10 Steps To Follow In The Web Application Development Process

To build a successful web application, app design agencies must use a structured development process to guide their project. However, you might be in a challenging situation where your existing application no longer meets your needs. It may have performance issues, or it's missing key features that are essential to your operations. It may be outdated and no longer aligns with your business goals. Whatever the case may be, you’re looking to improve your business's efficiency and reduce overhead costs, and a new web application could be just what you need to meet your objectives. In this article, we'll discuss the web application development process and the steps to follow to help you get your new app up and running as quickly as possible.  

Before we start, NUMI has a solution that can help you. As an app design agency, we specialize in product design, and our services can help you achieve your goals for your upcoming web application development project.

What is Web Application Development?

Web applications are the software programs you access using the internet. You don’t need to download web apps—they open in your web browser just like a website. They are websites that help you perform tasks online instead of presenting information. 

Web applications are user-friendly because of their: 

• Placeholder texts
• Navigation
• User-friendly interface

Next-gen businesses rely on different types of web applications to provide their customers with the highest quality products/services. They deploy cloud technology to create an ideal web application environment and ensure maximum availability. 

How Do Web Applications Work? 

Web applications don’t need to be downloaded. They are accessed online through a web browser. In contrast, mobile applications need device installation for accessibility. Some mobile apps do not require an internet connection, but web applications do. 

Every web app needs an application hosting server to handle clients’ requests. Buying a cloud or managed dedicated hosting server is a good choice if your web applications get higher traffic. 

What are Web Applications Built With? 

Web apps are written in: 

• JavaScript
• HTML5
• CSS

These are client-side programming languages that build the front end of the application. To write server-compatible scripts, if you want to go with server-side programming, opt for: 

• Python
• PHP
• Java
• Ruby

Both are different, and you can read PHP vs JavaScript: Languages that Your Website Understands.

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11 Types Of Web Applications

1. Static Web Applications

Static web applications are the simplest type of web applications. Built using HTML and CSS, they are suitable for creating portfolios or digital brochures. As the name suggests, the content only changes if manually updated by the developer. 

Static web applications are straightforward to create and host, as they don’t require extensive server-side processing. This option is cost-effective for individuals or small businesses needing a simple online presence, but their simplicity also means limited functionality.

2. Dynamic Web Applications

In contrast, dynamic web applications are more complex and interactive. They use client-side and server-side scripts to generate content in real-time, like: 

• JavaScript
• PHP
• ASP
• JSP

These web application categories are connected to a database, allowing them to provide personalized experiences based on user interactions and preferences. They’re ideal for businesses, especially if your top priorities are user engagement and content variability. 

Due to their complexity, dynamic web applications are more challenging to develop and maintain. They require a more robust hosting environment and higher web development costs.

3. Single-Page Applications (SPAs)

SPAs load a single HTML page and dynamically update content as users interact with the app. These categories of web applications are ideal for platforms where user experience and speed are critical, such as: 

• Social media platforms
• Email clients
• Cloud-based software

The benefit is that this web app type avoids reloading the entire page with each user action, leading to a smoother and faster user experience. They also come with challenges, particularly in SEO optimization and initial load times, as the entire application must be loaded simultaneously. SPAs are built using JavaScript frameworks like: 

• Angular
• React
• Vue.js

It handles the dynamic loading of content and user interface elements.

4. Multi-Page Web Applications (MPAs)

Unlike SPAs, MPAs reload the entire page from the server when the user interacts with the application. These traditional web application categories are more suitable for websites with a large amount of content and diverse functionalities, such as: 

• eCommerce sites
• Online catalogs
• Educational platforms

MPAs can handle complex structures and vast databases more efficiently than SPAs. They’re also better optimized for search engines, as each page can be indexed separately. 

MPAs often have slower page transitions and can be more resource-intensive, as each new page needs a server request and page reload. Developing MPAs typically involves a more extensive back-end process to manage multiple pages and their interactions with the server.

