What Is Web Application Development?

Date First Published: 28th January 2024

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 4/10

Learn about what web application development is in this article.

Web application development is the process of building, designing, and testing web applications that will be stored on web servers and provided to other users over the internet. Web applications, such as social media platforms, ecommerce websites, and webmail, are accessed through web browsers and do not need to be downloaded and installed on computers.

What Does Web Application Development Consist Of?

Web application development usually consists of a short development lifecycle led by a small development team. Client-side programming will use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to customise what users see on their end. Server-side programming is used to create the scripts used by web applications and a custom user interface for the end-user that will hide the source code. Scripts can be written in Ruby, Java and Python and a database, such as MySQL can be used to store data in web applications.

The testing process for web application development is usually more in-depth than other forms of software. This is because web applications have large amounts of information that may contain mistakes. Web application tests may include security, performance, accessibility, usability, and quality assurance tests. Where possible, these tests should be automated. Regular code reviews should also be conducted to catch errors and ensure code quality.

Best Practices For Web Application Development

Best practices for web application development include:

• Responsive design - Design web applications to be responsive and mobile-friendly. This ensures a consistent experience across different devices and screen sizes.
• Scalability - Design the web application architecture with scalability in mind to handle increased traffic and user demand.
• Performance optimisation - Optimise images, use browser caching, and minimize HTTP requests to improve page load times.
• Security - Implement secure authentication and authorization mechanisms.
• Accessibility - Design and develop with accessibility guidelines in mind to ensure that the web application is usable by all, including people with disabilities.
• User-centred design - Prioritise user experience (UX) by carrying out usability testing and taking note of user feedback in design decisions.
• Performance monitoring - Monitor application performance, track errors, and gather user analytics to identify areas for improvement.

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