Web developer is a software developer or software engineer who is specifically engaged in the development of World Wide Web applications, or distributed network applications that are run over the HTTP protocol from a web server to a web browser. Many web developers are also skilled in related areas such as web design, information architecture, usability engineering, and web content management systems, web server administration, database administration, software engineering, project management, network security, and search engine optimization.
Developers often specialize in either front end or backend work. Front end developers tend to focus on the client-side and typically work with technologies such as markup languages, ECMA script and its variants (JavaScript, JScript, and Action Script), CSS, and the DOM. Backend developers usually focus on the interaction between server-side frameworks using Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP, JSP, or .NET and databases. Some backend developers maintain databases directly on their web servers, while in other situations the backend developer calls data, managed by a database administrator, on an external system.
Recently role of Presentation Layer Developer has evolved from the Front end Technologist/Interface Developer role. Those previous roles specifically focused on implementing browser/client side technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. As web architecture has became more complex there has been an increased need for deeper integration with the application server.
Some web developers create graphics, logos, or identity, or create written, video, or audio content for a website. However, in many organizations these duties are not the responsibility of web developers, but instead are handled by web designers or web producers.