5. Progressive Web Applications (PWAs)

PWAs represent a hybrid of regular web pages (or websites) and a mobile application. They’re installable on a device’s home screen without downloading from an app store. A key feature of PWAs is: 

• Service workers or scripts running in the background
• Enabling offline functionality
• Push notifications
• Background data syncing

PWAs are also responsive, linkable, and can be shared via a URL. They offer a high level of performance, engaging users with smooth animations and no janky scrolling. Thus, these categories of web applications are incredibly efficient, especially for users with limited internet connectivity. Developers build them using standard web technologies, including: 

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

6. Content Management Systems (CMS)

A CMS manages creating and modifying digital content, supporting multiple users in a collaborative environment. CMS features vary widely, including but not limited to: 

• Web-based publishing
• Format management
• History editing
• Version control
• Indexing
• Search

They’re suitable for: 

• Blogging
• E-commerce
• News websites 

It is where you need to update the content frequently without extensive technical know-how. CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are popular choices. They offer templates and plugins for customization without needing to write code from scratch. CMSs provide a user-friendly interface, allowing for easy updates and content management.

7. eCommerce Web Applications

These web application types facilitate online buying and selling. They’re complex systems that integrate various functionalities, including: 

• Product displays or catalogs
• Product search and filtering
• Shopping carts
• Payment processing
• Customer account and order management

E-commerce web applications must provide a seamless, user-friendly experience to encourage sales and repeat business. They must also be scalable to handle varying traffic and sales volume levels. Security is paramount to protect sensitive customer data, including payment information. 

Platforms like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce are famous examples. They offer customizable templates and various plugins to enhance functionality. E-commerce web applications have revolutionized the retail industry, allowing businesses to reach a wider audience and operate 24/7.

8. JavaScript-Powered Web Applications

JavaScript is a versatile programming language for creating dynamic and interactive user experiences. It can be used both on the client side (in the browser) and the server side (with technologies like Node.js), making it a powerful tool for full-stack development. JavaScript-powered web applications are known for their speed and efficiency; they can update content without reloading the entire page. 

This functionality makes them ideal for applications that require real-time data updates, such as social media platforms, online games, and collaboration tools. React, Angular, and Vue.js are examples of JavaScript frameworks and libraries. They provide pre-written JavaScript code to handle everyday tasks.

9. Rich Internet Web Applications (RIAs)

RIAs are advanced web application types that deliver a user experience like desktop applications. They use client-side frameworks to provide interactive features and a richer user interface. RIAs run inside web browsers but behave like desktop applications, offering responsive, engaging user experiences with better data visualization and real-time interaction capabilities. 

They can process data and perform tasks without constantly communicating with the server, reducing load times and improving performance. They require plugins or specific frameworks, which might limit accessibility and compatibility across different devices and browsers.

10. Portal Web Applications

Portal web applications are gateways to various information, services, and other applications. Enterprises often use them for internal purposes or to provide customer-facing services. These web application types typically require user authentication and offer personalized content and a centralized access point to various resources. 

Portal web applications are designed to aggregate content from different sources, providing a consistent and integrated user experience. They can handle various functionalities, including: 

• Search engines
• Email systems
• Forums
• Newsfeeds

11. Animated Web Applications

These applications focus on delivering rich visual content and interactive elements using animations. They’re particularly popular in fields that need high levels of user engagement, such as online advertising, gaming, and educational platforms. Animated web apps are built using technologies like: 

• CSS3
• HTML5
• WebGL

Developers can create complex yet engaging user interfaces. They provide dynamic and visually appealing experiences that capture users’ attention and improve interaction. Developing these applications can be time-consuming and requires advanced design and programming skills. 

Furthermore, you must balance the animations to enhance rather than hinder the user experience, especially considering performance and accessibility on various devices. 

Why NUMI is the Go-To Design Agency for Startups

NUMI is a Framer web design agency powered by experienced Framer developers and product designers. Backed by Y Combinator, NUMI handles your startup's sourcing, vetting, and hiring design needs. We have a fabulous design team that ensures all of your design work is being done well. 

NUMI helps with: 

• Product design
• Web design
• Framer development
• Webflow development
• Mobile design
• Prototyping
• UX design
• All of your startup's design needs! 

Subscribe to a guild of world-class designers ready to embed on your team today. Schedule a call with us today to learn more! 

Benefits Of Web Application Development

Accessibility: Reach Your Customers Anywhere

A web application is accessible from any device with an internet connection. This universal access allows businesses to reach customers anywhere, crucial for expanding market reach and ensuring consistent user experiences across various platforms. 

Cost-effectiveness: Save Money On Your App Development

Web applications typically require less upfront investment compared to traditional software applications. They’re less expensive to develop and deploy as they don’t require users to acquire additional hardware or software. Also, ongoing maintenance costs are lower because web applications require fewer manual updates and IT support. 

