525 Development tools and practices

Professional web developers use tools and workflows to collaborate, manage change, and streamline the development of secure and scalable applications.

Outline

This section explores the ecosystem of tools and practices that support modern front-end and full-stack web development. Students investigate version control systems such as Git, explore open-source contributions, evaluate content management systems (CMS), and consider performance optimisation techniques. These skills prepare students to work effectively in team environments and with real-world web development platforms.

Targets

In this topic, students learn to:

• Use version control to track and manage code changes

• Describe the benefits of collaborative workflows for web development

• Explain how open-source software contributes to modern web projects

• Evaluate the role of content management systems (CMS) in web design

• Investigate techniques to improve performance and manage load times

Glossary

Term	Definition
Version control	A system that tracks changes to files over time and supports collaboration (e.g. Git)
Open-source	Software whose source code is made freely available and can be modified or shared
CMS	Content Management System; a platform that allows users to build and manage websites without needing to write all code manually
Commit	A saved change in version control, often with a message describing the update
Repository	A storage location for a codebase and its version history
Performance optimisation	Techniques used to reduce page load times and improve responsiveness
Load time	The time it takes for a webpage or web application to fully display in the browser

Overview

Web development involves more than writing code—it includes managing versions, collaborating with others, integrating third-party tools, and optimising for speed and scale. In this section, students explore professional practices used across industry projects, from using Git for version control to selecting the right CMS for a project.

They also learn how front-end and back-end teams coordinate their work, and how open-source tools and libraries enable rapid, flexible development. This section prepares students for authentic collaboration and long-term code maintenance in real-world scenarios.