Web Applications: Development Stages - Complete guide

Both web applications and web portals play an important role in modern life by facilitating access to information, improving communication, providing entertainment, and simplifying everyday tasks. If you are choosing between web portal development or creating a web application, this article is for you.

How Is a Web Application Different From a Mobile One?

A web application is an interactive website that performs a specific function. In this case, part of the code that processes business logic is executed on the server. Unlike a mobile application, this product does not need to be downloaded and installed.

The implementation of a web application is justified when the project involves complex business logic and working with a large amount of data.

Pros And Cons of Web Applications

Web applications have a number of advantages over mobile applications:

• It can be opened on any device with a browser - from a smartphone to a laptop.
• Since updates happen on the server, users always interact with the latest version of the product.
• The business gains control over data storage and process setup.

But such solutions also have disadvantages. For example, development will take more time and other resources than creating a simple website with similar functionality.

Stages of Web Application Development

Work on a web application can be divided into 4 stages:

Market And User Research

First, it’s worth defining the target audience: who are the potential users of the web application? What do they need from the service? Business analysis and UX research provide clear answers to these questions.

Then it’s worth thinking about user scenarios: for this, you can use CJM (Customer Journey Map). This allows you to analyze the needs of the audience and come to an understanding of how they will interact with the product. This way you can see which features are necessary at the start, and which are secondary.

Architecture design is an important stage. It influences all further development of the service and helps to avoid common mistakes at the beginning of work. This way you can create a basis for growth and take into account how heavy the load will be on the application, taking into account the growth of the audience and the addition of new functionality.

Technical And User Design

This process in web development is quite complex. It involves teams with different technical qualifications. There are two main levels:

Technical design. At this stage, a software product is built that meets all incoming technical requirements. This process can be represented as follows:

• creation/refinement of the solution concept architecture;
• creation/refinement of a solution information model;
• creation/refinement of a general functional diagram of the solution;
• clarification of functional solution scenarios;
• clarification of microservice APIs;
• creation/refinement of an infrastructure solution diagram;
• clarification of the software deployment scheme;
• updating solution design status;
• updating the map of required work.

Creation of custom design. It’s worth thinking through all the scenarios and breaking down the user’s actions into functional blocks.

With each iteration, the prototype improves, gradually creating a great UX.

When creating prototypes, competent, yet moderate, elaboration of details is important:

• Navigation elements, components, and main blocks should be kept close to the final - this helps evaluate the user experience during testing.
• Typography, colors, and animations can be left for the next step. Drawing them takes a lot of time, so it’s difficult to make edits.

Writing Code

Libraries and frameworks are suitable for frontend development - for example, React, Angular, Vue.js, Svelte. With them, the developer solves some of the problems when creating a product: this is managing the state of the application, and breaking down interface elements into components.

For backend development, Kotlin, Golang, and Python are typically used. The programming language for a project should be chosen depending on its specifics and business needs.

Testing

Today, almost every gadget has a browser, so it is important that the product interface is displayed correctly on screens with different resolutions and aspect ratios - from square to Ultrawide.

The only way to confirm that this is true is through tests.

Testing is also necessary to find out:

• Is the application interface displayed correctly in all major browsers, including outdated ones?
• Are there any inconsistencies when using different hardware?

For these purposes, both digital emulators and physical device farms are used. To work faster, it is recommended to use special programs:

• Charles and Proxyman - for reading and modifying traffic. Although the standard DevTools in the browser are quite suitable for reading, it is convenient to replace the answer with these utilities when necessary.
• Postman - helps you find errors in the API.
• Browserstack - it helps you quickly test a web application in different browsers and versions.
• Cypress is an end-to-end testing tool that makes manual testing easier and less stressful.

When testing, it is necessary to take into account many nuances so as not to miss some rare, but critical bug.

Web Application Complexity

Based on the level of complexity, web applications can be divided into the following categories:

• One-page. Such applications are developed using HTML and JavaScript languages. Typically created as only one page, and when the user performs certain actions, the content of that page is automatically updated. The advantages of single-page applications are simplicity (the user will not get confused), ease of development and low cost;
• Multi-page. In such web applications, content is loaded on entire pages. For example, if in a one-page resource only a small component is opened when confirming payment, then in a multi-page resource the entire page is loaded. The advantage of such an application is its high functionality, that is, users can perform more actions. Moreover, some particularly complex projects cannot be implemented as a single-page resource, in which case only a multi-page application is needed;
• Progressive. To put it simply, this is something between a website and a mobile application. The user can download such a resource to his phone and open it in the browser. Also, most progressive web applications can function without access to the Internet, which is ensured by unique technologies for interaction between the frontend and backend.

Wrapping It Up

Web applications play an important role in human life by providing access to information and services in a convenient and efficient manner. They have become an integral part of everyday life and work, and their importance is only growing with the advancement of technology. If you want to develop a web application or web portal, we recommend contacting Digiteum, which provides design, development, testing, and modernization services.