The basics of modern web development

Developers have many tools to integrate dynamic content into their web projects, with the idea of ​​creating tailor -made sites adapted to their users. To do this, professional web accommodation with adequate resources for web development is necessary.

The technical bases of a website

The condition for any presence on the web is to have a suitable server. As a general rule, the offers offered by web hosting suppliers often include services such as booking a clean domain name, RAM allocated by a server, databases and all Tools necessary for web development. Of course, you can also provide the technical bases yourself.

The fields

Each web project has a domain name, that is to say an internet address unique attributed to him. This domain name is one of the basic components of a website. Internet addresses follow strict principles of hierarchical structure of the domain name system (DNS) and are composed as follows:

• A Top Level Domainin French generic first domain. This is the final part of the address, for example .fr ;
• A freely chosen domain name (Second Level Domainor a second level domain), that is to say what comes before « . « , Like the word » example « if you choose the address: www.exemple.fr ;
• An optional subdomain (which can come before SLD, as here « blog » in the address blog.exemple.fr).

Web space

Each website is made up of data available on a web server to be loaded on the internet. This is why web hosting packs always include a certain storage space For HTML documents, style sheets, images, videos, databases and all other elements constituting a website. The transfer of this data is generally carried out by FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or SFTP (SSH FTP) encrypted using an adapted FTP program like Filezilla or Winscp. For the scalability of the project, it is important that the web space can be extended at any time, if necessary.

The database

Modern websites often use databases to Provide content dynamically And manage user data. Instead of static HTML pages stored on a server, projects based on databases dynamically generate web pages with each consultation. Depending on the objective, web developers use relational databases (SQL) or NOSQL.

Relational databases like MySQL, Mariadb or PostgreSql store information in the form of tables and connect it to each other by unique keys (ID). This is particularly suitable for applications that require clearly defined relationships between datasuch as user accounts, orders or articles catalogs. NOSQL databases such as Mongodb, Firebase or Redis offer Dynamic diagram adjustmentswhich makes them particularly interesting for progressive web applications, requiring high performance, especially in real time.

The web server

Depending on the accommodation model chosen, the server can be shared (Shared Hosting) or dedicated (clean equipment, virtual server or cloud). In addition, important web projects often use complementary technologies such as Load balancing and Happy Delivery Networks (CDN) to improve performance. Modern applications are also based on containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes to provide flexible and scalable server applications.

The term « web server » also means the central software component that delivers websites and web applications. Web servers treat browser requests via the HTTP (S) protocol and refer the corresponding content. The best known solutions are Apache, Nginx and Litespeed.

The main tools of modern web programming

Once the basics of your web project are in place, you have several options to create your site. This goes from the intuitive website software with design possibilities limited to the source code written by the user, more flexible websites thanks to CMS, or those whose source code has been developed independently. Website publishers often use the principle of What you see is what you get (Literally meaning in French « What you see is what you get »), practical for beginners without prior experience in web programming. Finally, the developers ensure maximum freedom in the creation of their project by programming with the help of an editor (often with a framework). But it is for this necessary to master the basics of web programming and languages ​​such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript or PHP, although practical solutions such as ready to use code or tools for programming by IA now considerably simplify work.

Html

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) structure basicallyDigital content writing With formatting tags (Meta beacons and elements). In this way the elements of text, the titles, the graphs or the hyperlinks can be put in place and it is the source code which constitutes the structure of a website. For example, a static website is simply composed of a selection of HTML documents connected to each other. The current standard, HTML5, extends the marking language to audio and video elements.

CSS

There Content presentation is defined by the CSS formatting language (Sheets style cascading): This is the standard language for HTML documents, which allows their layout. Web developers use CSS to assign rules that will allow a browser to interpret defined elements in the code in concrete visual elements which will be represented on a website. CSS3, the current standardincludes features to structure the layout, colors, typography, shadow effects or animations.

JavaScript/Typescript

Internet users interact with modern websites via seizure fields, accordion menus or slideshow. Javascript and its TypeScript extension are useful to integrate Dynamic contents on an HTML page. These script languages ​​widen the basic structure HTML and CSS because they allow you to integrate, modify or update dynamic elements.

Php

If static web pages are always ready to be sent via the web server, it is not the same for the Dynamic web pageswhich are not generated that on request from the web browser. These are the script languages ​​such as PHP that allow this. A PHP programming is interpreted on the server side. Instead of providing the source code of dynamic websites directly to the browser, the web server transmits the file to a PHP performer. This generates the requested website, often on the basis of information stored in databases, and returns it to the web server, hence the interpreter's release is then sent to the browser. The other script languages ​​used to develop dynamic websites are Perl And Python.

Frameworks

Modern web development is increasingly using frameworks, which accelerate development processes and offer proven structures. Frameworks front As Angular or React facilitate the creation of dynamic and interactive user interfaces. They allow a Architecture based on components And improve performance thanks to virtual DOMs.

Frameworks backend such as Flask or Django help you in the server side development by providing, among other things, routing, connections to databases, API management and security functions. There combination FRAMEWORKS FRONTEND and BACKEN allows you to create scalable web applications with optimized development time.

APIs

APIs (Programming interface application) are interfaces allowing web projects to communicate with other applications. Thus, a website can recover data from a server or connect to third -party services such as payment providers or mapping services. There are different types of APIs, including Rest and Graphql, which provide data in a defined format. Many modern web applications use APIs for dynamic content or the implementation of additional features.

Responsive web design and performance optimization

Modern websites must adapt flexibly to different screen sizes. Responsive web design ensures that the content is optimally displayed on smartphones and tablets as much as on desktop computers. This technique uses flexible layouts, Media Queries (CSS) and a design approach mobile. However, depending on the project, it may be useful to wonder which approach is the most suitable between classic responsive web design, a mobile site or an application.

In addition to the display, the loading time is also crucial. L'performance optimization is one of the most important disciplines of modern web development. Among other things, it includes the following techniques:

Security measures and tests

Security is a central aspect of a successful web project, which must be taken into account as soon as web development. The sites must be protected by SSL/TLS encryption, secure passwords and protection mechanisms against attacks, for example XSS type or SQL injections. Updates and regular backups are also essential.

Tests are also a crucial step to ensure the quality of your project, especially if you program yourself a complex site yourself. Different test tools are available for web development. If only certain elements should be tested, you may use unit tests. There are these different test frames for these purposes, such as Phpunit for PHP or JSUNIT for JavaScript.