WEB DEVELOPER

A 'web developer' is a software developer or software engineer who is specifically engaged in the development of World Wide Web applications, or distributed network applications that are run over the HTTP protocol from a web server to a web browser. Many web developers are also skilled in web design, information architecture, usability engineering, and search engine optimization.
Due to the increasing complexity of web applications in recent years, developers often specialize in either frontend or backend work. Frontend developers tend to focus on building the interface side of Rich Internet Applications - often using JavaScript and open source Ajax frameworks, or proprietary technologies such as Adobe Flex or Silverlight. Backend developers usually focus on the interaction between web server-side languages and databases. Some backend developers maintain databases directly on their web servers, while in other situations the backend developer calls data, managed by a database administrator, on an external system.

Contents

Tools of the trade

Setting a standard

Common Misconceptions

See also

Tools of the trade

As software developers for the Web, web developers use:

★ Interpreted scripting languages like Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby, VBScript, JScript, etc. as well as some compiled languages like Java,C,C++,C#,VB.Net that are either pre-compiled or just-in-time compiled to create dynamic and interactive server-side web applications.

★ Client-side interpreted scripting languages such as JavaScript (also called ECMAScript), HTML markup, Cascading Style Sheets, and the web browser DOM, to build client-side web applications. Client-side Web Development can also include the utilisation of so-called Rich Client technologies such as Flash, Java, Curl, XUL or others to assemble web applications that in behaviour and function more closely resemble classic desktop applications.

★ Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) like MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle database, PostgreSQL, etc. as well as the self-describing markup language XML (Extensible Markup Language), to handle data collection from web users as well as storing either public or private data that is shared over networks via the Web.!

Setting a standard

Web developers are the gatekeepers of the Web. They are supposed to adhere to the open standards and guidelines created by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) when creating any programming for the web. Often, web developers help contribute to these open standards and guidelines through their work on open source projects working to help enhance and debug web-based technologies.
However, because of the fairly low barrier to entry -- freely available development environments (web server environments and development languages), freely available tutorials and information on how to do web development -- more often than not, novice Web Developers do not "adhere to the open standards and guidelines". Additionally, poorly designed or proprietary software tools that don't follow the "open standards and guidelines" create ad hoc and de facto standards which, unfortunately must be followed in order to "make things work". This was especially true during the "Browser Wars" of the 1990s. It is becoming less true as more and better tools enter the marketplace.

Common Misconceptions

As is often misunderstood by the layperson, a Web Developer does not always create graphics, logos, or identity, or create written, video, or audio content for a website, however some do. Web Designers, Web Copy Editors and Web Content Creators are different from Web Developers.

See also

★ Client-side scripting

★ Markup language

★ Server-side scripting

★ User interface design

★ Web design