Web Development Blogs

Web Development has been around for about three decades. In its history, one pattern has stayed consistent. Things change quickly. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—the three foundational elements of front-end web design—have undergone numerous updates and changes.

To stay up-to-date with the current developments in web development, one must learn about the latest advancements in this industry. However, given the vastness of the Internet, it’s increasingly challenging to find specific information quickly nowadays. Fortunately enough, I have some Web Development blogs to share with you. Whether your interest is in Search Engine Optimization or User Experience Design, there is something here for everyone.

Front-End Web Development Blogs

The front end of a website is what the visitor can see. It is like what customers see when they enter a restaurant and sit inside. They see the tables, the waiters/waitresses, the chairs, and other things. Similarly, when a visitor opens a website, they see the header, content, and the website’s title in the tabs. Not only that, but the visitor also considers the website’s style, which can be what makes or breaks a website.

Web design includes front-end and back-end development.

Adobe’s XD Ideas blog offers a wealth of helpful information on web design. Although primarily intended to advertise Adobe XD (a UI/UX design program), the advice provided is constructive. This blog is great for general information about design and more specialized topics in Web Design (e.g., comparing different design types and white space design).

CSS Tricks is a treasure trove of information on how to style your website. Although it primarily deals with styles and other CSS-related topics, it also features some helpful articles related to HTML and JavaScript. Some examples of articles include restarting CSS animations and creating a text shadow when hovered over.

Superhero.js is a blog focused on JavaScript. What’s unique about it is that its articles are organized in a way that allows you to follow along. Although there aren’t many articles (only about 55), there are links to other helpful websites. Also, the posts go into more detail (feeling more like documentation sometimes), making them last longer. Some of the articles in this compendium involve writing memory-efficient JavaScript and front-end security.

Back-End Web Development Blogs

Backend Web Development involves the server-side of things with a website (e.g., storing and retrieving data, authentication with passwords, and algorithms for search or recommendations).

Some languages used in the back end include Java, Ruby, Python, and PHP. Frameworks are libraries that contain pre-built code in a language, allowing users to utilize it to enhance their website’s performance without having to develop the code from scratch. JavaScript can also be used in the back end, but is treated separately from the JavaScript used in the front end (since confusing the two can lead to problems).

NodeSource’s blog offers a wealth of helpful information about JavaScript in the Node.js framework, including how to utilize it, securing applications built with it, and performance optimization (essential in the back-end). One can learn about package.json, a file integral to a Node.js project. Additionally, learn about keeping yourself safe when downloading packages with Node.js.

Ruby is a website that aggregates blog articles involving Ruby on Rails. This means it has a lot of content: its upside (since there is a lot of material to learn from) and downside (there is a lot of content to sift through). Although it focuses primarily on Ruby on Rails, one can find media with a more general audience. Nevertheless, if you prefer a blog with fewer articles but talks a lot about Ruby on Rails, Railsware might be the right choice.

UX Web Development Blogs

User experience, as mentioned above, is a subset of Front-end Web Development and Web Design that encompasses the entire web design process, focusing on how the website visitor interacts with it based solely on its visual appearance. The method includes wireframing (sketching to act as a prototype for how the website will look like), research (looking at websites similar to the one that will be made to see what they have in common and see what they do right or wrong), and implementation (making the CSS and HTML to make the website look like they settled on design).

UXBooth is a rich resource, complete with valuable information about user experience, including specialized topics such as data from rage-clicking (clicking due to frustration with design) and optimizing intranets (websites restricted to employees or students). They also have categories, including approximately ten articles, with a “Must Reads” section. However, there are many articles on the website. If you’re looking for more general advice about user experience, the Adobe XD website can be indispensable.

UXMagazine is another excellent resource for all things related to user experience. It includes technical and general articles, making it a good source to brush up on your knowledge and learn more about a topic. For example, one can implement certain design principles to combat climate change. Another excellent example of its usefulness is its discussion of constraints and their importance in promoting confident choices by limiting options.

SEO Blogs

Search engine optimization (SEO) involves optimizing the content on your website so that search engines are more likely to recommend it higher in the search results. This involves strategically and organically including keywords and synonyms on web pages. It also consists of breaking up text so that web crawlers of search engines can more effectively identify the keywords on your webpage. SEO Marketing is a clear winner when it comes to organic website rankings. On-page SEO, Social Media, and off-page SEO are some strategies online marketers deploy.

Search Engine Watch features numerous articles on specific search engine algorithm updates and strategies for improving search rankings. Their update schedule is approximately weekly, which can be an upside (providing more content to read and more time to process) and a downside.

If you prefer looking at a blog that updates very frequently (about daily), SearchEngineJournal might be the right choice. The frequent articles are concise, making them easy to read and quickly absorb the information presented.

What to do with all this information?

We have presented a lot of information and links to additional resources. To avoid information overload, it is essential to focus on one thing at a time. It is effortless to start switching from one topic to another, and it may even be necessary (when building a whole website on your own), but make sure to space out the information so it doesn’t become overwhelming.

Even if one feels they can handle the amount of information presented and linked to in this article, it will still be beneficial if they take the time to classify and process it rather than consuming it back-to-back. This article presents principles that delve more deeply into the concept of information overload.

Other helpful resources

Although the blogs listed above are beneficial, they aren’t exhaustive. Many more online resources are available, including YouTube videos on web development topics and podcasts. Listed are some websites that can be very helpful for refreshing one’s memory and/or looking for examples of code you’re having trouble implementing.

MDN Web Docs – For (re)learning Web Development (Frontend/Back-end), structured step-by-step. Its main draw is that one can learn about the beginner and intermediate stages of Frontend Web Development, including some topics on more advanced issues.

W3Schools – Includes examples and tutorials for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and many back-end languages (PHP, Java, Python, etc.). Its main advantage is that it can be a valid substitute for documentation in some instances (when dealing with beginner/intermediate material). Still, with advanced/niche topics, you may need to consult the documentation for the language you’re using.

CSS Zen Garden – To see how much CSS can give a website (which includes the duplicate content) a different feel and evoke a unique UX. Includes great CSS examples, but not as much modern CSS as the more dated (the 1990s, 2000s) ones. But that doesn’t detract from the website’s point of view—how important CSS is to UX.

Don’t forget to bookmark some of these blogs and stay ahead of the information game!

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