What is Web Application Development: Key Insights

What Is A Web App?

A web application is an interactive program that runs on a web server. It can be accessible through a web browser across various devices (e.g., computers, smartphones, and tablets).

In other words, you can interact with a web application by clicking on the button to send your emails, log into your bank accounts, or adding your favorite items in a shopping cart. Meanwhile, a website only has static content that you can’t interact with. Based on these definitions, you now can think of Gmail, Chase Online Banking, and Amazon as web apps. This blog, by contrast, is an example of a website.

Web apps can talk to users through their browser. Further, they’re also responsive, which means they change depending on the size of the screen on the device. Unlike traditional desktop applications, web apps do not require installation on a user’s device. Instead, users can access them by simply navigating to a specific web address or URL.

For these reasons, many companies choose to use web applications instead of websites to gather information. This information tells us a lot about their customers. Therefore, it’s very helpful for devising targeted marketing plans and improving products or services.

Recommended reading: Why Google advocates Progressive Web Apps

What Is Web App Development?

Briefly speaking, web app development (often abbreviated as WAD) is the process of planning, making, testing, and putting out a web app.

WAD has become increasingly popular due to its flexibility and scalability. Especially, the global revenue for progressive web applications is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.10% from 2024 to 2030. The rising usage of smartphones and the higher demand for enhanced user experience are two key reasons behind this impressive growth.

What Does Web App Development Involve?

Typically, web app development includes frontend and backend development. Frontend development focuses on creating the user interface and user experience of the web application. It ensures that this interface will be visually appealing and user-friendly. Backend development, on the other hand, involves building the server-side logic, databases, and APIs that enable the web app to perform its functions and interact with data.

Web app development involves the use of programming languages, frameworks, and tools to build the functionalities and features of the application. Like websites, for instance, web applications are formed by HTML and CSS and often leverage JavaScript to present interactive elements.

Further, organizations use web apps for various purposes, such as eCommerce, social media, content management, and more. Therefore, the development process may also involve security measures to protect sensitive data and ensure the safety of users’ information.

5 Benefits Of Web App Development

So, what pros does web app development bring to us? Let’s dive in:

1. Cost-Effective

Even though it might be hard to put a price on the development of web apps in general, building a mobile app is usually more expensive than making a web app. This is partly because there is only one version of the software that needs to be made to work on different operating systems. This means that you need less time in the development process. Because of this, developing web applications is a great option to think about if your business needs custom software but doesn’t have a lot of money.

2. Cross-Platform Compatibility

In order to use a web application, you only need a web browser like Chrome, Safari, Edge, or Firefox. This is always the case, no matter what operating system. Every platform will be able to run a web app without any problems.

3. Easier Maintenance

When it comes to maintenance, support, and technical knowledge, both the user’s device and the company need less for web app development. With web apps, any changes or updates are made on the host server and are available to users everywhere right away. It is not necessary to update the current version on each client.

FURTHER READING:

1. Web Application Development Tutorial: The Ultimate Guide For Beginners

2. 24 Web App Ideas that Work for Your Next Project in 2023

3. What is the Most Popular Web Server Application

4. Download Free

When users use a web browser, they can work directly with the application. These apps don’t need to be downloaded or installed separately from places like the App Store or the Play Store, which are run by Google and Apple, respectively. Because of this, you don’t have to pay any fees to keep a direct link through a web app, which saves you money.

5. Up-To-Date

Web apps, on the other hand, don’t usually need software updates as often as traditional apps. The application always uses the most recent version of the website or URL it links to on its own. And as everyone always uses the same version of the web application because they all have access to the same version of the online application through the same URL, the web application is always in its most up-to-date state.

