If you've ever wondered what makes an app look and feel the way it does, the answer lies in front-end development. Understanding these fundamentals is essential whether you're building your first app or looking to grasp how digital products come to life.
Adalo lets you build database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps — published to the App Store and Google Play — from a single no-code editor. With a solid understanding of front-end development principles, you can leverage tools like Adalo to create polished, user-friendly interfaces without writing code.
What is front-end development?
Let’s start with the basics! Front-end development manages everything that users see first on their mobile app. Front-end developers are like interior designers that create the entire experience, look, and feel of a space so that from the moment you walk in, everything is where it should be.
For those looking to build apps without diving deep into traditional front-end development, platforms like Adalo, a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play, offer a powerful alternative. These tools allow creators to design visually appealing, functional apps with drag-and-drop interfaces, handling much of the front-end complexity behind the scenes.
Front end development focuses on what is often referred to as the ‘client side’ of development. This means that front end developers work to analyze code, design, and do a lot of debugging. The ‘front end’ of an app includes all the elements and content that a user interacts with, from dropdown menus, to slides, navigation bars, and lists.
While looking up mobile app development, you might come across terms like back-end development and full-stack development too. To simplify it, a front end developer works on the parts of an app that users get to see and interact with, and a back-end developer deals with the behind-the-scenes aspects of the app or website, like app architecture and databases (both of which we’ve covered in our previous blogs!) And finally, a full-stack developer is someone that handles the entire design process from start to finish – which includes both front-end and back-end development.
To make it simple, anything that you can see on an app is a result of front-end development, anything that provides data from a server falls under the purview of back-end development. Now that we know front-end development is, let us look at the key goals that a front-end developer works towards and the challenges faced by them. The following are the main front-end development goals:
What does front-end development accomplish?
Front-end developers and UI/UX designers usually work together to accomplish and execute things like navigation, compatibility with different mobile devices, and seamless user interfaces.
Accessibility: Front-end development ensures that whoever is using an app, regardless of their mobile device, can easily access an app so that it shows up correctly.
Performance: Performance is measured in terms of the time an app takes to load. Front-end developers work on the code to make sure that the app opens quickly, and has a short load time.
Tools used for front-end development
A big challenge with front end development is that tools and techniques are constantly evolving. Typically, a front-end developer creates apps using frameworks that use HTML, CSS, or JavaScript as a programming language. Here’s a quick overview of these languages:
HTML: Describes what’s on a page
This forms the backbone of the web development process. It stands for HyperText Markup Language. Hypertext is text with links (you can click on it, and it takes you to another page) Markup means text can be converted into images, tables, or links. The overall framework of how a site looks is written in HTML code.
CSS: Describes how the page looks
This, along with HTML forms an important language for describing a document written in a markup language like HTML. CSS deals with the presentation of your app or site, meaning it specifies how HTML components should appear on a webpage in terms of style, layout, and changes for different devices and screen sizes. This is done by maintaining style sheets which function with other style rules. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. Think of HTML as the columns and concrete that form a house, and CSS as the painting and interior finishings of the house.
DOM: Structures web pages
The structure of a web page is called the Document Object Model (DOM). It’s a programming interface that interprets the page so that programs can change the structure, content, and style of a document using JavaScript.
JavaScript: Describes how web pages behave
JavaScript is a widely used programming language that transforms an HTML page into a dynamic, interactive interface. You can use it to build websites, mobile apps, web apps, games, and web servers.
Front-end Development Frameworks
Frameworks are software creation platforms for front-end development that include the tools (like HTML, CSS, etc.) along with software, compilers, tools for debugging, and programming interfaces to generate mobile apps with greater ease and efficiency. These frameworks offer you a playground to develop a mobile app, while still making room flexibility with the final design.
Here are some common front-end development frameworks
1. Angular
This is a JavaScript framework that gives you a complete front-end solution. It was released in 2016 by Google as an open-source solution to develop mobile apps and web apps. Companies like XBOX, BMW, and Forbes are developed with Angular.
2. React Native
React was released by Facebook in 2013, and is a popular web development framework. It’s a free, open-source JavaScript framework that facilitates the creation of Android and iOS mobile applications. Businesses like Amazon Prime, Airbnb, and are built on React. The advantage with React Native is that it allows you to develop an app quickly with great performance, reusable components, and third-party extensions.
3. Vue.js
Vue.js is a great option for front-end developers because it’s relatively easier to learn and can manage dynamic and simple app development with ease. It has an uncomplicated structure and makes it easy to solve issues with its open-source JavaScript framework that comes with good documentation. Companies like Alibaba, Reuters, and 9Gag use Vue.js
Building an app requires many tasks and functions working together, with data passing between systems, and regular maintenance. Tools like Adalo and other no-code platforms allow you to build an app without coding, which makes the process much easier, faster, and cost-effective! We hope this helps break down the basics of front-end development for you! If you’d like to know more about UX research, UX design, and back-end development, visit our blog.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can I easily build a front-end for my mobile app without coding? | Yes, with Adalo's No Code App Builder, you can easily build a front-end for your mobile app without coding. Adalo's drag-and-drop interface handles the front-end complexity behind the scenes, allowing you to design visually appealing navigation bars, dropdown menus, and interactive elements that users see and interact with—no HTML, CSS, or JavaScript required. |
| Why choose Adalo over other App Builder solutions? | Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms. AI-assisted building and streamlined publishing enable launch to the Apple App Store and Google Play in days rather than months. This app store publishing capability is crucial because getting your app into the stores is key to marketing and distribution, which is often the hardest part of launching a new app or business. With Adalo, you skip the steep learning curve of traditional front-end frameworks while still achieving professional results. |
| What's the fastest way to build and publish a front-end development app to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store? | Adalo is the fastest way to build and publish a front-end development app to the Apple App Store and Google Play. With No Code App Builder's drag-and-drop interface and AI-assisted building, you can go from idea to published app in days rather than months. Adalo handles the complex App Store submission process, so you can focus on your app's features and user experience instead of wrestling with certificates, provisioning profiles, and store guidelines. |
| What is the difference between front-end and back-end development? | Front-end development focuses on everything users see and interact with in an app, including navigation bars, buttons, and visual layouts. Back-end development handles the behind-the-scenes aspects like app architecture, databases, and server-side logic. A full-stack developer manages both front-end and back-end development throughout the entire design process. |
| What are the main goals of front-end development? | The main goals of front-end development are accessibility and performance. Accessibility ensures that users on any mobile device can easily access and view an app correctly. Performance focuses on minimizing load times so the app opens quickly and provides a seamless user experience. |
| What programming languages are commonly used in front-end development? | The most common languages used in front-end development are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. HTML describes the content structure of a page, CSS handles the visual presentation and styling, and JavaScript makes web pages interactive and dynamic. These languages work together within frameworks like Angular, React Native, and Vue.js. |
| Do I need to learn frameworks like React or Angular to build a mobile app? | No, you don't need to learn complex frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue.js to build a mobile app. No-code platforms like Adalo allow you to create fully functional, professional apps using visual drag-and-drop tools. This approach eliminates the steep learning curve while still producing native iOS and Android applications. |
