I want to make some changes to the Octoprint 3d printing web interface in order to fit my expectations. In order to change values and observe the results, I apparently have to recompile every time even if the changes are on the front end and not in the back end. Is there a way to observe the changes to the front end without recompiling?
Yes, there is. The changes in front-end are contained in browser and are not dependent on server. Any changes to front-end code is immediately available to browser, and can be seen by a debugging tool - like firebug in firefox, or firebug lite.
You have to reload page on browser to load new changes in front-end code.