5 Stages of Typical Web Application Development Process

5 stages of typical web app development process

As a business person, obviously, the first thing you need is not a web app, but a plan that entails market research, financing, product development, business goals, marketing, and so forth. Regarding this, we have put forward some ideas for you in this article: How To Build A Mobile App For Your Business

Now, provided that you already have a solid plan and start to implement it, it’s time to move on to the process of web app development. Although there are variants in practice, the process typically involves the following stages: (1) Discovery, (2) Design and prototyping, (3) Development, (4) Testing and Deployment, and (5) Operation and Maintenance.

Stage 1: Discovery

A web app development project often starts with a kick-off meeting where people who are involved in the project (team members, stakeholders) introduce themselves and their roles.

There will be some discussion sessions on the project management methodologies (like whether it should be Agile or Scrum or Waterfall). Further, they discuss used programming languages, libraries, frameworks, and techs for development and collaboration (e.g., Figma for prototyping, Jira for project management, or Confluence for communication). This kick-off meeting is to make sure that everybody is on the same page.

Then there’s a period of requirement elicitation where specialists will gather requirements from those managing and using the app for analysis. They may also conduct further research in order to:

Estimate the scope, timeline, and cost;
Uncover in-depth needs, wants, and risks;
Define the project backlog and the prioritized list of tasks that the development team will work on in each stage of the project life cycle;

Everything will then be put into a document that includes all the technical specifications and the features of the apps. And once this document is agreed on, the team moves to the next stage.

Stage 2: Prototyping

This is when we develop a prototype for the web app, a working model of the app that helps the development team communicate their solution to the stakeholders and test the feasibility of the initial vision. It’s not really a full-fledged interface, but rather a wireframe that illustrates the workflow of the web app.

Talking about the mobile app’s user interface, it’s necessary to mention the tools for design. Check out the following posts:

FURTHER READING:

1. 6 Key Web Design Recommendations and Best Practices

2. 30 Amazing Mobile App Design Software Tools

3. Top 20 Mobile App Design Tools

Stage 3: Development

This stage occupies the largest part of project time. In this stage, the development team will sit down and develop the database, front-end, and back-end of the app. A conventional development team includes a project manager, a project architect, web developers, UI/UX designers, and Quality Assurance/testing specialists.

In this phase, with frameworks, developers do not have to code from scratch, and thus the development phase will be easier and faster. Further, people can use Rails written in Ruby, Django written in Python (web development with Python), or Laravel written in PHP as back-end frameworks. React, Vue, and Svelte, albeit not really frameworks, could be referred to as front-end frameworks for the sake of simplicity. All support their seamless web app development.

Apart from frameworks, there are also platforms that provide a super-fast and easier way to build web applications. You can read the following article to know more about web app development platforms: 13 Best Mobile Application Development Platforms.

Stage 4: Testing & Deployment

Testing your web application is an ongoing process and usually happens during and after the building phase. You can automate testing or do it manually. During the testing phase, you should try to cover functionality, usability, compatibility, security, and performance testing. As web apps depend heavily on your target audience’s browser (e.g., Brave or Google Chrome), developers sometimes participate in this phase to support testing work.

Recommended reading: 3 Key Reasons Make App Development Projects Fail

It’s finally time for hosting and deployment. Hosting involves running your web app on a server, so you need to buy a domain and choose a cloud hosting provider.

Stage 5: Operation & Maintenance

Now even after the official launch, it is vital to get ready for the upcoming tasks: fix bugs, optimize the product performance, renew licenses, add new features according to the product roadmap, and introduce changes based on customer feedback.

Most of the time, you might need to hire a team that helps you operate the website and even enhance it if necessary. You also need to pay a monthly or annual fee for maintaining the site. If you work with a good web design and development company, these are all anticipated at the very beginning of the project.

5 Tips For Successful Web App Development With Designveloper

Web app development isn’t an easy task. Even a well-established process and cutting-edge tools, you may fail to build a desired web application. Therefore, here are our five tips accumulated during years of experience working with various web app projects. These tips will help you conduct successful web app development.

