What Are The Different Types of Web Development?

There are three different kinds of web development: front-end, back-end, and full-stack. Learn what each kind of developer does.

Web development is a huge business, with about 200,000 developers in the United States in 2022^[1]. And even though there are many different types of web development firms, there are only a few basic kinds of web development. Understanding what they are and how they work can make it easier to determine the right web developer your business needs.

What are the different types of web development?

Here’s what’s involved with each type of development and the kinds of projects they produce.

Front-end development

Front-end development focuses on how a website or application appears to users and their experience while using it. This involves a range of details that impact what a site looks like, such as:

• The locations of buttons, links, and other interactive elements

• The size, color, and font schemes for banners, text, and other visual features

• Placement of images and videos, including those that advertise company assets, such as products, services; and marketing collateral, like gated content

Another major factor is how a website or app looks on different kinds of devices, such as PCs, phones, and tablets. Front-end developers are responsible for ensuring an efficient, engaging, and fun experience regardless of the device used to access the site. In other words, images, image carousels, text, banners, and other elements all contribute to an engaging experience, no matter how big or small the user’s screen is.

Another important factor in front-end development is making sure users move through the website’s pages and features in a way that both enhances their experiences and supports company goals.

For example, suppose a large museum wants to design a webpage that promotes an upcoming exhibit. The exhibit features both visual and audio art, as well as interactive elements that make visitors a part of certain exhibits. The front-end developers ensure that, as site visitors experience its web assets, they can move easily between images, audio samples, and gallery previews. In this way, each user’s experience on the website supports the brand identity of the exhibit.

To deliver the right experience, the museum’s front-end developer may have to consider:

• The sizes of images and how their size impacts the upload speed on slower networks

• The kinds of carousels used to present different images

• The placement of widgets that play audio, or whether or not to include audio that plays automatically

Back-end development

Back-end development is responsible for the code, databases, and digital infrastructure that powers a website or app. If the front end of a website is the dashboard, turn signals, brakes, radio, and other elements people interact with while they’re driving, then the back end is the engine, braking system, transmission, and electrical components that make the car function. In other words, the back end is everything you may not see that powers a site.

Back-end development focuses on elements such as:

• The server that accepts requests from users and returns the content they want

• The logic that governs what the site does in reaction to a user request, such as which databases a request pulls images, text, or sound from when a user clicks a link

• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which are pre-designed programs, like Google Maps, that can be embedded in the site’s back end

• Databases that store information and digital assets the site uses to support functionality and enhance the user experience

For example, suppose a rideshare company wanted to incorporate a weather feature on their website so customers could plan their bookings around good or bad weather. A back-end developer would identify the best weather API, incorporate it into the website’s back end, and make sure that interacting with it didn’t unnecessarily slow down the booking page’s load speed.

Full-stack development

Full-stack development involves a combination of front-end and back-end. A full-stack developer is, in a way, like a jack of all trades because they are responsible for everything involved in building a website. This means that they manage the hidden infrastructure that powers the site and make sure that the user experience is pleasant and effective in moving customers through the marketing funnel.

A full-stack developer, in many cases, may be brought in not to build a website from scratch but to help an existing site perform better. In this way, they use their broad skill set to troubleshoot a wide range of site or app issues, as well as add new features to an organization’s webpages.

Factors to consider while choosing a web development language

When figuring out which web development language you want to use, you should consider the performance of the language, its deployment time, the platform it will be running on, and how easy it is to develop and maintain.

Performance of the language

Each web programming language consists of commands that control what the web page does in response to inputs, and each action takes time. A single command, for example, can trigger a complex series of computations that take considerable time. In some cases, one language may be able to perform the same actions as another in less time, so you may be able to enhance the end user’s experience by choosing the faster language.

Of course, the best language for your web development will depend on what your webpage needs to do. Once you figure that out, it’s relatively easy to choose the highest-performing programming languages.

Deployment time

The time it takes to deploy a project in a live environment can significantly impact your site’s development and performance. To reduce deployment time, some developers may use applications with simpler code, such as those that are optimized for faster deployment in specific server environments.

Targeted platform

The platform you intend to use, such as macOS, Linux, or Windows, is another significant factor because it may determine the kinds of computers and browsers your web application runs on. For example, it may be best to use Java if you want an app to run on Linux or Windows and JavaScript if you’re writing an app optimized for the Chrome browser.

Ease of development and maintenance

The ease with which someone can develop and maintain code written in the programming language you choose impacts:

• The cost of hiring a developer. Complicated, intricate languages may take considerable hours to build, which can easily eat into your development budget.

• The cost of making changes throughout the development life cycle. Sometimes, it may take several hours to change a relatively simple function of a web application, especially if the programming language is difficult to maneuver. You can save significant funds by using a language that is easier to navigate.

• The time involved in troubleshooting and then fixing problems. With simpler programming languages, the connections between different components may be easier to visualize and understand. This makes it far easier to figure out the causes of issues and address them. Therefore, it may take less time to produce an effective final product with languages that are easy to develop and maintain.

Ease of maintenance is another key factor because the right language can also reduce the amount of time and energy needed to:

• Design security updates

• Test and release patches

• Ensure the end product provides an experience on par with your competition’s web assets.

When to outsource vs. hire in-house for web development projects

The decision as to when to outsource as opposed to hiring in-house often depends on how much control you want to have over the development process and how the end product looks and feels. Even though a development company that you outsource your web design to can send you iterations electronically, for some organizations, the ability to walk over to a developer’s desk and talk about design has real value.

With that in mind, it’s best to ask the following questions when deciding whether or not to outsource your web design to an external company or hire someone to do it in-house:

• Do we want to be able to provide input constantly throughout the design process whenever we’d like, or would we rather wait until an iteration has been fully developed before providing feedback?

• Do we trust that a web development company can responsibly and safely secure sensitive data they may need to work with as they build our web assets?

• Do we have the time required to repeatedly offer input to an in-house designer, or would it be more efficient to let an external firm handle the majority of design decisions?

Find out more about web development

Regardless of the kind of website or application you want built, be sure to prioritize an effective end-user experience that aligns with your company’s goals. For example, your company may want to deliver an efficient checkout experience or provide convenient access to info about your offering. These high-level goals should drive your development decisions. Then, in the end, you can design the kinds of web assets that enhance user experiences as well as profits.