It is ised by various famous companies and it also compatible with other frameworks such as Kraken, Sails, and Loopback.
It delights itself as a minimal and rapid frameworks. Express.js provides some core framework functionalities without disturbing the features of Node.js and provides the robust performance of it.
Express.js is also flexible and gives full support to the applications and Rest API. The huge drawback of it is that there is no fixed way of doing this, especially for the beginners.
29. GO
It is an open-source programming languages. It is typed statistically and produce compiled machine code binaries. Many developers say that the GO language is similar to C language in this current era when we talk about syntax.
However, it is a new programming language and it includes tools that enables us to safely use memory, handle the objects, collect the garbage, and also provide static typing with adequacy.
30.Ruby on Rails
RoR is generally mentioned among JavaScript, Java, and Python, but once you go deeper in it you will be able to realize that it is not just an independent coding language, but it is just a web framework that is written above the RoR programming language.
Ruby on Rails is mainly a Model View Controller framework that uses RoR and its other most famous frameworks that are preferred by many dedicated and experienced developers. RoR is often considered a friendly framework, especially for beginners.
31.Laravel
It is a Model View Controller framework just like RoR and it uses PHP which is the most popular and widely used language for the web. It is one of the youngest frameworks amongst the others on the list.
It comes with API support which is out of the box, it also has a amount of various packages which will expand its reach. Laravel also has Laracasts which is a screencasts tutorials websites with more than millions of videos on PHP, Laravel, and other frontend technologies in Laravel’s ecosystem which could be considered as heaven for beginners.
32.Spring
It is also a Model View Controller framework that uses Java which is a widely used and popular language of all time. Various famous websites such as Wix, TicketMaster, and BillGuard are users of this framework. It has many sister projects which will enhance its performance and allow you to make your business successful.
33.Zend
It is an open-source framework that is based on PHP language, whose main focus is on building the most secure and reliable web apps as well as services. It is the first enterprise-level Model View Controller framework, which appeared before various superhits such as Laravel, Symfony, and many other famous PHP engines like Magento which was built using Zend.
34.Web design and prototyping tools
It is not just enough to develop websites and mobile applications. If you want people to use it and if you want to make it popular then you must add a lot of efforts in UI/UX. Due to this many companies are hiring expert designers to make attractive designs.
As a result, ample of web developers are collaborating with web designers. So it is essential to have shared tools to provide facilities to such workflows.
35.Figma
It is one of the widely used and leading user interface design software. Figma has came into limelight due to its features of collaboration, which allows various people to work on the same document all together.
It also has various excellent prototyping and hand-off features, which will diminish the need of switching among variou tools.
36.ProtoPie
It is mainly an advanced visual prototyping tool. It is a great tool for the designer and developers who are looking for prototyping quickly, how something is going to work without wasting the time in writing codes.
37.Framer
It is an amazing choice for those designers and developers who wants to create a latest high-loyalty prototypes that are made of original UI React components. Framer is an perfect bridging tool between design and development team which allows them to collaborate and perform experiment in the shared space.
38.Toolset
It is mainly a page builder that enables the users to make custom elements for websites very quickly and without coding. It is an amazing option for web developers and designers who are searching to finish the complicated projects quickly, that requires a plenty of custom features.
Rather than adding various tools you only need to do is add the toolset for custom development needs. Its advanced development, toolset blocks, means you can easily design websites with dynamic content that to without coding in minimal time.
39.Animator by Haiku
By using Animator you can easily make high-fidelity timeline animations for both applications and websites. You need to first design the animations visually or with the help of a code editor, and can later export it form various platforms.
40.Affinity designer
It is good to have a solid vector graphics tool for any web developer. Although, Adobe illiustrarter remains as a classy option, there are many other great tools which are available and Affinity designer is one of them.
Affinity designer consists of all the same tools that are similar to AI. It also comes with a license called perpetual licence and so it become much more affordable than any other tools.
41.Mockplus
It is a strong and all in platform used for the purpose of prototyping, collaboration, and various design systems. You can also quickly turn your ideas into functional prototypes with multiple components, icons and interactions.
It will bring designers, product managers, and front-end developers to work superior and together. It will also help us to make better designs experience easier and faster.
42.Package managers
Web developers mostly uses package managers to automatize the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs.
