Web app development empowers web-based projects to perform and act similarly to a mobile app. Web applications engage users, prioritizing responsive interactions, but are still delivered through the internet over a network.
You can say that web app development is more or less the cool little brother of web development. Web development is why you’re on this very web page, but web app development is how all this got written in the first place.
Both are important, but knowing the difference will help you understand what web app development is as well as whether or not it sounds like a good idea for your business.
To find out more about web applications — from their advantages and disadvantages to the frameworks you should use to put them together — keep reading!
What Is a Web Application?
A web application is an interactive app built using web development technologies that users can access from their browser.
Web apps have the typical front-end and back-end web development technologies. In theory, web apps are closely related to websites, thus web app development and web development share many characteristics.
On the front-end, for instance, web app developers utilize JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. The back-end for web apps might similarly use the same server-side languages developers use to build websites such as Ruby or Python.
However, web apps operate on any device in a mode that is distinctly different than that of a traditional website.
What’s the Difference Between a Web App and a Wesbite?
Web apps are designed to be interactive whereas a website’s primary purpose is to present information.
Distinguishing one from the other is admittedly nit-picky, but once you start recognizing the difference you’ll see why it matters.
Ironically, learning a bit more about mobile development will be handy for learning about web app development. For instance, do you know the difference between native and hybrid apps?
Native apps are mobile apps that are specifically built for the platforms they run on. In effect, developers must employ native technologies to use them — the Swift programming language for iOS, or the Java programming language for Android.
The disadvantage of native apps is that companies that build natively must develop different apps for different platforms, as each app will require a different codebase in its native language.
Hybrid apps provide a solution for quicker development. Hybrid apps take advantage of both native and web technologies and as a result, they can extend multi-platform compatibility.
Web apps are neither of these things. Web app developers solely make use of web technologies. However, web applications place a certain focus on user interaction, just like a mobile app, and not like a traditional website at all.
Traditional websites may have users who scroll or click to consume more information, or they may even enter an email address or perhaps more personal information for an online purchase.
But a web app optimizes the user experience (UX) so users can do much more. And web apps must be dynamically updated to handle these sorts of interactions.
For example, you’ll notice that using Twitter or Facebook from a web browser is a more captivating experience than clicking onto the website of your local pizzeria. That’s because the former are web apps and the latter is a website.
What Are Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)?
Progressive web apps (PWAs) are a particular type of web app that is fairly modern in the digital world. PWAs combine desirable features of both native and hybrid apps.
Like any web app should, PWAs reside in a web browser. Users can access PWAs there like any website.
Still, having a PWA means going through the classic download and install process that users expect with mobile apps. But this is a good thing as PWAs can always be readily available from the user’s device.
Both the Google Play Store and the Microsoft Store welcome PWAs to their platform. So in some ways, a PWA is like a mobile app.
Progressive web apps launch from a user’s device without the need to open a web browser first and they can send push notifications directly to your mobile device. They can also work offline and load in a jiffy.
According to Frances Barriman and Alex Russell, the original Google engineers who gave PWAs their name, PWAs fit the following criteria:
- responsive
- connectivity independent
- app-like interactions
- fresh
- safe
- discoverable
- re-engagable
- installable
- linkable
What makes PWAs so alluring is their performance. A concept like web apps should be alluring in itself because of its cross-platform capabilities.
But in reality, most everyone in the software development industry believe web apps and hybrid apps have slower performance than native apps.
Progressive web apps defy this stereotype. Though it is important to keep in mind that PWAs do not intend to take mobile apps’ role.
No, PWAs are best defined as traditional websites in mobile app packaging. In this way, they are not as interactive as a conventional web app nor as boring or inaccessible as a standard website.
PWAs are unique in standing; they break the mold of what a web visitor or smartphone user anticipates.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Web Applications?
Web-based applications ultimately ease the development process. Businesses can give their users interactivity without having to use the time and resources necessary for building a mobile application.
