The frontend is the visible part of web development: everything users see and use on screen. Frontend developers turn designers' screens into a working, fast interface that is easy to use on every device.
What foundations is the frontend built on?
- HTML: the structure and content of the page (headings, paragraphs, links). Semantic HTML is the basis of accessibility and search optimisation.
- CSS: the presentation: layout, typography, colours. Today often with a utility-based tool such as Tailwind CSS, into which the brand's design system can be wired directly.
- JavaScript: interactivity: dynamic content, form validation, animations.
Why do we use a frontend framework?
React, Vue or Angular provide reusable components and state management, so complex interfaces can be built efficiently. The main benefits:
- Faster development with ready-made components and libraries.
- Consistency: uniform look and code.
- Reusability: a button or form is built once and works the same everywhere.
- Performance: code splitting and lazy loading.
- Cross-browser support: consistent behaviour across browsers.
- Scalability: new features without major rewrites.
- Security: built-in protection against typical attacks such as XSS.
For websites and web applications we typically use React and Next.js. Next.js also renders pages on the server, which means faster loading and better visibility in search engines and AI-powered search.
Why do responsive and mobile-first design matter?
A responsive site works well on every screen size: phone, tablet and desktop. The mobile-first approach designs for mobile first and scales up from there, which puts the essential content forward and makes loading faster.
What features is the frontend responsible for?
- Displaying the interface: layout, text, images, buttons.
- Navigation between pages and views.
- Forms: sign-up, login, search, data submission.
- Displaying data from the backend: articles, products, profiles.
- Filtering and sorting.
- Interactive elements: sliders, toggles, accordions.
- Data visualisation: charts, maps.
- Asynchronous data loading without reloading the page.
- Accessibility: semantics, ARIA roles, keyboard operation (see our article on accessibility).
- Multilingual support: language switching, regional settings.
Updated: 4 November 2026