Scalability: Easily Adjust to Growing User Demands

Web applications can quickly scale to accommodate a growing user base, which is essential for businesses anticipating future growth. You can host the apps on cloud platforms, where you have the flexibility to adjust resources.

10 Steps To Follow In The Web Application Development Process

1. Identify the Web App’s Purpose

Every web application has a unique purpose. The best web apps spring from real-life problems that need better solutions. Not every web application needs to be a breakthrough phenomenon. Your web app should offer a significant, measurable improvement over other apps. 

Ask yourself: 

• What will people use this app for? 
• How will it make life easier for them? 
• What solutions does it offer that other apps don’t?

2. Conduct Market Research

It’s easy to get caught up in the design and development of the actual app, but if you hope to implement a successful road map, it’s essential to check in with actual users frequently. In the early stages, you’ll need to focus on higher-level problems to understand all the challenges the end-user faces fully. 

As app development progresses, challenges become more granular and narrower. For instance, is a lack of documentation making it more challenging to adopt features? Is an API deficiency reducing efficiency?

3. Define Functionality

The better you can define good functionality, the more users will prefer and use your web application. For example, if you want to develop a web app that streamlines the customer’s buying experience, you might want to focus on building better comparison and checkout experiences. The goal is to design an app that leaves a positive impression on the user.

4. Sketch the Web App

For this step, some people use paper and pencil. Others like web apps like Google Docs. Whichever you prefer, now’s the time to map out your application’s layout, including: 

• Text
• Image
• Button placement
• Other interactive components

Your design should be orderly and flow intuitively. Refer to your market research to ensure you answer users’ specific desires. If you prefer to find help with the design aspect, here's an excellent source.

5. Plan the Workflow

As part of the planning stage, the development team prepares an action plan, considering the time and specialists needed to implement the project. An initial meeting is held to discuss everything from further work to communication rules and project management.

6. Wireframe the UI and Seek Early Validation

A visually compelling user experience is critical to web app adoption. Think of wireframes as sketches telling exactly how your web application’s pages will look. It’s often best to start with a basic prototype and then build on it as testing and feedback are conducted. 

Alpha and beta testing of your prototype help improve your web app, make it more user-friendly, and give you a strong foundation for a more successful development process.

7. Architect the Database

A web app’s architecture simply describes the interactions between applications, databases, and middleware systems on the web. Database architecture uses various programming languages to design a particular type of application. 

Which one is used for your app depends on, among other things, time, budget, and functionality considerations. Most web apps use SQL or document databases.

8. Build the Front-End

The front end of your web app is its visual elements, which define what users see and interact with. Developers use web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create visually appealing applications that users find easy to read and navigate.

9. Build the Back-End

Back-end development is the server-side logic that powers your app from “behind the scenes.” It includes all the code necessary to build the database, server, and application.

10. Launch Your Web App

Once you choose a hosting platform that provides exceptional page load speeds and uptimes, your web app is ready for launch!

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Best Practices for Web App Development

Responsive design is an approach to web app development that ensures a web application’s user interface and layout adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes, resolutions, and device types. The primary goal is to provide end users with an optimal viewing and interaction experience. 

Since users can access your web through various devices, from desktop computers and laptops to tablets and mobile devices, you must design a responsive user interface. 

Some tips about responsive user interface design include: 

Start with a Mobile-First Approach

Begin your design process by first focusing on the smallest screens, typically mobile devices. This approach ensures that your core content and functionality are prioritized for smaller screens and progressively enhanced for larger ones. 

Use Fluid Grids and Flexible Layouts

Implement fluid grid systems and flexible layouts using relative units like percentages and ems instead of fixed units like pixels. This allows your web content to adapt proportionally to the screen size, ensuring a consistent user experience across devices. 

Use Media Queries for Breakpoints

Use media queries to set breakpoints at which your design will change to accommodate different screen sizes. Adjust your layout, font sizes, and other styles based on these breakpoints to provide an optimized experience for various devices. 

Test Across Multiple Devices

Regularly test your responsive web design across various devices and browsers. Emulators and browser developer tools can help, but real-world testing on actual devices is crucial to identify and address specific issues that may arise on different platforms. 

Prioritize Content

Prioritize and organize content based on its importance and relevance to users. Ensure that critical content is accessible and prominent, especially on smaller screens where space is limited. 

Typography Adjustments

Adjust font sizes and line heights to ensure readability on different devices. Consider using relative units for font sizes to ensure that text scales appropriately across various screen sizes. 

