Web Front-End Development

There was a time when interesting web front-end development was done on the Flash platform. It's a time when multimedia overtook dull static GUI and allowed artistic expressions to prosper. The end of Flash transformed a designer-centric GUI development culture into a collaborative HTML5 designer-coder relationship. For all its flaws, there is still no modern design tool as easy and expressive as Flash. Adobe didn't place much emphasis on Dreamweaver as a front-end development tool. JavaScript frameworks are coders' heaven and designers' bane. It's wise to speculate that the Flash development model also ended with the demise of Flash, for at least one reason: responsive web design.

Flash was designed for fixed dimensions. When the multi-screen reality became clear around 2010, Adobe didn't upgrade Flash to address the challenge, but gave way to HTML5 responsive web design. Responsive web design allowed content to be specifically rendered according to user's screen size. It's a huge advancement in usability. Browsing a web site on a small screen was made straightforward. But effective responsive web design requires a level of code beyond most designers' grasp. Designer-centric Flash development model can not last.

It's natural to explore the possibility of a WYSIWYG front-end development tool, but maintenance and flexibility probably will pose serious challenges. Perhaps the sophisticated web is stuck with HTML5 designer-coder model. It's not a bad thing, and WIX offers designer-friendly tools for casual web sites. However, it's really ironic to witness Adobe's retreat from rich Internet applications. Adobe did little for HTML5 and cloud computing. The legacy of Flash for Adobe was a animation tool called Animate.

There is a big question for modern web front-end development. Will HTML5 and web apps be both the holy grail and the bane of the future web?

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