If you are at all familiar with web design fundamentals, you’ve heard of the holy trinity of coding languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
JavaScript is the language programmers use to energize your website's design. It’s the language that takes your website from just text and links to the robust, interactive websites you know and love.
The three fundamental programming languages work together to create websites that are as functional as they are beautiful. The beauty of these three languages is that each has a unique role to play in website functionality.
HTML is the coding language used to add content to your page. CSS adds style to the content added by HTML. JavaScript makes the elements created by HTML and CSS interactive.
As a practical example, let’s say you run an e-commerce website and want to add a bold “add to cart” button to your website.
And that, in a nutshell, is basic web programming. But you didn’t click on this article for a primer on web programming so let’s dive into what makes JavaScript great.
Read More: What Is The Difference Between Web Design and Web Development?
Like your daily dose of morning coffee, JavaScript livens up your users’ digital experience. It’s what adds the flavor that internet users expect from professional websites today.
The main way that JavaScript is used every day is enabling websites to move beyond this:
JavaScript allows web designers to bring your website to life. It has allowed the creation of such website standard features as:
But there is much more that JavaScript can do to bring your visitors’ digital experience to life.
JavaScript can help you code mobile games. JavaScript is a great language to use when developing browser-based games. While there is some limit to how complex the games can be, JavaScript is a great option when it comes to creating games. If you’re looking to learn JavaScript or build on your existing skills, coding games is a great way to practice.
JavaScript can help you build mobile apps. While mobile apps are traditionally built using operating system-specific coding languages, there are new frameworks available that allow apps to be built with one language and used on multiple operating systems. JavaScript is a solid coding choice when building an app through a framework like Phonegap or React Native.
JavaScript can help you build back-end programs. JavaScript is not just a front-end coding language anymore. As new libraries and frameworks are created, web developers are finding that JavaScript is extremely useful for building web apps and server apps from back-end functions.
Bonus: What does responsive web design mean?
JavaScript is truly turning out to be the coding language of the future. It is incredibly versatile and can be used by front- and back-end developers alike to create a robust, functional, and user-friendly experience. There’s no reason not to learn to code with JavaScript, at least at a very basic level.
The hardest coding language to learn is your first coding language. JavaScript is a language that is used almost universally, versatile, and growing in popularity.
Having a basic, if not better, understanding of JavaScript makes you a more attractive candidate for jobs, whether as a full-time, in-house developer or as a freelancer. If you’re not currently a developer, and don’t really aspire to be one, having the technical knowledge that comes with knowing some JavaScript can help you be a better designer as you will have a better understanding of what it can and cannot do.
See Related: How to select the right web development company
A great place to start learning JavaScript is Coursera. We mentioned Coursera in our round-up of the best places to learn U/X design in 2020 and the same reasons hold true for learning JavaScript.
With Coursera, you can learn JavaScript, and other basic coding languages, from places like the University of Michigan, Duke, Johns Hopkins University, and more. It’s the perfect place to start.
No matter what role you play in web design, knowledge of JavaScript is going to help you enhance your skills and further your career. The use of this coding language in web development has expanded dramatically over the course of its existence and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
Keep Reading: Why is web design important?
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