frontend app(9)
Today in the EZ Talks #2 episode we will talk with Tomasz Madej - the front end developer at Frontend House. Tomek will show the front end development process behind the scenes. How to understand that the front end of an app or website needs improving? What skills have a key priority in front end development? Have a nice watch and let us know about your impressions!
- 00:00 - Intro
- 00:42 - Few words about Tomasz
- 01:50 - Why is front end so important?
- 03:12 - How do you understand that the website or application needs improving?
- 04:56 - What have I put attention to if I need a good-looking, good-working website or application with good conversions?
- 07:16 - Which skills of a front end developer have a key priority in your opinion?
- 08:40 - Can you share some tips on how to improve the front end?
- 10:40 - Do you like your job?
- 11:32 - What does perfect front end mean to you?
Transcription
- Olga
- Hi, my name is Olga, and this is Experts Zone Talks: the podcast in which experts from various fields of IT will reveal their secrets. That's nice to see the IT processes from another point of view. And today, from the point of view of Tomasz Madej, the front end expert at Frontend House. Tomasz, can you please tell us a few words about yourself?
- Tomasz
- Well, my name is Tomasz and I would like to introduce myself in a few words. I am a fullstack developer. That means I am responsible for the front end and also for the back end of our applications. In my daily work, I use Mern stack. I will try to explain this. This is some kind of mix of different technologies. On the front end we have React and on the back end we have Node.js with Express in association with MongoDB, this is a really good start and a really good foundation if you want to build some complex application. Of course, you have to remember, this is only my personal opinion and you don't have to agree with that.
- Olga
- OK, thank you so much. And the topic of today's talk is the front end and how to improve it. So are you ready, Tomasz? Ready. Yeah, that's great. So my first question is why is front end important? Why have we spent our means - time and energy - to make it better?
- Tomasz
- And that's a good question. As you’ve noticed, the visible and the visual layer of the product is a very important thing. And if you want to sell something, it has to look really good and amazing and also have a good looking page for the sale of the product. And if you decided to promote your brand on the Internet, probably you want to be unique for sure. Exactly. But you have to remember that your website is still your business card that is strongly connected with your with your company.
If you want to present your company as a strong and solid business that people can trust, you have to pay your attention to the overall presentation of your website, which should be definitely nice. I mean, from the visual point of view, definitely should be user-friendly. And the last thing it should be first in these three aspects are the most important things from the most of the users.
- Olga
- So it's like the first impression of the client, right? How do you understand that the front end of an application or website needs improving? What are the indicators that show the quality of the content from the user perspective?
- Tomasz
- The long loading time is the one of the most important things during exploring the pages. Loading time can definitely have a negative impact on your promotion and also from the user's user perspective. I don't want to wait, you know, a few seconds to see the content of your site. I want to see it and see it immediately. We don't want to wait. And on the other hand, we have owner of the website and it is good practice to observe your product, especially if you have high traffic on your website. Of course, when your website grows, you may encounter different technical problems and performance issues that we're not predicting during the whole development process. And probably in that case, you will need a technical person who will help you to locate and remove the potential bottlenecks. It depends on the problem: sometimes you will need the team and sometimes one person should be enough to fix the problem.
- Olga
- Let's imagine that I’m the company. And I need good looking, good working front end. What have I pay attention to?
- Tomasz
- That's a good question, as you know. And the company invests money every day to develop the business, and it's obvious that they want and they expect high quality and product. And now we can ask two questions. The first is how can I start and how can I develop my business? And that's the moment when I probably need a team that will help to deal with this. From the team perspective, this is our first challenge. For the whole team - developers, designers and managers and testers. Yeah, of course, it's not just developers. Yeah, exactly.
As a team, we have to work through the entire process with our client and we have to try to show him the correct way to achieve the expected result. It's really important to maintain good contact with the client and definitely we have to show what kind of technology will be perfect for that specific project. You know, this is always the critical part when you have to pick the correct technology to fit everything to the requirements and achieve that, the final result that will be acceptable for that for the client.
- Olga
- So to sum up: for me, as a company, the most important is choosing the team and choosing the right tech stock. But the team will help to choose it, right?
- Tomasz
- Exactly. I can also add that in my opinion, a really good team is more than that half of success.
- Olga
- If the team of developers have such a large influence on the project, which skills developers have to have to make a great front.
- Tomasz
- I don't want to focus on that, you know, some kind of technical skill because that's obvious. And I would like to focus on communication. For me, that is always in the first place, especially if you are a part of the team. You know, even if you have the best team of developers without good communication, you can spoil the final product. And that's the reason that I like to discuss, because, as you know, each of us has their own point of view and has their own idea how to solve a specific problem. The open discussion allows us to find a way what the rest of your team thinks and pick the best solution for a given problem.
And also that is also that is a good opportunity to expand your knowledge. So teamwork for looking for the best results. Teamwork always in the first place.
- Olga
- Tomasz, can you share some tips about how to improve the front end? I have a front end and I want to make it better. What should I do?
- Tomasz
- OK, I would try to find it for the first, especially if you are part of a team. Don't be afraid. If you have a problem, don't be afraid to ask for help and definitely don't try to hide it. If you are part of the good team, you definitely get the help.
And the next thing is I suggested to try to be up to date with different news and you have to be open for new technologies and new solutions.
- Olga
- By the way, watch our front end news to be up tp date.
- Tomasz
- Exactly. The next thing I suggest is to test the performance of your application, especially during the development process, because this is the great time when you can simply detect all the possible problems that came up here. Try to, you know, think globally, not locally. Especially when you're creating the structure of the complex application, try to create some things that you can reuse in different parts of your application.
And remember, don't repeat yourself. This is a best practice. And the last but not least, try to prepare the documentation for your project, because this is really important, especially when and this could definitely speed the process, especially when you have to come on board, tell the developer to the project. That is really a useful thing to keep the communication up to date and personal.
- Olga
- I have the personal question: do you like your job and why?
- Tomasz
- Of course I like my job because I have an opportunity to develop my skills. I have an opportunity to work with people all around the world. And I also have the opportunity to share the knowledge with my teammates. Of course, sometimes there's a lot of stress, especially whether you have to deliver the product on time and sometimes you have to spend a lot of time and energy. But I definitely can recommend it to workers.
- Olga
- So Tomasz recommends being a front end developer to everybody. And the last philosophical question, what does perfect front end mean to you?
- Tomasz
- It's a difficult question, but for me it is closely related to the whole development process. You know, the most important thing is the client's satisfaction with the final product. And we have to remember that we are here to help our client to grow the business. And of course, we had to remember that a high quality final product is an opportunity for further cooperation with the client. And on the other hand, we have a developer. And once the project is complete, it's important to feel that, yeah, I've done a good job and I've created a good product and I am really happy and I think that's the best. And it's nice.
- Olga
- Thank you for the conversation about the front end improvements. See you in the next episodes of Experts Zone Talks, watch other podcasts on the front and house channel if you haven't seen it yet. So I wish you a nice day and a nice front end. Thank you very much.
