Glossary › Web Development › Version Control

Version Control

Version control is software that tracks changes to files over time. In web development, it means every line of code you (or your team) write is recorded, so you can see what changed, when, and by whom.

For business owners, think of it as the system that makes sure your project doesn’t get lost, overwritten, or stuck in “oops, we broke the site and don’t know how to fix it” land.

Why It’s Used

  • Undo button for code – developers can roll back to a safe state if something breaks.
  • Collaboration – multiple people can work on the same project without overwriting each other’s work.
  • Accountability – it’s always clear who made what change.
  • Professionalism – it signals a development team is organized and has the expertise for continued feature development, along with the previous bullet points.

For developers: it makes experimenting safe (branches).

For business owners: it’s a safety net for your investment.

The Popular Ones

Git – the industry standard, free, open source.

GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket – online platforms that host Git projects and add collaboration tools.

Older systems (SVN, Mercurial) – still around, but rare to see in modern web projects.

Note: Git is the tool. GitHub is where teams often store Git projects. They’re not the same thing.

Why It’s Professional

A development team using version control is easier to trust because:

  • They won’t lose progress if something crashes.
  • They can show a history of what’s been done.
  • New developers can join the project without confusion.
  • Your project is future-proofed — it’s easier to maintain years down the line.

FAQs

Yes. It protects against mistakes and hardware failures.

Not the same. Those save files, but they don’t handle merging, branches, or detailed history.

No. Just make sure your devs use it. You don’t need to run the commands yourself.

For devs: a few hours with a tutorial gets you functional. Mastery takes longer, but you don’t need mastery to benefit.

Great Resources for Beginner Devs

Git Crash Course by Traversy Media

Traversy Media has a great video on getting up and running with Git.

Pro Git book

A free online book written by Scott Chacon (one of the Co-Founders of GitHub), and Ben Straub (a former GitHub employee), that is full of fantastic examples ranging from basic to advanced usage.

Takeaway

For developers, version control is the backbone of sane, maintainable projects. For business owners, it’s the assurance your site or app is being built with professional standards.