How We Develop a Web Application. A Step-by-Step Guide

TRIARE’s web development services include building sites from scratch, customizing various CMS environments, making web apps, and providing post-release maintenance. We stay in tune with the latest technologies to build fast, feature-rich, and beautiful web products.

In this piece, we will share our experience in developing stunning web application. What is the most critical step in structuring software and how it leads to profitable web product. We will talk about the stages of web application development, following which you will get a stable application to benefit from.

Web apps have long been an alternative to developing a desktop app. Their high flexibility, wide choice of programming languages, and independence from the client’s operating system explain this demand. 

Today’s marketers know how important it is for users to interact with mobile devices easily, regardless of the platform. Nearly 53% of users leave mobile sites that take longer than three seconds to load. Web applications work with fewer data and are based on guaranteed fast loading.

How to structure your web application?

The most crucial step in structuring any software is designing its architecture. Here all requirements and features are taken into account, and strategic decisions are made. When the general structure of the application is determined, we can talk about the choice of an approach to its implementation, the need to build in control mechanisms, the possibility of expansion and scaling.

The process of designing and developing web applications consists of the following stages:

• UI UX design
• Web application architecture
• Web application technology stack
• Web application security

The web app’s logic is distributed between server and client, and the data is stored on the server. The exchange of information takes place over the network. One of the advantages of this approach is that clients are independent of the specific operating system of the user, so web applications are cross-platform services.

REST service for storing data and partially business algorithms is often implemented on the server in modern solutions. And the browser application addresses queries to it for this or that information.

What are the benefits of web applications?

• Customers are not hardware dependent

The process of connecting new users comes down to providing them with a link to the application. Depending on business requirements, they may register, or the application may not require user identification at all.

• High speed of work

Web apps have very high performance. The number of concurrent users can be measured in billions. Often, ready-made desktop solutions and solutions with a metamodel embedded in their architecture have difficulties with the exponential growth of users and data processing.

• Versatility

Web applications are more versatile and more practical for the end user. You just need to install a web application on a server running under any OS, and you can use it via the Internet on any computer or mobile device.

What are the types of web application architecture?

The choice of how to develop web applications is based on business goals. There are several main types of web application architecture:

• Single-Page Applications (SPA)

They allow you to simulate the operation of computer applications. Their architecture is designed in such a way that when switching to a new page, there is no need to reload the same elements. It is convenient for both web developers and users.

SPA developers use technologies like React.js, Angular.js, and Vue.js, which allow them to create very flexible web applications.

• Progressive Web Applications (PWA)

This is the name for websites built on web technologies using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. They interact with the visitor as applications. PWAs can send push notifications, work without an Internet connection. In this case, the user does not need to download the application from the AppStore or Google Play but can simply save the application to the desktop.

• Microservices

In this approach, one web application is created to collect small services, each of which runs its process and communicates with the others using lightweight mechanisms (usually HTTP). These services are based on customers’ business needs and are developed independently using a fully automated environment.

• Serverless architecture

This cloud model of building and running web applications is characterized by the cloud service provider acting as a server, dynamically managing the allocation of machine resources, databases, and storage systems. This architecture allows you to run web applications using a flexible pricing model in which you are billed for the actual amount of resources used rather than the resources allocated.

8 Steps of the web application development

To show you how to make web apps, we will take a single-page application example. Here are the 8 steps to creating it:

Step 1. Using backend business logic

There are two ways to do this: you can group the backend business logic in one service, or you can implement each of its components in a separate microservice. When working with a small project, use the first method, and for large projects, the second is well suited.

Step 2. Choosing a programming language

If the performance of your web application is less important to you, write in Python, Node JS, or Ruby. If speed is a priority, use Golang. You can also use C #, which has a lot of C ++, Modul, Delphi, Smalltalk, and Java, but the difference is that C # excludes models that have proven to be problematic in development. For example, C #, unlike C ++, does not support multiple inheritances of classes but allows various implementations of interfaces.

Step 3. Implementation of business logic

Focus on the MVC pattern first, and when you realize that the business logic is starting to get complicated, use the presenter and interactor. The presenter and interactor are at different levels and perform other semantic and functional loads.

Presenters handle events from the UI and act as a callback from the internal levels – Interactors. Presenters are easy to test, and their job is to get information from a web application and transform it to move presenters to the screen using a View.

Interactors contain the business logic of a web application, that is, checking conditions and processing information. Interactors work in the background and move events and information to the top level, presenters, using callbacks.

Step 4. QA testing the backend

Testing is necessary to know if the business logic of your web application is working correctly and not to constantly check the functionality of the code manually. Use automated testing for modules and libraries, UI/UX, and API compliance. List several testing options. 

Develop a platform roadmap to manage trials for all types of testing. Connect the current code coverage tracking tools to ensure that your web application works without bugs or interruptions.

Step 5. Adding swagger support

Swagger is smart documentation for RESTful web APIs. This framework makes it possible not only to view the specification interactively but also to send Swagger UI requests.

Step 6. Working with the business logic of the frontend

The complexity of working with the frontend business logic is that there are a lot of frameworks here. Usually, programmers use Angular, React, Vue. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. React is a simpler, more flexible, and lightweight frontend framework.

Step 7. Front end QA testing

The front end is tested for logic and display. Logic tests check the logical implementation of functions and classes. Display tests are responsible for ensuring that the content is shown to the user in the form that you intended when writing the frontend. Use such frameworks as Mocha, Chai, Jest, Ava, Enzyme, Jest to carry out QA testing of the frontend – they are the most popular and user-friendly.

Step 8. Monitoring the quality of the web application

Now you need to understand how well the application is built, how it will work, and its durability. Use automated open-source tools to monitor the quality of your web application. The collected data will help you refine your app, change some details in it, or add and optimize new functions.

How much would it cost to develop a web app?

The cost of web app development depends on various factors, including developers’ hourly rates within a particular geography. Use our free project calculation tool to get an estimated price for your project by email in 24 hours.

Read case study Personal Novel