1. Identify Existing Problems

People are always coming up with new ideas, and think, “This idea will make a big difference.” But most of the time, those ideas aren’t worth putting into practice because they don’t give good answers to problems that already exist. So, before you can start web app development, you need to know what problem you want it to solve. Then, approach the design of your app with a solution-oriented mindset and think about how it can make the user’s everyday life easier. ‍

2. Focus On Market Research

Then, conduct thorough market research. This helps you better understand who your web app targets, what the target audience prefers, which features or functions of a competitor’s web app they like or dislike the most, what market trends or techs are integrated into successful apps (e.g., AI-powered chatbots or micro-animations). All these questions give your necessary answers to devise a clear, accurate customer journey.

3. Use Proof of Concept

Now, you’ve completed market research and identified the app idea. How do you know this idea is feasible? Through surveys or questionnaires? No, we don’t think they’re decent options. As there’s no real product for your end-users to experience, they hardly give you accurate feedback about the efficiency of your app.

In this case, we advise you to test how viable your idea is with the Proof of Concept (PoC). This PoC helps identify whether the proposed solution can be technically executed by using current tech and resources. Further, it tests whether you can integrate this solution into existing operational workflows. Then, it gives you a chance to gather initial feedback from potential users or stakeholders.

If the idea is feasible, your team can move the next step (Design). Otherwise, you need to collaborate with stakeholders and business analysts to refine the concept.

4. Map Out Your Workflows

Workflows give you a way to organize the different steps of web app development in a way that makes sense. Think outside the box about what your web application will include and how you can meet the requirements with the money and tools you already have.

Today, there are different development methodologies that help you map out workflows easily. They mainly come into Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid. For projects whose requirements are well-defined and hard to change, Waterfall is the best option. Meanwhile, Agile is well-suited for project requirements that can evolve during development. Hybrid, on the other hand, is for projects requiring both flexibility and structure.

When working with progressive web apps, for example, Designveloper’s teams realize these apps are quite dependent on technologies supported by Chromium (Google) and existing web systems. This reliance leads to less clarity about project requirements. Therefore, we often leverage Agile frameworks like SCRUM and Kanban as they allow us to prioritize the most important features for the first release. Then, make essential updates based on user feedback and market changes.

Further, we apply other methods and principles to ensure our seamless process, from planning to development and design. For example, our design team often uses Google Material 3 principles to ensure all members reach a consensus on design elements. This helps enhance accessibility and user experience.

FURTHER READING:

1. What is Hybrid App Development?

2. The Product Design Process: A 6-Step Guide

3. An Overview of App Development Project Management

5. Keep The First Version Simple

New web businesses often talk about making a “minimum viable product“. A product is a “minimal viable product” if it only has the most basic features of a web application and nothing else. Creating a minimum viable product (MVP) has many benefits, but the main reason to do it is to test an idea for a web application as quickly and cheaply as possible.

If you limit the web app to a very specific and well-defined set of key features, you will be able to tell if the essential features are what your users need.

Oversee & Delegate Your Processes

The web app development process is a notoriously complex process that can be difficult to understand for beginners. With the web development process, everything starts with creating an idea. This idea can be anything from an idea for a website, an app, a game, or a new business model. As an app developer, you will need to experiment with various web technologies to create your idea. There are many different web app development companies out there. You will need to choose one that fits your concept and learn it.

Ultimately, when you decide to go for a web app, other than native or hybrid apps, you know that the cost is relatively lower. And it depends on several factors including what app features you want to have, who you hire for web app development, and which industry you are stepping into. Moreover, so as to work effectively with a mobile app development agency, it’s necessary to bear in mind the 5-stage process of web app development. Hopefully, this read offers everything you need to know, and you can start to work on your own project.

And if you are looking for web app development services, look no further than Designveloper. We have completed many projects for years, such as LuminPDF, Swell, Walrus Education, etc. Tell us your ideas, website’s and we’ll realize them.