Web Development – Front End and Back End Elements
Web development involves the building, creation, and maintenance of websites. It includes the design, publishing, and programming of a website and also the management of the website’s database. The process can be divided into different stages and Guttulus, in this post, explains these important components.
Components of Web Development
Front End Elements
A website usually has a front end and a back end. The front end of a website is what people see when the website is loaded, and the back end is what is not seen. Front-end elements include:
• Navigation structures
Navigation structures refer to the order in which the various pages in a website are arranged. It also involves how the various components link together to perform different functions on the same webpage.
• The page layout
Page layout refers to how the various components of the webpage appear. These include the location of the menu – can be at the top, or on the sides – the images, tables, and texts on the page and how they are arranged. A good page layout is critical in ensuring that the users find it easy to get to various locations and links on the webpage. A poor layout, on the other hand, makes the webpage look crowded and quite difficult to navigate.
• Images
A good website is one that creates a great user experience. Images are a great way to boost the appeal of a website, and they are an integral part of front-end web development. Images are not just limited to photos. They can include animations, lines and flourishes and navigation bars too. In some cases, you the images can be buried under the text.
• Content
A website is normally aimed at providing a means for those seeking an audience and the audience to access each other. A website, therefore, should contain the relevant information intended for the audience. The information does not necessarily have to be in the form of text. It can also be in the form of videos and animations. Written texts, however, are still important in websites. The texts should be divided into small chunks that are clear and easy to read. Also, they have to be optimized for the site to rank high in the search engines.
• Logo
A good website should include a unifying graphic which is the company, institution or organization logo. The logo ties the website to the things that your organization, institution or company does.
• Graphic design
This refers to the overall look and feel of the website. It is a combination of effective inclusion of the other elements of the front end of a website. The elements have to be creatively combined by a skilled, talented and educated graphics designer for the website to look appealing to the eyes of the users.
Back End Elements
These are the elements that make the website function more effectively. The elements of the back end of a website include:
• E-Commerce
In today’s day and age, it has become increasingly popular for people to make their purchases online given the convenience that it offers. The E-Commerce element of a website is what makes these online transactions possible. It involves integrating payment methods in a website and the installation of security features to ensure that account information of the users is protected from online hackers and fraudsters.
• Shopping Cart
A shopping cart is normally found on sites that allow you to shop for products online. They are particularly suited for online stores that offer a variety of products. The shopping cart is mainly meant to ease the selection of the various items one wants to shop for.
• Content Management System
This is a feature that allows the owner of a website to update information on the website without updating its HTML. The development involves the inclusion of a robust content management system that allows for the preparation of documents, editing, approval, and tracking or older publications.
• Site search
To help easy navigation in the site, a good website should have a site search feature. This feature makes a website much easier to use.
• Contact forms
Interested users of a website might want to reach out to the owners of a brand or site to give their input in terms of review, inquiry or just to show appreciation. The inclusion of contact forms when developing a website makes it possible for the users to access contact information for the owners of the website.
• Online databases
A good website should have a database that one can search through to find the information that they need.
• Security
Security involves ensuring that visitors to your site are safe and that the information in your site and its database is safe from hackers. Security can be enhanced by creating firewalls and password protected sections during web development.
Other components of web development include web hosting and the domain name which is the address of your website. All these front and back-end elements have to be integrated into a website creatively and effectively by a knowledgeable person in web development to create a website that is effective and appealing to its visitors.