It’s the creation of anything on a website or web application that is visible to the end user. This normally involves the creation of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Javascript and semantic markup with disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliance, W3C validation and usability testing.

Why should I care?

Better user experience – Client side development is directly responsible for all interaction between the end user and database and code that powers the web site or application. Correctly implemented, client side development is the key to delivering the power of the web application in an intuitive, fast and reliable manner for all users.

Increased user base – By taking into account DDA compliance, semantic markup and usability testing, client side developers ensure that the web application is accessible to the maximum number of people possible regardless of device, operating systems, web browser or physical impairment.

Better search engine rankings – Correct use of semantic markup and current best practise techniques for implementation of design help to allow search engine crawlers, or spider, to access your web site or web application with greater ease. The data gathered by the spiders is used to determine the content of your website and how your website should be ranked.

Better flexibility – Through correct use of semantic markup, websites and applications can be built to work with any device capable of accessing the internet, such as games consoles, TV sets, set top boxes and media centre pc’s.

So in a nutshell that means?

Client side developers ensure the information held in the database, and manipulated by the server side code, is displayed to the end user in the most intuitive manner possible. They use a variety of technologies and techniques to ensure they deliver the best experience to the maximum number of users possible regardless of device, operating systems, browser or physical impairment.

As ever if you want to know more about what we do, the projects we work on, how we can help you just drop an email over to editor@thap.co.uk