Since the Internet has already become an integral part of life for millions of people all over the world, companies in different domains try to improve their “online image” and become more attractive to customers. While some companies do these on their own, others invest in professional services, such as pixelstorm, to help this accomplish these tasks. It’s not a surprise that consumers expect developers to tailor web solutions to exclusively fit business needs.
Recently, we’ve seen plenty of successful and functional business applications created by means of innovative web technologies. Curiously, just 4-5 years ago there were very few genuinely innovative projects in the web field. All major transformations in the web development industry, i.e. web componentization, the rise of web browsers, and the introduction of single-page applications, appearance of web application consulting, have very recently taken place. What caused such rapid growth that changed the face of the Internet?
To realize the scope and the pace of changes, let’s look back on the recent past when software developers and their clients had to overcome a number of obstacles. Here are just a few of those:
- The cross-browser compatibility was a sore issue when each new web-engine release was high stress and a real try out for large-scale web projects
- The web interfaces were difficult to adapt to various screen sizes
- The coders and designers struggled for every extra kilobyte of source code to increase web page loading speed
- JavaScript calculations were not reliable
Hence, the true potential of business web applications was undervalued. Previously, the web had been perceived as an infrastructure communication channel between the server and the client-side application. Then, a not-so-obvious but vital digital transformation gradually started. Step by step, digital businessmen realized the huge advantages of web development.
Important changes that took place in the web industry in recent years
- UX Revolution
Google and Apple have concentrated the UX expertise in their monopolistic hands. This led to the creation of the unified UI/UX standards in the field of web applications. The unification is based on Material Design (Google) and Human Interface (Apple) policies and allows creating different business apps with zero time for user training.
With the rise of web development, businesses from different parts of the world can now utilize UX revolutions. This means that they can start to offer online platforms that cater to the attitudes and emotions of their target audience. This will allow businesses to easily haul in more customers online and convince them to buy their products and services.
- Web browser domination
The web view module, i.e. a browser, is the kernel of any application. Web browsers have become faster and more efficient. They are able to not only display information but also carry out calculations, operate with interactive media, store data in the offline mode, etc.
The diversity of web development makes it easy for businesses to offer different things online to their target audience. Aside from showcasing their products and services through their website, web development now allows businesses to show different types of multimedia and easily connect their customers online. These features will help any business gain a positive image or brand in the industry, especially those that are still new or small.
- Back-end evolution
For the last several years, we’ve witnessed a continuous competition between PHP and ASP.NET technologies for the right to power the most popular backend platforms. By the way, PHP seems to be winning this fight so far, according to the current market share.
- Global accessibility
Ubiquitous Internet access and the widespread use of mobile devices have made it possible to efficiently employ web applications for such sensitive tasks as navigation, online text translation, document management, and so on.
Having global accessibility will make it easy for businesses to expand their reach. For a business that’s still starting their operations in one state or city, for example, having global accessibility through web development allows them to cater to individuals located in other parts of the globe. The farther the business’s reach is, the better chances they’ll have in succeeding in the industry.
- Frameworks for web applications
The rapid development of commercial and open source frameworks have completely changed the Web App industry. Here are the major changes:
- Development speed boost. Web development time has significantly reduced due to the use of open source frameworks, such as Bootstrap, Apache Spark, Spring Boot, etc. Maximizing this feature means businesses can now offer websites and other online platforms that’ll load fast once accessed.
- More development tools and components. Today, we can enjoy rich development environments with a large number of media components and visualization tools that ensure the creation of sophisticated web apps. Aside from being able to display content online, businesses can now add real-time chatbots and online brochures to their websites.
- Strict quality control. All the components of frameworks are developed in compliance with industry standards. The quality of new web applications has improved due to adjusted and unified frameworks modules usage. This is good news for businesses because regardless of the number and complexity of features they have on their websites, they’ll have peace of mind knowing that all of these are of high-quality.
- Development cost reduction. A number of dedicated specialists appeared involved in web app development. This resulted in the average development rates decrease. The more web development specialists in the market today, the easier it’ll be for businesses to hire someone who suits their budget.
- Introduction of cross-platform mobile app development. This market is expected to reach $7.5 billion in 2018. The number of cross-platform mobile app development tools and resources is soaring. These days there are plenty of frameworks to choose
The above-mentioned transformations came in very quickly, overlapped, and created a powerful multiplier effect, which brought business web applications to a whole new level. And further progress isn’t going to fade away. The growing competition in the market pushes companies to look for new ways of improving their customer services.
