Hello friends!

 

I am novice web designer and currently learning the basics of javascript. The reason why i am learning javascript besides html and css is that I have been advised by many people that to be a successful web designer I should also know javascript.

 

But my question is, is it really necessary to know javascript language to do certain tasks such as client side form validation, image effects (those effects when you click on a small image a bigger version of that image pops up), banner sliders etc.

 

Or is there some other easy alternatives to do those common tasks without even knowing javascript programming?

Hi,

 

I guess you may use freely available JavaScript libraries to do all of the above, then only a very basic knowledge of JavaScript is required.

 

HTML5 can now be used to do some form validation (required, regex, min/max etc) and it may be customised further using JS.

 

I would still recommend learning JavaScript though - you're bound to want to do something custom down the line and their may be no library available that fulfils your needs.

If you only wanna work as a designer then there's no need to learn JavaScript, but knowing HTML and CSS will help you with your designs, but generally you shouldn't be coding as a designer, that's a developer's job.

On the other hand if you want to be a developer or a designer-developer then you must learn JavaScript. Throwing plugins at problems lead to bloated poorly performing code, bugs and so forth, in a professional environment as a developer you will be expected to write your own or at the very least understand what is going on within a library.

 

An additional thing to note: JavaScript does far far more than validation and visual effects. Almost the entire Spotify app (Even desktop client) is written in JavaScript, It is heavily used in backend too, BBC for example use it on both front and backend.

Edited February 28, 201610 yr by rbrtsmith

It depends. Some of the very simple things people do with JavaScript can often be done without JavaScript these days. For example, very basic client side validation can be done in HTML5 (e.g. <input type="email"> will ensure the input (if given) appears to be an email address, <input type="number" min="5" max="15" required> will ensure an input is given and it's a number between 5 and 15). But for the most part, the kind of stuff you're talking about (e.g. modal windows to enlarge image thumbnails) has to be done with JavaScript.

 

Do you have to learn JavaScript to be a good web designer? I'd say certainly not. I do think learning HTML/CSS (and knowing what JavaScript is) can be a good idea for designers because this gives a greater understanding of how the web works, which can only help with web design. This is especially true in recent years where new trends such as responsive design have taken over.

Edited February 28, 201610 yr by MikeH

It depends. Some of the very simple things people do with JavaScript can often be done without JavaScript these days. For example, very basic client side validation can be done in HTML5 (e.g. <input type="email"> will ensure the input (if given) appears to be an email address, <input type="number" min="5" max="15" required> will ensure an input is given and it's a number between 5 and 15). But for the most part, the kind of stuff you're talking about (e.g. modal windows to enlarge image thumbnails) has to be done with JavaScript.

 

Bear in mind not all browsers support HTML5 input type validation. Safari (All current versions) is one of them. But I agree with your points in general, although I'd advise those that don't want to learn JS to just stick to design and let a developer write the code.

 

My reasoning is that front-end UI's are becoming more and more complex and reliant on JavaScript, especially with heavy use of frameworks like React and so on with more logic shifting to the client side rather than being solely handled server-side... Even junior positions for front-end developers require JavaScript knowledge these days.

Frontend development is VERY different now to what it was just a few years ago and is becoming more of an engineering role than a designer role, hence most places opting for specialist designers and front-end developers.

Edited March 2, 201610 yr by rbrtsmith