As a business owner, it can be a challenge determining the right tools needed for your website. Many entrepreneurs actually know very little (if any) web development technologies.

But whether you’re deciding to build a website yourself, or you’re looking to outsource the task to a company, it’s important that you get familiar with what platforms and tools are available at your disposal.

Exploring Web Development

Creating a website or application usually boils down to having an understanding of 3 technologies. These are HTML (the backbone of literally every website), CSS (makes things look pretty) and JavaScript (adds a little functionality and flair to websites).

While it can seem a bit confusing, having even basic knowledge of these technologies can help you understand what’s going on with your newly created website. One of the companies that teaches these principles can be found in Jamaica (see websites – bestwebdesignjamaica.com).

But more on them later.

In this article, our goal is to present you with a few of the latest options on the market. Let’s dive in and look at the different options..

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

As previously mentioned, HTML is the starting point of literally every single website you can imagine. This is basically the language of the internet and it helps you define the structure of your site, it’s elements and the overall design. If you’re planning to get familiar with HTML, you may want to also look into CSS.

Cascading Stylesheets (CSS)

CSS goes hand in hand with HTML. It defines how everything looks on a webpage. If you’ve ever visited Facebook for example, you would have noticed that the text appears a certain color or the header section has a blue background. This is all thanks to stylesheets. With CSS, you essentially define how your elements are displayed.

JavaScript (JS)

We often interact with online applications and sites without appreciating everything that’s happening in the backend to make things run. JavaScript is a programming language that allows you to add complex features to a website. With your scripts you can update the content of your app, create image animations and edit a bunch of dynamic behaviour. It’s powerful to have this knowledge accessible at your finger tips.

Understanding Web Frameworks

A framework provides the base point for development. Using one of the frameworks we’re about to highlight cuts down the time it would typically take to build out an application from start to finish. This allows the programmer to be much more efficient.

In addition, it reduces the time it would take to launch and deploy an application. With that said however, there are of course some disadvantages to using a framework (you would still require a highly trained developer and it’s certainly not something the average business owner would interact with themselves).

Angular

One of the most popular options available right now is Angular. It allows you to build cool apps without requiring the use of any other framework or a plugin for that matter. There’s a bunch of templates and coding options available too.

Ruby on Rails

This technology was made with the purpose of allowing a faster and hassle-free buildout. Based on the fact that the code is reusable (plus the many other pros), you can launch your application in no time. There are a number of websites online today that use Ruby and you’ve likely interacted with several without even knowing it!

Zend

Zend is open source and created around a well-known language (PHP). It’s features are however still being create and it’s not as popular as the other 2 options mentioned on this list.

Content Management Systems

On this list so far, we’ve primarily highlighted the technologies behind a website and how they can be used in it’s development. Most people who decide to learn how to do things “code-free” however will most likely come across a CMS (Content Management System).

But what is this?

It is essentially a software which allows you to add, edit, delete and manage your information with absolute ease. No need for complicated web jargon or knowledge. The learning curve for such platforms is usually not as crazy as other things mentioned on this list.

• Some of the popular CMS on the market include:
• WordPress (our preferred choice)
• Drupal
• Joomla
• Magento
• Sitecore
• and the list goes on