Ask HN: What's the future of frontend web development?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6168467

by thisisdallas • 13 years ago

4 3 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm curious about the future of frontend development. It seems like every few months there is a new SaaS or stand alone app that offers an easy way to develop responsive html5/css3 based layouts and designs e.g. Adobe's Edge Refow. Of course, I don't think these programs are up to par yet, but what will the field look like in two - three years?

Will frontend development/developers slowly be phased out by software or will the role of frontend developer transition into something along the lines of javascript specialist focusing on single page apps?

harrytuttle• 13 years ago

Authoring tools haven't got any better in the last decade so I doubt you'll see anything that makes you obsolete for at least another decade.

The only focus these days is they are subscription/SaaS tools so are entirely about milking you easily rather than changing the landscape (despite what they think).

Youll be fine.

jf22• 13 years ago

I predict somebody will create a killer javascript ide which which will propel the language forward like a rocket booster.

Good js is really really hard and it will take a killer tool to make all the poor and mediocre devs start producing awesome software.

hkarthik• 13 years ago

The cognitive load needed to be a frontend developer is starting to explode a little bit. Pretty soon you'll need to know HTML/CSS/Visual Design, one high level JS-compiled language (CoffeeScript, TypeScript, Dart), and one JS MVC framework (Backbone, Angular, Ember) to call yourself a frontend developer.

I'm not sure how sustainable that is, and I often wonder if we'll see the rise of a "middle stack developer" that just deals with the JS intricacies.

Ask HN: What's the future of frontend web development?

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