5 Mistakes In Web App Development And How To Avoid Them
With more people doing their transactions on the internet, the appeal of using web applications continues to experience robust growth. Consumers are turning to these apps which give them convenience and productivity in doing most of their daily tasks. Although there are free versions, a lot of apps with paid versions also rake in enormous revenues for their developers.
Common Errors In Web App Development
As market demand and consumer appetite for apps continue to grow, more developers and tech companies are investing funds and resources into app development. If you wish to know more about this, you can navigate to this site.
Here are a few common mistakes in web app development and some tips on how to avoid them:
- Making One When There’s No Need For It
The first mistake in most web app development is to make one when people don’t need it. No matter how awesome or creative your idea might seem, you have to ask yourself whether your target users have a genuine need for it.
There are already around 2.1 million downloadable apps available on the internet and in major app stores. If you’re planning to build and develop a web application, it’d be best to pinpoint exactly what needs your app is going to solve.
You can avoid this mistake by doing the following:
- Research about the existing apps offered in app stores and see if they already have most of the services and features you plan to offer
- Check how many times similar apps were downloaded
- Read app reviews and comments to know how users responded to the services offered by similar apps
- Starting Without Understanding Your User
Once you’ve made up your mind that there’s a genuine need for your app, the next thing you have to remember is you shouldn’t start building your app until you have a good understanding of your imagined user. Apps will be downloaded by actual users, but they’ll only be utilized by those who have a need for them.
Build your app based on how an actual user would make use of it. Don’t design something based on your tech fancies and then hope the market would just love your app.
You can avoid this mistake by checking the latest web app development trends and doing the following:
- Coming up with a rigorous and thorough persona for your imagined users, including their needs and preferences
- Reading marketing studies or surveys on consumer opinions and insights about the services you intend to offer with your app
- Putting Too Many Functionalities
Some app developers have this misconception that they have to put all their creative ideas and stuff their app development with as many functionalities as they can. It’s probably based on the notion that users would be impressed if there are a lot of features in an app.
But the reality is your user has a lot of other things to do other than to explore your app. They downloaded yours because they think it could do a thing or two for them that other apps can’t. Putting too many functionalities would tend to overwhelm the user, especially if they get lost in navigating.
You can avoid this mistake by doing the following:
- Read app reviews, including commentaries of actual users to get their feedback on the functionalities of similar apps
- Do surveys and focus group discussions to test the functionalities you want to include, considering the opinions and insights of people who’d serve as your potential users
- Making It Too Memory-Heavy
Whenever a user downloads an app, they know it’s going to take up memory space on their computer or handheld device. But they’re not going to download your app alone as they’re likely to download several others which they think they’d need in the future.
The thing with heavy apps, though, is they take up a lot of memory, and they can slow down computer and device systems. This is one of the common reasons why users uninstall apps they’ve downloaded.
Users decide to uninstall an app when it’s slowing down their devices or if they need to make room for another. You can avoid this mistake by doing the following:
- Optimizing your application package by reducing the resource size and eliminating unused resources
- Compressing image files and relying on vector graphics
- Using the app size analyzer to identify and execute various app size optimizations strategies
- Continuously Enlarging Memory With Updates
Another mistake of most web app developers is when they make apps that continuously increase memory uptake with every update. These require their users to allow periodic updates, or the users won’t be able to use the app. This can be annoying to some, although most appreciate the updates when these improve or enhance the essential features.
However, some app developers do it in such a way that the app’s memory uptake keeps going up with each update. The result is, in time, the app would occupy more space on the user’s computer or handheld device. This would either slow down the gadget or there’d be pop-up notifications telling the owner to delete other apps to free up some space.
You can avoid this mistake by making sure the updates to your app won’t result in significant increases in the memory size. Also, consider whether it’s a necessity to update by reading the description of the new patch release. If it seems insignificant, then it’d be fine not to install it.
Having Simple Problem-Solving Tools
At the end of the day, what app developers have to keep in mind is they should keep their apps simple yet relevant in solving the problems and needs of their potential users. As long as their app fulfills this, then it’s unlikely to be uninstalled.
To do this, they should have a clear grasp of their users’ preferences and keep their apps light and easy to use. After all, what people want is convenience. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you develop your latest web app that users will enjoy.