frontendcentric

Frontendcentric is a term used to describe an approach in software development that prioritizes the frontend as the primary locus of functionality and decision-making. It emphasizes user experience, performance, and client-side behavior, often aligning product strategy with frontend capabilities.

It encompasses practices such as component-driven development, design systems, rapid prototyping, and the use of modern client-side frameworks. Teams may adopt frontend-centric workflows, invest in frontend testing, accessibility, and performance budgets, and design interfaces as the primary contract with users.

Frontendcentric often implies decoupled architectures such as headless backends, API-first design, and JAMstack patterns. The backend is treated as a service layer that provides data and functionality through APIs rather than rendering logic, enabling independent deployment and experimentation on the frontend.

Benefits include faster iterative UX improvements, stronger visual consistency, easier cross-platform experiences, and the ability to focus on performance and accessibility from the start.

Drawbacks can include SEO and initial rendering challenges, increased complexity in data loading and state management, potential duplication of logic, and the need for multidisciplinary skills across design, product, and engineering.

Because frontendcentric is a descriptive label rather than a formal standard, its meaning can vary by organization. It is sometimes contrasted with backend-centric or full-stack approaches and is often associated with modern web architectures and design systems.

Related concepts include frontend-first, SPA, JAMstack, headless CMS, design systems, and API-driven development.