How to Build a Web Application: An Outline of the Major Steps

Web apps have become a new norm for startups, SMEs, and enterprises to venture into the tech world.

The main reason organizations have started focusing on building web apps is that they can be accessed on any platform. Besides this, there are other benefits of web apps such as they don’t require any kind of installation and multiple users can access the same version.

Considering the above benefits, if you have got an idea and want to convert it into a web app, that’s wonderful. Now, one of the most important questions that might have appeared in your mind is how to get started.

Web app development is a highly strategic process that involves various things from ideation to launch. Moreover, it is recommended to follow the latest web development trends to build a web application.

We have done an in-depth analysis and found essential steps that every business follows to build a successful web application.

In this blog, we will explain the entire journey of converting your concept into a fully functional web app that users fall in love with.

Step by Step Process to Create a Web Application

Follow the process given below for creating a web app from scratch:

Analyze Your App Idea

For building an effective web application, the first step is to evaluate your idea so that you don’t face issues in the later phases. To analyze the concept, you can ask yourself the following questions.

• What is the main purpose of building the web application?
• Is your app solving any real-life problem?
• How will you generate revenue from the web application?
• How much are you ready to spend on the web app?

Conduct Market Research

After analyzing your web app idea, the next important thing you have to conduct is market research. Here you should consider two main things:

• Is there any similar product available in the market?
• Is there a demand for your web application idea?

If there are various similar web apps in the market, it means that there is a demand for your web application.

On the other hand, if you have found a unique idea, then your web application might be the next big thing or you might be going in the wrong direction.

To validate your idea, you should check its demand in different places like Google Trends, popular SEO tools, forums, and social media.

Apart from this, you should also consider the questions given below:

• Who are your competitors? What are their pros and cons?
• What is your target audience?
• What do users expect from the leading web applications in the market?

Considering these questions properly, you must have built a detailed web app idea. And then you have to validate your idea effectively.

Create a Business Document

This is the most important step in the process of how to develop a web application. Here, you have to decide the type of web application you want to develop.

Ideally, web apps are categorized into two types: Simple and Dynamic. Further Dynamic web apps are classified into progressive, single-page, multi-page, animated, eCommerce, etc. To know about it, read our detailed guide on types of web applications.

After choosing the type of web application, the next important thing is to define all the features and functionalities that your app is going to perform.

If you are planning to integrate a vast number of features in the initial version, it will take a lot of time.

Therefore, we recommend you consider only the core features & functionalities that resolve the user’s problems. Later, you should update new/old features after collecting feedback from the target audience.

Sketch Your Web App

There are various stages of designing a web application. The first stage is sketching. Here, the main purpose is to put your ideas on paper.

You can make a rough sketch of your web app only when you have completed the above three steps thoroughly.

Here, sketch out the wireframe of your web app on the paper - don’t try to make it perfect. You have to only focus on navigation, branding, buttons, menu bars, and other essential things.

You must also sketch different variations of your web app and understand how the app’s functionality will affect the design. Later, you should explain in detail how your web app will function.

One of the essential things you can do is take notes and understand why you have included different designs in your web application.

Define the Entire Workflow of Your Web Application

In the next step of how to build a web app, you have to start thinking from the perspective of the end-user. Here, you have to consider market research again.

List out all of your competitors and install their web apps on your device. Then, thoroughly use these web apps & make a note of things you like and don’t like about them.

Check the workflow of your competitor apps. Analyze all the things in the workflow in detail. Then you have to decide the entire workflow of your web application.

Try to make different workflows for your web app. Please note some of the essential things given below:

• How does the user register into the web app?
• How does the user navigate from one screen to another?
• How can a user change their password?
• How do users change the settings of the web app? & so on & so forth.

By making a workflow, you will observe that your single-page web app turns into 15-20 pages.

Now, make a detailed list of all the pages of your web application.

Also, you should define different states of the page. For instance, a login page will have two states, i.e., log in via email/number or register for a new account.

Create Wireframe/Prototype of Your Web Application

In this step of how to build a web app, you have to convert the sketch of your web application into a wireframe/prototype. You may have a question, what is the wireframe/prototype?

A wireframe is a 2D low-fidelity of your web page representing the structure, layout, architecture, functionality, and expected behavior of the user.

In contrast, a prototype is a high-fidelity, clickable working model of the web application.

