Web App Development: Advantages and Disadvantages

We spend our lives fiddling with countless devices. And we spend many hours surfing the Internet and visiting all kinds of websites. Sometimes it’s due to work-related reasons, although most of the time it’s just for leisure or sheer entertainment. In recent years, it seems that any concern can be solved by means of a simple click. The app revolution and — by extension — the web app development revolution, has brought everyone closer to a world in which new technologies are growing by leaps and bounds.

In our blog, we discussed what a mobile app is and all the kinds of mobile applications we can find. We’ll now be focusing on web apps and point out the pros and cons that we may encounter when developing this kind of web.

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What is a web app?

To begin with, we should mention that web app is a short way of saying a web application, i.e. an app that runs on a web browser. It’s easy to explain: it consists in creating a sort of direct link between your device’s desktop and an URL. That is, theoretically, you should be able to open in any browser the website you are interested in.

It’s highly recommended — or rather virtually mandatory — to have an optimised responsive website. This way all users will be able to navigate through it regardless of the operating system they are using.

Any respectable company must have a quality corporate website. It will help in developing an application later on. If you conceive your app as a web application, strive to have a decent portal on the Internet.

Web apps are possibly not the most efficient and recommended design available but everything will depend on which goal you want to achieve with it. Like with all kinds of applications, a web app has its advantages and disadvantages. This kind of application can be a quick and easy solution if you just want to establish a direct link to your website. We consider that developing an interpreted app is necessary if you want to go further.

In any case, web app development has its positive and negative side, as we have been discussing above. Let’s start with its advantages and later go on to see its disadvantages. Subsequently, it should be you who decides what suits your needs or preferences best.

You might be interested | Web Application Development: 5 relevant types and examples

Advantages of web app development

- Web apps are developed with programming languages such as HTML and CSS, which are well known among IT professionals.
- Unlike native apps, a single web app is able to reach out to all devices. It’s programmed to run on any operating system. It must appropriately adapt to iOS, Android, and Windows Phone — amongst other operating systems.
- These apps run on the device’s own web browser through a simple URL.
- They don’t need to be downloaded and installed from app stores like Google Play or Apple’s App Store. This translates into money-saving since having a direct link through a web app is free.
- They may also open websites. This means that they don’t require to be updated in the way common apps do. In this sense, it’s the website to which the application is linked that will be updated.
- The most important benefit you can draw off from it is its price. Web app development is the cheaper kind of app development. It consists of creating a link or several links between the application and an URL. Developing a native app or an interpreted app entails a higher cost but its chances to succeed are far greater.
- On the other hand, a web app’s development time is lower. Hence it’s lower price.

Disadvantages of creating a web app

As we indicated previously, a single web app is able to reach out to all devices. The website must, of course, be programmed in a way it can be shown regardless of the device’s operating system. If it’s not a responsive website, you could experience problems when displaying it on iOS, Android, or Windows Phone.
You will have to spend the money you intended to save developing the application in improving your website. It’s of no use to make a web app if you don’t adapt your website in a way it can be shown with quality on any device. Let’s keep in mind that the updates are done on your website and not on your web app.
If your website undergoes any kind of issue, your application will be in trouble too. Don’t assume that your web app will work perfectly if you don’t have a quality corporate website. For example, if the website’s URL takes some time to load or if uncomfortable ‘cookies’ show up when entering the website, accessing it through the application will entail the same issues. The problem is not inherent to your web app. It’s rather located in the website’s development.
An Internet connection will be an absolute must to run it. Otherwise, you will not be able to browse the website and the web app will be of no use to you.
It will also lose visibility as it will not be on display in the stores.
In addition, there will be some access restrictions as to certain hardware features of the device it’s running on.

surfing on the internet via iphone — Image by Rawpixel via Unsplash

Most relevant kinds of web apps

After having discussed the pros and cons of web apps, we want to remind you of an article that analysed the different web development examples.

This classification is made based on how web apps show the content they handle. We could distinguish up to 6 different kinds of web apps:

Static web application.
Dynamic web application.
Online store or e-commerce.
Portal web app.
Animated web application.
Web application with a ‘content management system’.

At Yeeply we believe that before developing an app project you must clear up any doubts that may arise over two fundamental questions: What do you want to achieve? What are you seeking with the app?

We insist that developing a web app is not the best solution, even if it may get you out of trouble at a given time. At Yeeply we’ll be glad to advise you if you are interested in developing an application. Don’t hesitate to ask for a budget and we will tailor it to your needs.

What is a web app?

Advantages of web app development

Disadvantages of creating a web app

Most relevant kinds of web apps

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