People used to say it's "better"/"Make more money" to do back-end programming (PHP, asp.net) instead of front-end(HTML, javascript) for web development.
But I notice that HTML5, CSS3, WebGL, Javascript are gaining importance. We can even use HTML5, CSS3 and JAVASCRIPT for building mobile web applications(For both iphone/android) and even Windows 8 applications in the future!
Does it mean new web developers should now focus on front-end development instead of server-side development?
Best Answer
I think it's a function of the way software works: You are trying to design an interface that lets the user do the most with the least amount of effort/clicks. So for each user action, you're going to have more (and more and more) action being performed by the system.
The logical extension is that there will always be more "back-end" programming than "front-end" programming. That's only speaking to domain logic. Add to that things like plumbing and the like and you're even more heavily weighed in on the back-end.
To directly answer your question:
A pretty UI without logic behind it is useless, and fantastic logic with a terrible UI is user-less, so both are absolutely necessary in any successful application, but I don't think that new developers should feel forced to up their design skills and designers shouldn't feel forced to up their programming skills.
People should keep doing whichever they're good at; if that happens to be both, then you're one of the lucky few.