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Web applications are fundamental in today's business environments, because they bring a number of advantages that help companies achieve their goals faster and more efficiently.
These benefits include:
- The ability to run web applications on multiple platforms, regardless of operating system or device.
- Web applications are designed to meet the future needs of the business to meet changing needs.
- Custom applications help companies implement as many security features as needed to strengthen the system.
- Web applications are cost efficient because they require minimal support and maintenance.
In addition, the number of active Internet users is growing rapidly every year. You should not miss this audience in any case, and to provide them with a convenient solution that could satisfy their needs on all devices at once seems an obvious move. However, in web development there are many pitfalls, and it is better to prevent them showing up in advance. In this article, we will help you do this.
Cross-browser compatibility
The first potential problem that needs to be addressed is the smooth operation of the web application on the maximum number of browsers and their versions. During web application development, everyone strives to get the largest possible audience, however this is often fraught with certain difficulties, such as incorrect operation on older browser versions. For example, when an update to the JavaScript language that is often used in web development, comes out, developers have a dilemma. On the one hand, it will be wise to use modern JavaScript language functions, since these improvements often greatly facilitate the coding of certain things and help to add new functionality for a web application. On the other hand, it is important that the web application works for all users, regardless of when they last restarted the browser in order to update.
The reason is there are delays between:
- the definition of a new function in the language;
- the implementation of the function in all browsers;
- updating browsers for all users (and this may never happen).
This problem is partially solved by browser developers that issue mandatory updates, without which further work is impossible. And partially this problem can be prevented even at the development stage, using special software solutions, in case of JavaScript the Babel compiler is one fine example. This solution converts JavaScript code written using the latest version of the language into equivalent code written using an older version, which is supported in many more browsers. Thus, even at the development stage, using competent planning, you can not only improve your user experience, but also expand your potential target audience, as well as save time and money in solving these problems in the future.
Introduction of new functionality
The very thought of adding new features that could potentially expand the target audience, improve manageability and increase profits may seem very tempting, but sometimes entrepreneurs skip one of the key parts of the web application development process: marketing research and beta testing. This stage is intended to facilitate a more gradual deployment of the application, during which problems in the user interface and bugs can be identified and fixed before the product is released to the general public. Find out what consumers want. It is important that you understand this even in the early stages of the web application development process, otherwise you may realize too late that your creation is simply not in demand. To get started, study analytics or conduct a full-fledged study, and best of all, use focus groups and turn to professionals for quality and comprehensive IT consulting. And when your web application is ready, be sure to check the response of the target audience with a beta test. Do your users really like this feature? Do they really like the modern design you used, or do they want something more traditional? Beta tests give you the last chance to make important changes before offering your web application to the general public.
Adaptive interface
Sometimes, when developing a web application design, entrepreneurs are guided by the desire to make the web application interface as identical as possible on different devices. This is important from the point of view of certain business goals, however, such an approach can create a lot of problems with incorrect display of elements and ease of use. At the same time, even at the planning stage, you can ensure that your web application displays correctly on any type of device using a competent information architecture and adaptive interface.
Adaptive layout technology is used in website development to achieve their adequate display on any screen: from desktop to smartphone. Adaptive layout changes page design depending on user behavior, platform, screen size and device orientation and is an integral part of modern web development. It allows you to significantly save money and not draw a new design for each resolution, but to change the sizes and layout of individual elements. The adaptive web applications development allows you to provide your project with high-quality communication with potential customers and increase its profitability.
Carefully planned architecture
A web application development is essentially a creation of dynamic web site combined with server-side programming to enable features such as user interaction, database connection, and more. The world of web applications is huge and diverse, so it is not a surprise that a structured process for creating it is necessary to ensure success. If we consider this process from the point of the user’s view, then the requirements for the developed web application will be the same. However, from a development point of view, a web application must be scalable, functional and able to withstand high traffic loads.
All these problems are solved at the web application development stage of architecture planning. The lack of expertise at this stage can be compensated by hiring good specialists who combine business and technical logic and with whom it will be possible to discuss in detail all the nuances, and then choose the most optimal solutions.
For example, many web applications are developed by dividing its core functions into layers. This makes it easy to replace and update each layer independently. This architectural pattern is called multi-level or three-level architecture. Such applications consist of:
- presentation level available to users through a browser;
- a business level that processes user requests guided by predetermined business logic;
- data storage layer - a centralized location that accepts all requests and provides access to the application’s permanent storage.
And this is just one example. The main thing is to find professionals who, depending on your business needs, will help find the most optimal solution.
Security
All web applications are at risk of cyber attacks. Moreover, it is web applications that are more susceptible to them because of a number of key problems: domain restriction rules, incorrect buffer size, vulnerabilities in the HTML and HTTP protocols that were originally created for documents, not applications. These are fundamental web development problems that cannot be solved, but you can prepare for them and minimize the consequences. To do so it is necessary to pay attention to the issue of data security and protection against leaks at application’s the planning stage, and here custom software has several advantages. Remember, if software is tailor-made, you can do as many levels of protection as necessary, your data will be stored on secure servers, and hackers will not be able to know all of its potential vulnerabilities.
In addition, here are some more general recommendations:
- Make sure that the application does not store unnecessary personal or confidential customer data. No business wants to be responsible for leaking customer data.
- Make sure that you or your technology partner know the security flaws specific to your encoding platform. Your development team should periodically check and update the security system built into your application code.
- Ensure that all personal data is encrypted in accordance with security guidelines.
- Make sure you or your technology partner is aware of potential threats and security concerns. Again, you do not want to be responsible for violating the confidentiality of customers personal data.
Bug fixing
Despite all the efforts made during acceptance testing of a web application development process, there is always a chance of a bug. And when one appears in your application, it is logical that the user wants it to be fixed as soon as possible. Make sure that in the contract with the developer you have written down all possible nuances regarding post-release support and bug fixing, terms and warranty cases. Speaking of warranties, one of the possible ways out might be to provide a code warranty, in which the contractor agrees to fix all detected bugs as soon as possible. For example, our company makes this service free and lifelong, provided that no changes have been made to the application code.
As you can see, web development in the run-up to 2020 is becoming an increasingly complex process. The increasing complexity of web application development also leads to an increase in the expertise required by its creators. The most reasonable choice will be to work with professionals who think not only in terms of the technical implementation of the project, but also in the future business value that it will create, but rather with a ready-made team, as in this case you will not only be saved from unnecessary trouble, but also help to save costs in the long run. You can find out who is exactly a part of the software development team and is its irreplaceable member from our article "Perfect Software Development Team for startup" .
