Front end development is usually the last consideration for web developers, but it’s just as important as the server-side functionality. In some ways, it’s more [immediately] important, because it’s the functionality the end user interfaces with. Unless you have a wunderkind designer that can also code, this is a task for you.

This month’s issue covers technologies, techniques, and concerns that deal with modern front end coding. Frameworks that simplify coding across platforms like jQuery Mobile and Sencha Touch are discussed in “jQuery Mobile: Cross-Platform Sites Made Easy” and “Create an App to Touch the Web”.

HTML5 is often marketed as a standard, when it really isn’t yet. While modern browsers are pretty up-to-date with incorporating the HTML5 spec, they aren’t consistent. Discussed are ways to make HTML5 work across browsers consistently in “Polyfills for HTML5”.

One of the hurdles developers face is consistently pushing code live. The days of simply FTP’ing static files to a server are long gone. Today, we have to consider server environments, databases, code libraries, and the like when moving a site from a dev to a live environment. In “Automate Your Deployment (Before It’s Too Late)”, Jason Rhodes talks about the looming robot takeover and deploying code automatically using deployment apps, scripts, and other techniques.

In July’s columns, Matthew talks about Stripe payment processing in the first part of his two-part series, “Education Station: An Intro to Stripe PHP”. Eli talks about the many islands of PHP communities that make up the whole in “finally{}: The PHP Community is Its Own Island”, and Beth talks about the importance of including front end development in your skill set in “Editorial: Don’t Forget the Front End.”