So what do we know about Front End Developers? Well, we know we have an amazing team of them here at Demac! We also know that our font-end developers are sharp coders and with a great aesthetic eye, fulfilling two crucial roles in the process of creating amazing eCommerce stores. They create the part of a website that you see and interact with, bridging the world between Backend and the Design team, so without them we’d be at a loss. So what don’t we know about front end developers? I’m here to reveal all their secrets to you! Hopefully you’ll learn a little something along the way, and maybe you’ll enjoy a laugh while doing so!
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6 Front End Developers Secrets Revealed
1. Front End Developers are pickier than you think:
Front End Developers will choose the best tools for their job whether that be a development framework, favourite browser, operative system, monitor, mouse & keyboard. They will try to convince others to work their way. Even when it comes to the most important decision of them all: Standing Desk, Swiss Ball or Ergonomic Chair? There’s no right or wrong answer here, but they definitely can talk for hours and hours about the pros and cons of each of these options.
2. Still, Front End Developers hate picky designers/clients:
“Can you move that box to left? How about if we make that button a light pink with a gradient from dark pink? Can you add a 2px border to the top of every photo with a padding of 15px on Desktop resolution but 10px padding for Tablets? Ahhh and don’t forget about mobile! That blue doesn’t look like my Pantone blue. I don’t like the buttons to be that big, can you make them smaller and keep the font big?”
They strive to serve each of the clients requirements but let’s be honest, Front End Developers work in the industry. This means they know more than a few tricks and all the best practices that you probably don’t know. They are tech-savvy and friendly. Sometimes too much for their own good. But they always have a few tricks up their sleeve that will help you AND make your site look that much better. Make sure when working with a Front End to have your ideas and goals clearly defined. Be open to suggestions from your Front End development team.
3. Front End Developers are quiet:
There will be times when you won’t hear words from them other then a quick, “good morning” and “see you later” (if you’re lucky). One of the best stocking gift for a Front-End Developer is a good pair of headphones. It will let them get in to the coding zone without even noticing changes in the environment around them. Don’t get me wrong, even though they are quiet they like the occasional attention a pair of Fox Ear headphones will draw to them, or even a Horse Mask hiding under the desk to be used in those late hours of the night when they’re feeling a little goofy.
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4. Adobe Illustrator is their Kryptonite:
Although Adobe Illustrator is an excellent tool for Design, it’s not built for Web Development. Especially since the tool is vector and the web works in pixels. If you want to give a Front End Developer a migraine simply show them a Adobe Illustrator design and ask them to follow the specs, while making the site looking pixel-perfect & responsive.
5. Browsers are their worst nightmare:
Gone are the days when everyone used only 1 browser for the internet. Remember Netscape? Today there are at least 5 different Web browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera. Top that off with the differences in font rendering between operating systems like Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows & Linux, and throw in the requirement to make it responsive for all devices! The thought it headache inducing. Pixel perfection is not something that happens frequently in Web Development, and even Photoshop has it’s own way to render fonts (and they don’t look the same on the web).
They are tricks to make it look like the web, but your site might have a few differences between browsers. Unfortunately we have to live with that until all browser developers realize that we need to make standards and strictly follow them. We’re moving towards that, but the browsers still have some minor differences. Stay away from pixel perfection, it’s an utopia!
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6. Internet Explorer is hell:
You will often hear hear them say things like:
- I don’t support IE8.
- We should charge a tax for Internet Explorer Development.
- What is IE6 ?
- oes anyone knows how to change the style of a Checkbox on IE without using Javascript?
- Why does my SASS compiled file doesn’t work on IE9?
Trust me, Internet Explorer development is a nightmare. The usage is dropping exponentially each year. It also seems like Microsoft has done a better job lately with IE10, but we still have some users not upgrading their browsers. Is it really worth it to have support for IE8 if only 2% of your clients use it? That decision is only up to you and your business model. Supporting old browsers can be expensive though.
What did we Learn?
I hope you’ve learned a little something about Front End Developers today! Remember we may be quiet, especially when we get into that zone with the tunes pumping while we code away, but we’re full of great advice! Our lives are a little hectic between projects and deadlines, but feel free to ask us questions, we’re here to help and share our knowledge with others. Whether that knowledge serves a particular eCommerce project or you’d like to learn more about what we do. Just don’t make me talk about Internet Explorer more than I have to. Not because there’s lack of things to say about the topic, but because it’s a pain-point for us. Feel free to comment below if you have questions, or even funny anecdotes to share!
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