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Web Application Development: Best Practices

Web and Mobile Development Manager, ScienceSoft

Published:
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3 min read

Have you ever looked for software development services and thought to yourself, “There must be a recipe for success of my business web app,” but then realized that you are out of ideas? Indeed, there are “secret ingredients” that propel a project to a whole different level. And here we are to share five useful tips.

For more than 24 years, we’ve been providing web application development services. We observe each project lifecycle, development process, and KPI. Our experts gather statistics and accurately analyze the data to ensure the continuous improvement of our services. Our team has formulated some basic rules and principles that play a pivotal role in creating profit-driven web apps.

Web application development

#1 MVP

A Minimum Viable Product is a great concept that has a long-standing reputation of being cost-effective and time-saving development strategy. Having your app even in minimum configuration, you can convince the investors that the app perfectly solves a set of business goals.

But if you want to launch an MVP-based project, ask yourself the following question first: do you have such an option as “users’ love” on your MVP feature list? Our business practices show that there is a huge difference between the solutions users can employ to solve some tasks and the solutions they would really enjoy. At every design stage, ask yourself whether your application is good enough for your target users or not quite. The proponents of the MVP concept may disagree with us. Nonetheless, you don’t need to slavishly build your product according to the concept of MVP. If you do, you risk losing that very secret ingredient – “users’ love”.

#2 Prototype it

Popular web app frameworks allow us to simultaneously develop UI/UX and build an interactive prototype. However, prototyping requires extra costs at the initial development stage. This is the reason customers refuse to create the prototype of an application.

From our perspective, one shouldn’t eliminate prototyping. New business concepts being brought to life in the form of web applications are constantly evolving. And the views and business objectives of clients are changing as well. Being exposed to the visualized idea, the client reaches a new level of understanding of the important business goals. It is a kind of opportunity to see the shape of a would-be solution, to verify and modify it prior to the main development stage. Due to the prototyping, clients are able to fine-tune the application before it gets to the market.

#3 Test it

When promoting a new application, you will inevitably come under a waterfall of criticism, such as negative comments and reviews. The last issue you want to face is the error and bug messages that spring form the first version of your application. Your first release should be as ideal as possible to withstand the barrage of criticism, nagging and the comparative evaluations of mature competitors. Pay maximum attention to the testing. Test both the front-end and back-end for resilience.

#4 Test it twice!

It’s not about functional testing. Usability and common-sense checking will allow you to obtain honest feedback from unbiased users. Even with a skilled QA team on board, you’d better involve your target audience in testing. To perform closed testing, carefully hand-pick your focus group of those users not familiar with your application. Collect analytical data, track goal conversions, and navigation paths. Even if some things seem to be obvious to you and your development team, your end-users may stick to a different viewpoint. They detect underestimated features, usability bugs or workflow mistakes much more effectively.

#5 The magic of design

Your greatest weapon to win users’ love is a unique design style and memorable user experience. Invest in a high-quality and engaging front-end: it really pays back. Involve well-versed designers and UX experts in the development process. They can tailor a perfect solution from the point of view of material design and human interface, and add a unique touch to your custom project. In the light of the general trend for standardization, creating a unique design is a difficult task only an experienced specialist can tackle. Low service price can become an unforgettable high-cost mistake.

Further, if you cherish an idea of a unique web application, and you want to set its development on the right track, reach out to us with your requirements.

Ready to upgrade your current website and drive user engagement with a web application? ScienceSoft is here to help.