Front-end development is the process of designing, coding, and building websites, apps, and other digital interactive projects with content for viewing on screens. You've undoubtedly figured out that front-end web development is a fun, in-demand, and well-paying job. And maybe you already possess the core abilities required to begin working as a developer.
So, what comes next? It's about the tools! Learning the tools of the trade may make your job simpler and keep you up to date on the skills you'll need to acquire a developer job or improve your present team or clientele.
This article will provide you with a list of the front-end development tools that will help you build powerful, interactive, and functional websites and web applications. Let's get started!
Let's Take A Look At The Top 10 Best Front End Web Development Tools
Table of Contents
1. Atom
Atom is a free and open-source, cross-platform editor built specifically for web developers. However, its versatility makes it useful for programmers working with many different languages and markup formats. Although you can use Atom to create any kind of file, it's geared specifically towards helping developers write code for the web. That said, it's also a very powerful text editor.
Atom is easy to learn and use, has a great interface, and is fully customizable. It comes with many plugins that make it particularly useful for web developers. You'll love the built-in syntax highlighter if you're working in JavaScript or CoffeeScript. If you're working with CSS preprocessors (like Sass or Less), Atom has built-in support for them, too. The wide array of options will suit both beginners and advanced users alike.
2. Git
Git is a version control system. It's used to track changes in files and folders, and developers can use it during the development process. Version control systems are important because they help you track changes on your site so that you can go back to previous versions easily if something goes wrong with your code. Git is free, open-source software, and it's available for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems.
Git is a command-line tool meaning that you control Git commands by typing text into a terminal window. Many developers find it helpful to download a graphical tool (such as Sourcetree or SmartGit) that lets you use the Git interface in a more traditional windowed environment.
3. HTML5 Boilerplate
HTML5 Boilerplate is a front-end template that helps you build fast, robust, and adaptable web apps or sites. It provides a nice starting point for your projects, with all the important stuff already done — from basic styling to performance optimizations.
Boilerplates are code templates you can utilize to kick off your development process faster and more efficiently. They typically include basic styles, commonly used scripts, and other resources such as icon fonts or TypeKit font kits to quickly get started on your next project by providing an example layout for each device size (e.g., mobile vs. desktop).
4. Google Fonts
Google Fonts is an amazing way to get some of the best web fonts on the planet for free. It provides a repository of hundreds of thousands of fonts to use in your projects and for designers around the world. Google Fonts can automatically use these awesome fonts with any web page or website, saving you time from sourcing and uploading them yourself. By selecting some stunning front-end assets like fonts, icons, photos, and graphics, you can transform any site from boring to beautiful. Literally, thousands of front-end assets are available.
With Google Fonts, you don't need to worry about retrieving and storing font files or worrying about hosting on your servers. Just install a library on your server, save it to Google's servers, and you're good to go!
5. Bootstrap
Bootstrap is a front-end framework that has gained popularity in recent years. It makes it easy to create responsive websites and apps while using fewer lines of code. Bootstrap is perfect for developers because it allows them to create high-quality sites faster and less effort.
Bootstrap uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for cross-browser compatibility and mobile device support. It has many great features like simplified HTML markup, optional JavaScript extensions, and a built-in mobile site template for Google's popular Chrome browser. Bootstrap does not include any modules or plugins of its own — you can use it with any other jQuery library or plugin you choose from the many options available online.
6. jQuery
jQuery is a JavaScript library that makes it easy to create fast and dynamic web pages by allowing you to use HTML as the foundation. You can add animations, effects, sorts, and other utilities to any web page with jQuery. It's also a good tool when it comes to DOM manipulation because it allows you to organize elements on the page and work with them directly.
Although jQuery is not the only library that provides similar capabilities to JavaScript, it is the most popular and widely used. Many developers consider jQuery extremely efficient because of its support for a wide range of functionality in many languages.
7. Less
Less is a CSS preprocessor that makes web development easier. Rather than writing CSS in the traditional way, where you must specify all of the styles in one place and then add them to your HTML code, Less allows you to write clean CSS code that can be imported into your projects using JavaScript. This CSS import process greatly improves your workflow by enabling you to skip repeated styles and build reusable components.
In addition, Less makes it possible to define and reuse styles in a controlled manner rather than writing them all out. You can also come up with a new syntax for your styles in Less, which means you can explore different variations of CSS techniques and add them to your projects without having to rewrite the code.
8. Vue.js
Vue.js is a JavaScript library that's designed for building web interfaces. It provides a lot of control over the page's functionality and user experience, which allows you to create dynamic, fast-loading pages that are also easy to maintain.
Perhaps the most important reason web developers love Vue.js is that it combines several common frameworks and tools into one small package that's easy to use. This means it saves you time and energy because you don't have to waste time setting up multiple libraries on your site or finding plugins for separate features (like AJAX).
With Vue.js, you can also create reusable components to add to your pages, which can make it easier to work with data and other page elements.
9. Chrome Dev Tools
Chrome Dev Tools are a set of web authoring and debugging tools built into Google Chrome. As it's the most used browser, they're also available as an extension for many other browsers. Chrome Dev Tools are a developer's best friend. They allow you to inspect your code while it runs in the browser so that you can make sure everything looks right and nothing is broken.
Chrome Dev Tools have been around for some time, but support has recently been added for CSS Grid Layout and Flexbox layout, which makes them even more useful than before as front-end developers work on cross-browser compatible sites using these new layout types.
10. CodePen
CodePen is a web-based code editor designed to help front-end developers test designs and write code online. It's similar to a site like Balsamiq or Adobe Dreamweaver in that you can create mockups and then write code for the site to see what it looks like. CodePen is especially useful for programmers who work collaboratively on a project.
CodePen allows you to create sections of your web page, called "Pen," where you can add example code and layouts or mockup other sites using pre-built components. You can even use CodePen as an online sandbox where you can try out different JavaScript libraries without affecting your actual project.
Conclusion
There are many other useful tools, but these are a few of the most popular among front-end developers. As you can see, there's a lot of overlap between these tools because they solve similar problems and serve similar purposes. In many cases, you can use one in place of another to meet your needs. By understanding how these tools work and fit into the overall development process, you can use them to make your life easier as a web developer and create better websites for your clients.
Author Bio
Andrea Gibbs is a Content Manager at SpringHive Web Agency, where she helps create content for their clients’ blogs and websites. She is currently a blog contributor at Brand With Care, where she writes about design, marketing, branding, and social media.