18 Jun THE BODYWORK OF A MODERN WEBSITE OR APPLICATION
The basis for every website and/or web application is formed by the Front-end – in fact, the front of the website. To draw the parallel with a car, the front end can be seen as the body; the back-end processes then form the engine, drive shaft and chassis. They, therefore, run “under the hood” on the server where the website/application is hosted and generate a static “end result” based on this underlying dynamic that is presented to the visitor’s browser. These basic building blocks of a website consist of a combination of at least 2, but mainly 3 programming languages: HTML, CSS, and Javascript. They form the bodywork (HTML5) of our motor vehicle (website/application) without the individual parts, with the sheet metal (Javascript) and windows (CSS3) around it and together ensure that the visitor’s browser receives the data generated on the server can serve as a ready-made webpage.
HTML / CSS / Javascript: a strong trio
Where the web started as a “static” concatenation of front-end code, in particular, the emergence of content management systems and web-based databases have changed the online landscape. Nevertheless, the basis of every front-end is still the old familiar HTML, the last of which was far-reaching further development (version 4) dates from 1997, with some minor adjustments just before the turn of the millennium (HTML 4.01). In combination with CSS and JavaScript, the design of websites in the following years became increasingly appealing. Nevertheless, it took more than 10 years before the first impetus for a serious update came in 2007 when the WHATWG submitted the proposal to the W3C working group to take the improvements they had developed to the starting point for the future development of this’ primordial language. on the web.
HTML5: A new standard
HTML5 (HyperText Markup Language 5) Although the latest version of the HTML standard, it is still not officially “finished.” In addition, not all options are supported by all browsers, with Internet Explorer basically throwing the spanner in the works – as usual, so … HTML 5 delivers improvements for web applications and mobile applications compared to its predecessor and offers in addition, a large number of new front-end options. For example, the implementation of external content has been simplified, which means that online video playback can now be done without external applications (such as Flash or Silverlight), making it much more accessible. “More power to the browser” is a common term.
Also CSS with a new look: CSS3
A major disadvantage of HTML was the inefficiency with regard to formatting; style elements had to be redefined every time for all parts separately. Deviations from (the usually horrible) standard layout had to be defined separately for each link, text header or table. Thanks to the advent of so-called cascading style sheets (CSS), the layout of web pages became a lot easier since all layout elements could now be defined in one file. Where HTML can determine the functionality of a webpage, CSS takes care of the layout. Back to the example of the car; HTML defines it as a five-door, while CSS determines the color and type of paint. CSS has also received a major update. In addition to a lot of improvements, CSS3 also offers a host of new possibilities, so that websites can be designed not only faster but also even slicker. The native use of a large number of beautiful fonts and text effects, shadows, color transitions and animations that previously required the integration of photoshopped images and/or Flash requirements are among the wide options that CSS3 offers.
Action = response
The last part of the Trinity is Javascript, a scripting language that is used on almost every website. Javascript is used a lot to make websites more interactive. In places where the user can provide input and the application “gives” feedback, Javascript is used, such as interactive web forms. Javascript ensures ‘action = response,’ and thanks to the emergence of AJAX (asynchronous javascript and XML), this happens more and more often in real time, without having to reload the page.
In short; In combination with CSS3, HTML5 provides cleaner and faster (and faster) code for browsers, a wealth of new functional and graphical possibilities and improved mobile support. Javascript and AJAX applications provide (real-time) interaction.