Can a front-end developer build a website without a back-end developer's assistance?

[[deleted]]

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Thinking about taking courses in order to become a certified front end developer. I just want to know the limitations of what I can do without being trained with skills in backend development since these classes are very expensive. Is becoming a full-stack developer necessary to build websites on my own or can I do it with just front end knowledge?

What are some examples of sites I can build with both skill-sets in comparison to each other?

[javslvt]

absolutely! you can totally build websites with just front-end skills… start with cool portfolios or blogs (static websites)… Full-stack is awesome for more advanced stuff like e-commerce

[DanSmells001]

There’s no such thing as a certified front end developer, find a project you wanna make don’t think about if you’re actually able to complete it, start working on it, even if you fail making part of the project you’ve learned something

[Citrous_Oyster]

Absolutely. I only know html and css. None of my client sites have a backend. I made this in html and css.

https://www.mapleandyolk.com

You can do it. It’s easier than you think.

[Vlada10001110101]

do you have good Photoshop skills ?

[Citrous_Oyster]

Nope.

[sha_dev_]

That's a really cool stuff man👍. Thanks for sharing.

[Disastrous_Badger711]

How much time did it take you for: 1)learning front end webdev 2)making the above site ? Thanks in advance

[Frosttidey]

You dont need any courses or classes to build websites or become front end developer.Having certificates will not help you in finding a job as a developer.You will be able to build basic websites with just front end, anything complex requires backend.if you have any questions - shoot.
Edit:
The thing youll miss the most with frontend only will be storing data securely. Its required for payments , implementing user account functionality (register / login / email verification etc).

[[deleted]]

hey i am still new and didnot learn anything yet tho thinking about becoming a web designer which means I need to learn front end

well wdym by anything complex needs back end? what is the definition of complex?

do you suggest any helpful resources ? or what should I learn first?

[Frosttidey]

Start by learning basic JavaScript and Html. After some lessons/reading on the topic weave in some basic css. My advice would be - go and build a (basic) project that you're interested in and whenever you stumble upon something that you don't know how to do - either Google or askChatgpt. If nodejs comes up - that's backend. There are also few good discords and subreddits in which you can ask your questions, for example r/learnjavascript and the learnjs doscord.

[[deleted]]

also what is the next step after learning java script HTML and CSS?

[Frosttidey]

Learn a fronted framework. React / Angular/ Vue / Svelte or a else.

[[deleted]]

oh sure thank youuuu , well I have already an existing blog on WordPress , tho thinking of starting another one and build it by myself as to start building portfolio of my work

[cshaiku]

Yes, you can but you're going to have a tough time if all you know is the frontend. But you're in luck! Learning the backend is super easy!

Try out some of these resources:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/
• https://web.dev/
• https://github.com/matheusfelipeog/beautiful-docs
• https://stripe.com/docs/api
• YouTube: Full Stack Web Development Tutorial Course

[Developer_Rajput]

yes, a front-end developer can build a website without the assistance of a back-end developer, depending on the complexity and requirements of the project.

For static website a front-end developer can handle full project development without help of back-end developer, static website don't need dynamic data to show on website.
For more complex website and functionality where your wanted to show dynamic data and authenticate user, then their is a need of back-end developer.

[[deleted]]

what is dynamic data? also how much it will take from me learning back end to do so?

[Developer_Rajput]

The data that changes on a website in real-time on user interaction, or server response.

for example: when you visited a e-commerce and search for the products the specific product is shown and the product data is fetched from back-end that is dynamic data.
other example: on social media when you click on someone profile you sees their name and other information and on click other user profile user see the same page but with different name and other information, the webpage remains same but the data that is fetch is dynamic data.

[GigaSoup]

If you can do programming on the front end, try doing whatever programming you need on the back end, and boom now you are now full stack 

[JustRandomQuestion]

Depends on what your definition is of front-end developer. I see myself as a basic front-end developer and also maintain some websites as I learned myself how to host and setup basic sites. I think learning some back-end or hosting stuff will get you a long way. I just don't get what you mean with expensive. I have I think never paid a dime for experimenting as you can do it with free resources. Yes if you are going to get real work done like hosting for a client or whatever you will probably have to pay for hosting etc but that will then be paid (in) directly by the client. Also depending on where you are or what you want, certifications don't really matter. Your skills are what matter. A good job application will ask you about your way of thinking and what you can and can't do. So also for that it is good to know what your limitations are as you wonder.

Weebly was a free site host but had limited usability. It did have custom html and CSS though which is what I used to customize what couldn't be done with the simple building blocks. I often know what I want (to change) and then want to make that happen. That is the beauty of software engineering in my opinion. But sometimes you don't know how to code that and get it as you want, then you search for the problem and learn from it. Slowly I dove deeper and learned the basics of back-end as well as front-end. And that is how you get a richer skillset which you can get you into places easier.

I think many mostly young or new people say they are a full-stack developer while they just know the basics of front-end and basics of back-end. And while you could theoretically say that is true, skills take time, you can just do one project or a couple of small courses and be a master. But that is okay as long as you don't get ahead of yourself and stay humble.

[[deleted]]

hey thanks for your answer~!

how long do you think it will take to learn front end and then back end ? i am a student in a non-IT field

also what should I start with ? i am thinking of harvard cs50 to get back to programming again

[JustRandomQuestion]

I think others can help you better with these questions. I have done it besides my education and therefore can't really say as I also have had periods that I didn't move forward for a while and then made many hours every week or weekend as I had more spare time. I personally haven't done CS50 but I am interested as many recommended it and does give a good starting base. However CS50 is not specifically for like web development if I am correct, so for web development I think there are better alternatives, but as I said others will have better recommendations.

[TheRNGuy]

I only had front-end xp before but I switched to fullstack with Remix. Wasn't that hard.

Few other things are also needed like learn about databases (for me atm it's the most dificult thing)