Web design and development is an ever-changing landscape with the core focus of attracting users. Whether those users are customers or subscribers, our goal as developers / designers is to captivate them and keep them on the site to do what we need them to do. We have seen the web trends shift from simple forms and store fronts to complex websites with many options (that often confuse users). Basically the web is trying to find a balance to keep users happy while still giving them all the tools to get what they need done. With faster servers and internet connections we can do a lot more with sites than ever before but this does not necessarily translate into better sites.

This is where User Experience Design (UX) comes into play. The days of programmers and designers as separate entities are fading away. Though true designers and true developers often think much differently (the whole right brain vs left brain argument) they are now being asked to bridge the gap between their respective disciplines. The idea behind this is to build each aspect of the site with the end user in mind.

Companies invest a lot of money in UX designers who can successfully orchestrate a web site or application to be both highly functional and highly usable and this is where client side programming is really taking off. Utilizing the jQuery libraries (or comparable competitors) developers and designers are able to create highly functional web sites and applications that make sense to the end user. Websites reloading on each button press is now history as client side functionality can interact with the server in real time. Forms can be validated for correct input on each key-up from the users keyboard, and large forms that required scrolling the page can easily be broken down into simpler modules that the user can work through without being overwhelmed.

Client side programming extends well beyond just forms and validation. Websites as a whole are using JavaScript to dramatically enhance websites. Drag and drop functionality, real time search results, instantly sorted galleries and tables, and helpful tooltips are showing up all over the web. When all of this can be tied together in a clean and easy-to-use format then that equates to better conversion rates, happy users / customers (who become return users / customers), and less people leaving your site because they became too frustrated with it. The idea is to create an elegant simplistic solution to a complex problem.

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