That said, weighing the cons of web application development against the pros is still useful for getting the kinks ironed out.
Advantages of Web Apps
First, you should take a closer look at the advantages of web app development. You’ll find that web apps are an efficient option for boosting the UX of consumers who prize user engagement when it comes to their web browsing.
High Portability
Users can access web apps from any device. Got a tablet? You can use a web app. Got a smartphone? You can use a web app. A laptop? Even better!
Basically, web apps are entirely multi-platform. They provide users with an entertaining exchange no matter the operating system, whether that be Android, iOS, PC, etc. so long as users maintain an internet connection.
More Convenience
Web apps do not need to be downloaded and installed. Or in the case of PWAs, the download and installation won’t be the equivalent of the app actually taking up space on your device.
While smartphones these days seem to be ever-increasing their storage space in what seem to be squared increments, some people simply don’t like the bloat of having lots of apps or otherwise, they just don’t have the space.
This reality also frees users from the obligation of constant updates. And with progressive web apps specifically, you can get many of the benefits of mobile apps with none of the hassle.
Easier Development
Once again, most mobile app developers and web developers are not one and the same. This is a shame because that means if you want the best of both worlds, you’ll always need at least twice as many developers or at least twice as much talent.
Oh, and if you want your mobile app to be featured on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, then that will require two distinct apps if you decide to go native.
This means that if you want both a website and a mobile app on all platforms, then you’ll need thrice as many resources.
Web app development circumvents these frustrations. There is strictly one codebase to work with.
Disadvantages of Web Apps
Of course, a pro and con list would be futile if there were only pros. Naturally, web app development has disadvantages too.
Reduced Speed
Despite all the praise, web apps cannot replace mobile apps and will operate a bit slower than an application that is hosted on a local server.
PWAs definitely try to mitigate this side effect, but there’s no veritable evidence that they’ve successfully eliminated this disadvantage altogether.
Decreased Access
Generally, web apps need internet access to perform well or in most cases, to perform at all. Though PWAs do deter from this typecast, the most interactive of web apps will not respond if you don’t have a web connection.
Limited Functionality
Native technology will always carry an advantage over non-native technologies. Since web apps aren’t native, they don’t have the same capacity to collaborate effectively with the hardware and operating system of your specific device.
As system settings differ from one device to the next, and web apps are by definition multi-platform, developers plainly don’t program apps to work with such specifications.
3 Types of Web Applications
There are different types of web applications with different behaviors depending on how they’re built. While all these web application types still use web technologies they generally fall under the categories of client-side, server-side, or single-page applications.
Client-Side Web Apps
Client-side web apps are dominant in front-end development, meaning the user interface (UI) is the focus of these types of apps. They tend to prioritize UX and bring users high-performance levels.
Any data or business logic that the app might use to function is dynamically loaded at start-up.
As a result of client-side rendering, there is little to no buffering time for loading a page. This speeds up interactions with content, making the page markedly responsive.
Server-Side Web Apps
Server-side software is essentially synonymous with back-end development. Back-end development is composed of building the databases, servers, application programming interfaces (APIs), and any other background processes that occur in an application.
Though server-side applications by and large still display content and/or UIs, the most dynamic of code resides in the web server.
Server-side rendering (SSR) works well with static content as it can take some time for the web browser to send a request to the server and await an answer.
On the bright side, server-side web apps are normally more secure and offer more browser compatibility than client-side web apps.
Single-Page Apps
A single-page application (SPA) differs from a traditional multi-page application where new pages load only when you click a link. Instead, SPAs have desirable advantages of both client-side apps and server-side apps.
SPAs wield their power from only one page, typically deploying an infinite scroll mechanism to display all its content.
Despite the fact that server-side rendering holds associations with long wait times, JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue.js, and Angular use dynamic routing to fetch only the data that is necessary at any given time.
Many web developers or web app developers exercise this faculty of SSR to build SPAs that do not require the entire page to reload in order to execute an action or fetch new data.