8 tips to become a better front end developerHave you found yourself curiously looking at a website and wondering how it operated? Have you always wanted to know how you, as the user, are able to interact with the elements in the website? If you have then you are probably interested in the field of front-end web development. This is a field of web design that deals with the coding and creation of the visual elements of a website or web application. These visual front-end elements are what the user will see and interact with directly.

The typical job for a front-end developer is to transform the website design files into raw CSS, JavaScript, and/or HTML code. The website design files to be converted into code include the content of the website, links, buttons, its images, the website layout, as well as the navigational tools. The code will then be utilized by a back-end develop to affix databases, processes, and logics into the website.

If you are new to the field of front-end developing, or you simply want to sharpen your front-end developing skills, here are eight tips that can help you on your way.

TIP# 1: Learn to Love Design

To become an excellent front-end developer, you need to learn to love good design. During the course of your work as a front-end developer, you will discover that you end up making small design choices on behalf of your designer. Thus, you have to have a keen eye for nifty designs in order to make the right choices.

TIP# 2: Learn to Adapt Time Saving Plugins

Certain plugins in the browser will save you a lot of time and effort when developing the front-end of a website. Such plugins include but are not limited to LiveReload, Emmet, and Autoprefixer.

TIP# 3: Stay Away from Bad Plugins

Even as you embark on using timesaving plugins, ensure that you pick the secure ones. Insecure plugins can infect your software with bad code. To avoid these bad plugins, visit the Word Press plugins repository and check out the popularity, security issues, rating, and the release date of the plugin before using it.

TIP# 4: Continue Being Curious

As a front-end developer, you should never be satisfied with the knowledge you have. New languages, plugins, and techniques are being released every day. Constant research on such topics will help you stay on top of your game. By now, you should have realized that the world of front-end development or any form of web development for that matter requires a lifelong commitment to learning new things. Never tire of learning new techniques, and never be too confident that you know everything there is to know about front-end development. There is always something new to learn in this field.

TIP# 5: Look for a Credible Mentor

You might be eager to learn a new technique, but you are finding it tough to do so. The best thing to do about this is to find a developer who has more experience than you do and learn from them. The online community has a multitude of credible mentors you can learn from and hone your skills. An excellent mentor can help you avoid the major pitfalls that most front-end developers experience in their career. He/she can also offer advice on a number of issues you are currently facing.

TIP# 6: KISS and DRY

You need to grasp these basic but fundamental programming techniques if you want to become a better front-end developer. Keep it short and simple (KISS) and Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) are the rules that will make your front-end development flexible, robust, and most importantly, effective. By being effective, your work takes less time to develop and is simple to use. Robust entails your work being easy to collaborate on with fellow developers, as well as extensible.

TIP# 7: Become Time Conscious

Time is a scarce and integral source for any front-end web developer. It is important that you measure the time you spend working on a particular part of the project. This will enable you to estimate how long you take working on those aspects of the project. The measuring of the time spent is crucial because it will enable you to create realistic estimates of how much time you take on projects. You should relay such information to the client so that you can come up with a compromise regarding the deadline. This will help you deliver the project on time as you are working well within the time limits you are comfortable with.

TIP# 8: Plan

Planning is one of the most important aspects of becoming a better front-end developer. Many developers fail to appreciate the depth of this tip and they miss out on all the advantages of a well-planned out project. Good planning will help you reach your daily targets comfortably, save you time and effort, and reduce the pressure on you especially when the deadline is near.

Author Bio

Gina is a writer and blogger for www.mattress-inquirer.com. Her main tasks are writing blogs and How-To guides for the company. She has been a freelance writer for a little less than a decade, writing for a multitude of award winning blogs. When she is not writing, she is usually running around after her dog, Spartacus.