Consider Touch and Gesture Inputs

Design with touch and gesture interactions in mind, especially for mobile devices. Ensure that buttons and interactive elements are appropriately sized and spaced to accommodate touch input. 

Accessibility Considerations

Pay attention to accessibility standards. Ensure that your responsive design accommodates users with disabilities and provides a seamless experience for everyone, regardless of their abilities or devices. 

Performance Optimization

Optimize your website’s performance by minimizing unnecessary assets and reducing page load time. Consider lazy loading images, minimizing HTTP requests, and leveraging browser caching to enhance the user experience. 

Want to build an app wireframe that is responsive from the start? Follow our guide on how to do that with UXPin Merge and MUI components: How to Build a Responsive Dashboard?

Coding Standards: Write Clean Code

Coding standards are guidelines and conventions that developers adhere to when writing code. Coding standards act as a common language, ensuring all team members write code similarly. This consistency fosters better communication, minimizes misunderstandings, and allows developers to switch between different parts of the codebase seamlessly. 

When coding standards are followed, it becomes simpler for software developers to identify and fix issues. Debugging becomes more straightforward because the code is structured predictably, making it easier to trace the execution flow and locate potential problems. Coding standards cover various aspects of coding, including: 

• Naming conventions
• Indentation
• Formatting
• Best practices

Image Optimization: Reduce Load Times

Optimizing images is crucial for web-based apps because it directly impacts the app’s: 

• Performance
• User experience
• Overall loading speed

Large or poorly optimized images can significantly increase page load times, leading to slower user interactions and potentially driving visitors away from a web page or application. 

Optimizing Images and Media: Techniques for Faster Load Times and Better Performance

Here are some ways to achieve optimized images and media: 

Compression

Use image compression techniques to reduce the file size without excessively compromising image quality. Tools like ImageOptim, TinyPNG, or online services like Squoosh can help compress images effectively. 

Resize Images

Ensure images are resized to the appropriate dimensions for display on the web app. If an image is more significant than needed, resizing it can significantly reduce its file size. Use tools like Photoshop, GIMP, or online platforms to adjust dimensions. Choose the 

Right File Format

Select the appropriate file format for each image. JPEG is often suitable for photographs, while PNG is ideal for transparent images. SVG is a good choice for simple graphics and icons. Each format has its compression and quality considerations. 

Lazy Loading

Implement lazy loading for images, especially those not initially visible on the user’s screen. Lazy loading ensures images are loaded only when they enter the user’s viewport, reducing the initial page load time. 

Responsive Images

Use responsive images that adapt to different screen sizes. This prevents unnecessary loading of large images on smaller screens and ensures a better user experience on various devices. 

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Utilize a Content Delivery Network to distribute images across servers geographically. CDNs reduce latency by serving images from servers closer to the user, further improving loading times.

Caching: Boost Speed and Performance

Caching is a technique used in web development to store and reuse specific data or resources, reducing the need to request and retrieve them repeatedly from the source. It improves web application performance and user experience by minimizing the time and resources required to load and display content. 

Caching is particularly beneficial for frequently accessed or static data. Use browser caching, server-side caching, and content delivery networks (CDNs) to reduce the load on servers and improve the overall speed of your web-based application.

CI/CD: Streamline Your Development Process

CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery, a set of modern software development practices that aim to improve the development and delivery process. 

• Continuous Integration automates the software deployment process for staging or production environments. 
• Continuous Delivery focuses on automating the software deployment to staging or production environments. 

Automating Testing, Building, and Deployment

Set up a CI/CD pipeline to automate the testing, building, and deployment processes. Continuous integration ensures that changes are merged seamlessly, and constant deployment allows faster and more reliable updates to your web application. 

CI/CD is crucial for web-based apps because it enhances the speed, reliability, and collaboration aspects of the development and deployment process, ultimately leading to a more efficient and competitive development lifecycle.

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Subscribe To A Guild of World Class Framer Developers with Our Framer Web Design Agency Today

NUMI is a Framer web design agency powered by experienced Framer developers and product designers. Backed by Y Combinator, NUMI handles your startup's sourcing, vetting, and hiring design needs. We have a fabulous design team that ensures all of your design work is being done well. 

NUMI helps with: 

• Product design
• Web design
• Framer development
• Webflow development
• Mobile design
• Prototyping
• UX design
• All of your startup's design needs! 

Subscribe to a guild of world-class designers ready to embed on your team today. Schedule a call with us today to learn more!