Front-End vs. Backend Development: What’s the Difference?

In the context of website development, programming the right set of codes is important to ensure the proper functioning of the site. However, coding any site is not simple- developers have to focus on configuring both the backend and front end of the system. For this, businesses hire specialized backend/front-end developers who have different skills, training, and proficiency.

Statistically, more than 80,827 developers specialize in front-end development jobs in the US alone. The demand for backend developers is equally high globally, and many applicants pursue this career path. To note, the total number of backend developers is expected to grow by 13% between 2020-2030.

Whether you are planning to pursue either discipline as a career path or looking to hire dedicated developer in India from a reliable software development company, you should know how they differ. Read on to find out the difference between both.

Table of Contents

What Does Front-end Development Constitute?

Front-end development in the spectrum of web development involves programming work related to UI/UX. To note, they deal with technologies like HTML, which forms the base structure of the website, and CSS, which fills up the rest of the structure.

With CSS, front-end developers can alter specific sections of the web pages and handle how they behave and appear. They configure the overall style or look of the site and place the solution over the base HTML structure.

Front-end development- objectives

The primary goal noticeable with front-end development is completing the website’s design to add every element the client requires. The developers make sure that all parts of the site appear in proper placement and look cohesive overall.

Moreover, the front-end developers check that all the interactable elements in the website are accurately working. This way, they ensure that the web solution is optimized to work on different device types and screen sizes.

What Does Backend Development Constitute?

In websites, the UI should have an appealing appearance, and that is possible with different design configurations the front-end developer makes. However, the UI would not work efficiently without activating correct coding in the background program. Back-end development handles this part of the web development work, handling server-side programming work.

Unlike the front-end developers that focus on end-user interaction with the programs and services, backend developers center on server-side app integration/logic, libraries, API designing, and more. Essentially, they handle the programming related to app and database communication and monitor the databases and servers running in the site background.

Back-end development- objectives

The objective of backend development experts is to completely write the coding for app and database/server interaction. They handle everything that works in the background of sites that control the elements in the UI.

Notably, the goal of backend programming is to ensure all data undergoes proper processing and storage after they are received.

Also Read: Business Need to Hire a Professional Web Developer

What are Some Examples of Front-end vs. Backend?

To better understand how either approach works and hire experts from a Node.js development company, you should check examples of what it involves. Since both versions cover a wide variety of functions, these examples will give you a basic idea.

Front-end development examples include:

UI– The elements on the user interface, like the button and navigable menus, fall under the front-end developer’s domain. Images and videos on the website also relate to front-end development.
Forms– Online forms have sections where users can input their information. The front-end developers handle these configurations.

Back-end development examples include:

Saved data- When people add information to their accounts online, the server saves that information. Later, when you log in to the site again, the system shows the preset account details for one-click integration. This is possible due to backend development.
Infrastructure– The backend developers prepare the infrastructure of the site and add templates for front-end developers to add the content later.

Languages- Front-end vs. Back-end development

When you hire experienced developers from a reliable Node.js development company, the front-end developers and backend programmers utilize different coding languages. While some can overlap for each variation, some are specific to either field.

Let’s discuss them here.

Front-end:

The front-end programmers use three types of languages more often, focusing on the frameworks. These options are:

HTML
JavaScript
CSS

Backend:

The backend developers have a wider variety of programming languages to choose from. Common examples include:

Java
JavaScript
Python
PHP
Node.js
C++

Tools Used for Front-end vs. Back-end Development

The front-end and back-end developers are trained in different frameworks and libraries that they operate for web development in their specific divisions.

The front-end developers use preset codes, documentation, subroutines, and configuration data for their projects. Some of the common frameworks/libraries they work with are:

Angular.js
SASS
React.js
jQuery
Flutter

There are specific types of frameworks and libraries that backend developers use more often. They include:

Spring
Django
Express
Ruby on Rails

Front-end vs. Backend Development- Roles and Responsibilities of the Developers

Besides the development fields themselves, it is also important to consider the work type of the two developer groups. Depending on their main professional side in coding, the backend and front-end developers handle varying roles and duties. While comparing the two, you should review these differences as well.

Front-end developer roles include:

Create the site features that users will operate and get user experience from
Planning the structure and webpage design
Optimizing the site to become mobile-intuitive
Practices approaches that will create a harmonized connection between the appearance of the design and their practical uses
Writing reusable codework
Designing the UI in a way that aligns with the brand identity
Utilizing different markup languages for web page development
Ensuring the websites assure high-performance quality

On the other hand, the backend developer roles cover:

Evaluating the efficiency rate and speed of the active applications
Focusing on maintaining web apps
Creating websites and web applications with sustainable scripts
Preparing a scalable site architecture
Making an analysis of business logic and preparing the report on it
Quality assurance testing
Writing application function-based coding
Hosting environment monitoring
Fixing the bugs and issues in the app structure
Complete performance optimization and UI test analysis processing

The Skillset Necessary for Front-end vs. Back-end Development

The two development groups must have experience and training in specific skill sets to be suitable for their field of programming work.

For front-end developers, the necessary skills are:

Cross-platform and cross-browser testing
Analysis of code complexity
Languages like JavaScript, CSS, HTML, jQuery
CMS knowledge
Graphics design software knowledge
SEO-related knowledge

Backend developers must know:

HTML5, Java, Node.js, CSS3, jQuery, and ES2015+ technologies
Handle user authentication for systems and services
The combination steps for data sources and databases within operating systems
Experience with Vue.js, React.js, Angular.js, and other JS libraries
Version management tools CVS, Git, and SVN
Databases like MongoDB, MSSQ, MySQL, etc.

Conclusion:

Now that you know the differences between both versions get the right team from the best Node.js development company or other software development agencies. You can also consider full-stack developers trained in more varieties if you need them.

Also Read: Recent Web Innovations to Keep an Eye on