Webdevelopment

In a world in which the net­wor­king of devices, smart­phones and tablets is incre­asing thanks to approa­ches such as the Inter­net of Things, the importance of web deve­lo­p­ment is also gro­wing. But what is web deve­lo­p­ment all about, and when does it come into play? We explain.

What is web development? #

In a nuts­hell: Web deve­lo­p­ment means not­hing more than crea­ting and impro­ving web appli­ca­ti­ons. Web deve­lo­p­ment can be divi­ded into two are­as, front­end deve­lo­p­ment and backend deve­lo­p­ment.

Adver­ti­sing agen­ci­es, Inter­net agen­ci­es and web agen­ci­es usual­ly include other are­as of exper­ti­se here and also extend to the tech­ni­cal deve­lo­p­ment of other pro­ducts such as apps and soft­ware.

Dif­fe­rent pro­gramming lan­guages, frame­works and libra­ri­es can be used for web deve­lo­p­ment. While in Euro­pe PHP is the stan­dard for web deve­lo­p­ment, the Ame­ri­cans favor ASP.

Ulti­m­ate­ly, it does­n’t mat­ter which pro­gramming lan­guage is used, as the boun­da­ries are beco­ming incre­asing­ly blur­red.

Areas of web development #

A web deve­lo­per the­se days is assi­gned many are­as of exper­ti­se that you would­n’t even reco­gni­ze at first glan­ce.

Websites

The lar­gest area of web deve­lo­p­ment natu­ral­ly extends bey­ond the clas­sic, the web­site. This also includes appli­ca­ti­ons such as blogs, home­pages, online stores, mar­ket­places, social net­works, por­tals and strea­ming ser­vices.

All the­se appli­ca­ti­ons are based on clas­sic web lan­guages and can be cal­led via a brow­ser.

Mobile Apps

Mobi­le apps or mobi­le appli­ca­ti­ons are appli­ca­ti­ons that run on a smart­phone (iPho­ne, Gala­xy S3) or tablet (iPad, Gala­xy Tab).

Why do mobi­le apps count as web deve­lo­p­ment?

Mobi­le apps can be imple­men­ted both as nati­ve apps and as hybrid apps. A nati­ve app is an appli­ca­ti­on that was crea­ted spe­ci­fi­cal­ly for the ope­ra­ting sys­tem, in this case for iOS, Win­dows or Android. May­be you remem­ber that some apps were only available for iPho­ne or Android. This pro­blem was sol­ved by so-cal­­led hybrid apps.

A hybrid app is based on HTML, CSS and Java­Script. Nowa­days, frame­works like React are used to opti­mi­ze the apps so that the­re is almost no dif­fe­rence to a nati­ve app.

Popu­lar examp­les of hybrid apps include Insta­gram, Face­book, and Sky­pe, all of which were deve­lo­ped as React apps.

What is a front-end developer? #

The core task of a front­end deve­lo­per is the deve­lo­p­ment of the pre­sen­ta­ti­on of a web appli­ca­ti­on (web­site, online store). You are respon­si­ble for the imple­men­ta­ti­on of the lay­out, the user gui­dance and the user inter­face. This also includes the cli­ent-side pro­gramming of the web appli­ca­ti­on.

HTML, CSS and Java­Script are used for front­end web deve­lo­p­ment. Frame­works and libra­ri­es such as jQuery, Angu­lar­JS and Boot­strap are also used.

In lar­ger com­pa­nies, you work as an inter­face bet­ween the backend deve­lo­pers from whom you recei­ve the data and the web desi­gners who pro­vi­de you with the design. For this reason, you should have an under­stan­ding of the pro­gramming lan­guages used (e.g. PHP) and data­ba­se sys­tems as well as a flair for design.

What is a backend developer? #

The core tasks of a backend deve­lo­per are the deve­lo­p­ment and main­ten­an­ce of web appli­ca­ti­ons and data­ba­ses, as well as the smooth run­ning of the ser­ver ope­ra­ti­on in the back­ground. Sim­ply put, he takes care of ans­we­ring ever­y­thing that is reques­ted from the front­end (cli­ent).

For backend deve­lo­p­ment, a ser­­ver-side pro­gramming lan­guage such as PHP, Java or C# is used. Frame­works such as Sym­fo­ny or Cod­e­Ig­ni­ter are also often used to make life easier. Con­tent manage­ment sys­tems such as Word­Press and TYPO3 are also used by backend web deve­lo­pers.

In addi­ti­on to pro­gramming lan­guages, a backend deve­lo­per must also deal with data­ba­se sys­tems such as MyS­QL, Post­greS­QL or HANA.

What is a full-stack developer? #

A full-stack deve­lo­per is someone who is fami­li­ar with both the core tasks of front-end deve­lo­p­ment and the are­as of exper­ti­se in back-end deve­lo­p­ment. He can deve­lop almost all appli­ca­ti­ons and func­tions, has a flair for design and under­stands rela­tio­nal data­ba­ses.

A full-stack deve­lo­per is an all-roun­­der who has a broad ran­ge of exper­ti­se.

In com­pa­nies, the full-stack deve­lo­per repres­ents the inter­face bet­ween the front­end and the backend. He ensu­res that all are­as (design, front­end, backend and ser­ver) are well inter­lin­ked and that their inter­ac­tion runs smooth­ly.

Target group of web development? #

At a time when Inter­net of Things is beco­ming more and more rele­vant and more than 50% of traf­fic is gene­ra­ted by mobi­le devices such as tablets and smart­phones, web deve­lo­p­ment is essen­ti­al for any busi­ness.

Web development at Forge12 Interactive GmbH #

Forge12 Inter­ac­ti­ve GmbH is a web agen­cy based in Donau­eschin­gen, Ger­ma­ny, spe­cia­li­zed in any kind of web deve­lo­p­ment. We use only the most modern tech­no­lo­gies, frame­works and the latest reper­toires to rea­li­ze your web­sites, web appli­ca­ti­ons, apps and online stores.

In addi­ti­on, we offer other ser­vice such as web design, hos­ting, main­ten­an­ce, SEO and print design. For start­ups, small and medi­um busi­nesses, we offer imme­dia­te pay­ments as well as install­ments. In spe­cial cases, we are also open for cha­ri­ty coding. Just cont­act us and arran­ge a non-bin­­ding appoint­ment to get to know us.