Web applications are changing the way we interact and do business. From Netflix to Zoom, to Instagram, and so on, Web applications have turned into household names among big brands.

A survey conducted by Top Firm Designs in 2021 revealed that about 50% of surveyed customers believed that website design is important to a website's overall branding.

While the above survey shows the importance of web development in this age, you should also know that you can’t achieve branding success with an unintuitive, less interactive, and low performing app.

And for this reason, in this article, we’ll be discussing the development processes involved in web development. So either you have an in-house development or you’re outsourcing the work, here are the stages involved in web development.

Proposal and Requirement Review

At this stage of development, you, only, have the vision of what you want to develop. There is no written document of what you want — you only have the idea in your head. This stage is usually the recruitment stage where you ensure your team (either in-house or outsourced) is on the same page with you. This stage aims to provide 100% clarity to everyone involved in the project.

Here, you ensure your team understands the goal, objectives, focused industry, target audience, features, and critical elements that would be included in the app. The proposal and requirement review stage is a critical stage because it determines the success of the project.

Planning and Blueprint Development

The planning stage comes after the ideation stage. Here, the team involved developed a working plan and blueprint for the project. Like architectural plans in building construction, the plans and blueprint, which include wireframe and flowchart, serve as a guardrail for whoever is involved in the project.

This stage ensures the team has a clear goal and are working towards the goal. The flowchart usually referred to as sitemaps, are sketches to determine the structures of the web apps. While the wireframes are the visual representations of the User Interface (UI).

Web App Designing

Once you have a clear plan and your team is on the same page as you, the next process is the development of the front end of the app. This stage is critical because it’s what connects your business with prospective customers and any flop can be detrimental to your business.

Here, your team of developers works with color schemes, graphics, icons, templates, style guides, buttons, transactions, and more to develop an interactive and intuitive web application.

Web Application Programming

If the design stage focuses on aesthetics, this stage (the programming stage) focuses on the core — the engine. Here, the backend engineers work on making the intuitive and interactive frontend designs work as intended.

At this stage, the programmers deploy APIs, build APP features, develop the security layers, add the integrated gateways, and make sure all the envisioned features function correctly.

Deployment and Launch

After the completion of the design and development stage, the next step is to test and deploy your completed project. This stage is also critical to the project just as the ideation stage is. Deploying a bugged program, for example, can be damaging to your business branding. It can even lead to revenue loss.

So before you deploy any project, ensure you test the app. This can be done by deploying a beta version and deploying in phases. This is to ensure nothing goes wrong.

App Maintenance

Be it a simple app, an e-commerce website, or a complex web application, every web application requires routine maintenance. With the maintenance phase in place, you can easily deploy new features, undertake product pivot, and launch another version of the app.

Final Words

As we said in the introduction, web development is considered important by most customers. Apart from increasing your firm’s branding, it amplifies your business and increases your brand's awareness.

However, while web development is essential, getting your ideas down and developing an app that aligns with what you want can be a bit tedious. But following the workflow discussed above will reduce the stress.