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General Discussion

Posted by Bill Boakye
Bill Boakye
Courses Plus Student 1,001 Points

Do I need to learn Front-end and Back-end to make a good website?

I'm not sure whether I can learn just front end developing to make a website or if I need to learn both front-end and back-end to make really good websites. Thank you for your time!

1 Answer

Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points
Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points

Define a good website. If by good you means looks good then focus on front end. Back-end doesn't usually help make the web page look good. If good for you means your website does a lot such as an online shopping site then you will need a backend language. The majority of the web includes both but well known websites like Wikipedia use only front end. It's all based on what YOU want to make.

Bill Boakye
Bill Boakye
Courses Plus Student 1,001 Points

Thank you for your reply! I'm learning to program so that I can build sites for companies and wondered if it would be necessary to add Back-end into the mix. Do you still think I would need to learn Back-end for this as well or no?

Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points
Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points

I certainly think that for large companies who are trying to use their website as an extension of their company would want a developer who knows backend. Along with any company who is going to be using their site for an online store. However, the majority of small companies and individual artists who want a site are not going to need backend, they may not even need front-end JavaScript. Does that make sense?

Bill Boakye
Bill Boakye
Courses Plus Student 1,001 Points

I understand perfectly, thank you for the clarity!

Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points
Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points

No problem anytime, good luck with your learning! P.S. I notice you have some JavaScript classes under your belt from your profile. If you like JavaScript you can learn Back-End JavaScript instead of switching to a new language after you learn front end. Might make things easier for you. Most of the "Basic" courses here teach it as if you don't know any programming. So if you learn Back-End JavaScript they won't teach you programming basics since you will already know that.

Bill Boakye
Bill Boakye
Courses Plus Student 1,001 Points

I find JavaScript very interesting and cool so I will make sure that I do Back-end Javascript after I'm done with front-end. Also thanks for the tip, I won't have to go through the basics anymore :D