You should create a wireframe/prototype of your web application based on your time & budget.

If you are familiar with tools such as Sketch, Adobe XD, Balsamiq, etc. then you can create it yourself. Otherwise, you can approach a professional software development agency that provides mobile app prototyping services.

Collect Early Validation

After making a wireframe/prototype of your web application, you have the opportunity to present it to the world and collect feedback.

For instance, you can present your wireframe/prototype to the team members (if you have any) or friends and know their viewpoint.

Moreover, you can also post your design into forums or social media groups, or entrepreneur groups, in short, where your target audience lies and collect feedback from them.

Based on the feedback obtained from the target audience, make changes to your design accordingly.

Choose Database Architecture

Now you are familiar with the app’s overall functionality, visual appearance, and the total number of pages needed to build a web app. Hence, the time has come to decide the kind of information you want to store in the database.

You may have a question, what is a database? A database is nothing but a collection of data. Here, you have the option to store data on the disk, server, or both.

A Database Management System is a system that offers stable APIs to carry out functions as:

• Create, update, or delete into the databases
• Read & Write into the databases
• Secure access to databases, etc.

Based on your requirement for the web app, you can choose the database. Currently, there are a wide number of databases available in the market. Some popular databases in the industry are Oracle, SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and DB2.

Develop Your Frontend

Generally, in the process of how to build a web app, both front-end and back-end work is done by the developers parallelly. However, for the sake of your understanding, we have divided it into two parts.

Front-end is referred to as the development on the client-side, which can be viewed by a user. Some of the essential things in front-end development are UX designing, authentication, API integration, API Calls, routing, functionalities creation, web app responsiveness, etc.

All the above things can be achieved by using basic HTML, CSS, and JS.

However, if you want to integrate some high-end & intriguing functionalities into your web application, then you can go with popular front-end frameworks available in the market like React.js, Angular.js, Vue.js, etc. Out of which, AngularJS web application development is the preferred choice by the majority of web developers.

If you are not familiar with front-end development, you can hire front-end developers from a professional web development company.

Develop Your Backend

The main purpose of the backend is to serve HTTP endpoints to the front end.

In the back-end part, a lot of things need to be created. This includes a server-side application, database, business logic, database handling, API development, session management, authenticating users, etc.

To integrate all the above things into the web application, you will have to use a back-end framework. Some of the popular back-end frameworks in the market are Laravel, Express, CakePHP, Django, Spring, .Net Core, etc.

If you are not familiar with all these things and how to create back-end development, you can hire back-end developers from a leading web development company.

Testing

Testing is one of the most crucial parts of web application development. Even after your app is developed, it consists of a wide number of bugs. Back-end testing is highly important in identifying all the bugs in the web app and reducing them to the minimum.

There are a lot of ways to test a web application. Out of which, two are most popular: Automated Testing and Manual Testing.

Automated testing is useful for conducting different types of testing. However, it is pricey. On the other hand, manual testing is a cost-effective option to conduct testing of the entire web application. Also, web apps approved by humans are highly reliable and scalable.

If you are not a technical person, you can hire a Q/A tester for your web application. In the end, you need to ensure that your web application is error-free.

Purchase Domain & Hosting

After you have designed, developed, and tested your web application, the next important thing is deployment. However, for the deployment of your web app, you have to purchase a domain and hosting.

For those who don’t know, hosting is the process of running your web application on a specific server. As of now, there are various hosting services available in the market. This includes shared VPS, dedicated, cloud, and WordPress. Here, you have to choose hosting as per your project requirements & budget.

Launch Your Web Application

After you have carried out all the essential things mentioned above, it’s time to move the source code of your web application from the computer to the cloud server.

You may have a question, How to move the source code from the computer to the server?

To transfer code, you can take the help of various tools available in the market. Out of which, GitLab, BitBucket, and Github are some of the most popular ones.

Conclusion

Here we conclude the best way to create web applications from scratch. This includes various essential steps such as analyses of an idea, defining features & functionalities, converting into a wireframe, developing the web application, testing, and lastly deploying.

We hope all of your queries regarding the question, how to make a web app are now cleared.

Now, it’s your time to roll up your sleeves and start working on your web application project.

Whether you want to convert your existing website into a web app or build a new web app, you can approach a leading web application development company.