Front-end web development is evolving. Long gone are the days of writing static HTML files with self-contained CSS. As a web developer in this modern world, you have to be able understand and utilize an endless number of plugins, frameworks and techniques. Just knowing the right tool to use and when to use it is key to building successful solutions.

Despite our best efforts, it can be difficult to keep up with the speed that web development is advancing. We sure as hell can’t slow it down. And why would we want to? It’s so exciting to not know where technology is headed and what could be around the next corner. We should both embrace change and prepare for it. And that’s exactly what I would like to promote in this session.

Learning objectives:

- Introduce essential tools Grunt, Node.js and Bower.
- Automate development tasks for each component of front-end applications (CSS, HTML, Javascript, Tests)
- Explore directory structures for scalable applications.
- This session will touch on popular front-end frameworks and tools such as Sass, Compass, Susy, AngularJS, LiveReload, Karma, Jasmine, Protractor and TravisCI.

Related experience:

- I am a Developer at Lullabot working on Drupalize.Me where we are building a decoupled AngularJS front-end application based on the principles outlined in this session.
- I also built BracketCloud.com, the leading online tournament management platform in Backbone.js.

Drupalize.Me profile with links to some of my recent articles: http://drupalize.me/team/joe-fender