Web Application Development: Top Choices You Will Need to Make

Given that we live in a highly digital world, it should come as no surprise that the tools that help enable experiences online are in high demand. Case in point: Web applications. Easily among the most popular solutions among their kind in the market, web apps have come a long way since they first emerged on the scene. They enjoy the most significant share in the programming market. And to make things even more interesting, there is no dearth of technologies that enable web app development. Hence, it comes as no wonder that more and more businesses are rushing to adopt them and integrated web apps into their strategies. However, to go about it effectively, there are some questions they will need to answer. For your benefit, we have listed the top five ones below.

1. Web APIs: One of the first questions any company looking to develop a web app for its business will need to answer is this: What type of architecture? Now, of course, there are plenty of choices on offer in this context as well. But typically, there are a handful of options that usually make it to shortlists; this includes the MVC pattern, web APIs, single page application (SPA), etc. The SPA and web APIs duo is trendy since it ensures the app’s client-side part is loaded all at once instead of loading pages one by one.

2. Database: An integral part of any web app, you can choose to have just one database or several of them. Besides that, you will also need to decide what type of database they need as since we now have specialized databases that are meant to serve unique requirements. And to make a sound decision here, it is essential to have a firm understanding of your business and its individual needs.

3. Deployment: At this point, it goes without saying that there are plenty of options for implementation as well, because, of course, there are. So, the market offers three fundamental options: Cloud, on-premises, and hybrid. Each one of the options comes with their unique sets of use cases, benefits, and disadvantages. But if you were to ask us — the best bet in the current environment is cloud deployment or hybrid. On-premises implementation is virtually archaic at this point.

4. Security: This is 2020, and to say that security is essential seems a tad redundant. But it is a critical part of the entire process and necessitates consideration of two key things — authentication and authorization. What choices does one have here? You could either go the old-fashioned way, i.e., use the framework’s support for authentication and authorization or use third-party libraries. The other option is an external identity server to integrate the OpenID Connect standard.

Web and app development is, undoubtedly, a complicated endeavor. But remember, taking a measured and cautious approach will go a long way in ensuring the success of your web app.