In our last post we discussed reasons why it is important to have a talented designer involved in the development of your website or mobile app. If the discovery phase of the project was done properly, many decisions should have already been made about what technology will be used to implement the solution. A software engineer may be involved in order to get the back end of the solution in place.
The next step is to get that beautiful, user-friendly design implemented properly
For that, you need a front-end developer (FED), but making the work look pretty isn’t their only job. The underlying structure of the site is just as important as what the user sees.
In the past, the FED could generally put up a nice site using basic tools like HTML and CSS. However, today we need to build projects that are fast, easy to maintain and test, and are also scalable. If the client is going to manage the content on the site, the page sections should be built of templates and/or modules that can be reused and reorganized to create new pages. These are all aspects that the FED needs to consider.
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The data structure of the site must make sense to that client so they can maintain it themselves
The site needs to be constructed in such a way that automated testing can be built in. This allows future development to be regression tested without the need for quality assurance (QA) to go back through the entire site manually. Today’s FEDs use tools like Vue, Angular and React to accomplish all these things.
Of course, once the underlying structure is in place, it is also the front-end developer who builds the beautiful project including the right colors, button styles, logos, etc. The FED team makes sure your branding and purpose are communicated to your users, while building trust and offering a seamless user-experience.
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Front-end developers also add the special little flourishes, like animations
It’s elements like this that help set your site apart from the other businesses or services in your category. The Bit-Wizards software engineering team recently redesigned and restructured the entire website for our co-parenting communication service, TalkingParents. Our FED team played a crucial role in this redesign, bringing the new vision for TalkingParents to life.
Every page on the website was updated to the service’s new branding, and the overall design was completely overhauled. A doodle theme was integrated throughout the website to give it a more friendly and welcoming feel. Photos of parents with their children and reviews were also incorporated to show users that real people, just like them, are using the service daily. Our FEDs made sure that every decision feeding into branding, purpose, user-experience, and trust building was communicated clearly to users on the front-end.
We’ve been developing websites and web applications since 2000
We know what works and what doesn’t. A well-designed site can make the difference between you and your competition. Even if you don’t conduct all your business online, your web presence matters now more than ever. Get in touch.