Intro to HTML and CSS

An overview of the web development landscape and common terminology

Prefer to watch a video? This article is a companion piece for my Decoded by Christina series on YouTube.

In the early days of web development, it wasn’t uncommon for one person to do everything. The job title was often referred to as “webmaster,” “web designer,” or “web developer.” These days, there is often more specialization because the web has become so much more advanced. The different areas of focus are usually broken down into three categories: front-end, back-end, and full-stack.

Front-end vs Back-end vs Full-stack

Front-end

Front-end developers work with browser based languages: HTML for displaying content, CSS for adding styles and JavaScript for interactivity. With the growth and popularity of JavaScript-based frameworks, such as React and Angular, front-end technologies can also be used to create functionality that was once reserved for back end languages.

These languages are also categorized as client-side languages because the browser is also referred to as the client. The client in this context is not someone you’re doing work…