Basic
In practice, many web developers will have basic interdisciplinary skills / roles, including:
- Graphic design / web design
- Information architecture and copywriting/copyediting with web usability, accessibility and search engine optimization in mind
The above list is a simple website development hierarchy and can be extended to include all client side and server side aspects. It is still important to remember that web development is generally split up into client side coding, covering aspects such as the layout and design, and server side coding, which covers the website's functionality and back-end systems.
Testing
Organizations that build websites typically have a test site (a.k.a. staging site) where a new website is tested to make sure everything works correctly before it goes live on the World Wide Web. After a staging site has been tested and found to be working properly it can be launched to the public. A production site, also called a live site, is usually run a separate server from the staging area. Running the production site and staging server allows developers to make changes to their site and test changes before applying them in real time.
The extent of testing varies greatly between organizations, developers, and individual sites or applications.
Security considerations
Web development takes into account many security considerations, such as data entry error checking through forms, filtering output, and encryption. Malicious practices such as SQL injection can be executed by users with ill intent yet with only primitive knowledge of web development as a whole. Scripts can be used to exploit websites by granting unauthorized access to malicious users that try to collect information such as email addresses, passwords and protected content like credit card numbers.
Some of this is dependent on the server environment (most commonly Apache or Microsoft IIS) on which the scripting language, such as PHP, Ruby, Python, Perl or ASP is running, and therefore is not necessarily down to the web developer themselves to maintain. However, stringent testing of web applications before public release is encouraged to prevent such exploits from occurring. If some contact form is provided in a website it should include a captcha field in it which prevents computer programs from automatically filling forms and also mail spamming.
Keeping a web server safe from intrusion is often called Server Port Hardening. Many technologies come into play to keep information on the internet safe when it is transmitted from one location to another. For instance Secure Socket LayerEncryption (SSL) Certificates are issued by certificate authorities to help prevent internet fraud. Many developers often employ different forms of encryption when transmitting and storing sensitive information. A basic understanding ofinformation technology security concerns is often part of a web developer's knowledge.
Because new security holes are found in web applications even after testing and launch, security patch updates are frequent for widely used applications. It is often the job of web developers to keep applications up to date as security patches are released and new security concerns are discovered.