Web App Design: Tips to Do It Right

Web applications shape the modern Internet. We use Facebook for communications, Amazon for shopping, GitHub for software Development collaboration, ChatGPT for text generation, watch videos on YouTube, and utilise many, many other less-known apps for our various purposes. A good app is always centred on you, the app’s user. So, here we’ll review the diverse world of web applications with various examples and focus on their usability and convenience.

You’ll find many ​​user-friendly web app design tips, instructions on user-centred app development and common mistakes during that. So, let’s start!

Web applications: What are they?

Web applications include everything you connect using the Internet, whether your web browser or mobile phone. They are generally easier to develop than mobile apps, although the general principles are similar. Let’s overview how they are created and see their various types and examples.

How are they created?

Web app design and development require prototyping and coding. A good prototype is the schematic representation of the product and its structure, which then will be used as a pattern for growth. Code makes the app work as intended, including its interactive elements and all features.

Prototyping is the creation of the app’s basic structure and functionality. It includes designing the colours used there, fonts, interactive elements, and all other interface parts. The prototype will show the developers how the app will look and become a ground for creating the minimum viable product (MVP), an application that realises its mission but without all additional features.

App’s code development includes the creation of the front-end and back-end parts. The former determines the web page look and interactive elements of the interface, while the latter formulates the app’s logic in information processing, defining its features. After the code is ready, it’s necessary to check the app’s functionality and test it with various users on various platforms.

To do these things right and obtain a user-friendly application, you must engage in user research to understand who’ll use your app and market research to determine your place among competitors. Market research includes collecting information about the industry, such as graphs and predictions, identifying key competitors, and calculating possible revenues. See below the software development market prediction as the relevant example.

User research is deeply interconnected with user experience design (UX), which focuses on creating user personas to analyse customers and determine their behaviour when interacting with the app. It enables designers to create the best possible interface, which’ll be the most suitable. It also includes user testing connected with the functionality tests mentioned before. Still, it aims to identify the user experience gaps and flaws to understand how the app’s behaviour may be improved.

Types

You can imagine all possible actions using the Web and its opportunities to proceed with information on various levels. For each of them, you’ll find a web application. We’ll provide the seven most apparent types just as an example, and you can easily add as many examples as you’ll remember and combine them.

• E-commerce applications for online shopping, money management, and payments. They require payment gates and robust security protocols. 
• Social media platforms for connecting people and sharing content and information. They require user profiles, newsfeeds, posts, comments, connections, customisation, and media-sharing features.
• Content management systems (CMS) to create, manage, and publish digital content on websites. They often also include version control features.
• Online learning (e-learning) platforms for delivering educational courses, sharing training materials, managing students, and planning educational activities.
• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems to manage interactions and relationships with customers. They also include sales tracking and analytics features.
• Project management applications help plan, track, and manage projects and tasks. So, they provide task assignments, deadlines, progress tracking, collaboration tools, and reporting features.
• Entertainment applications include various browser games, gaming communities, and apps for streaming. Their functionality includes high interactivity and a focus on delivering experiences.

Examples

The number of various web apps is enormous. We’d described these types as enabling very loose interpretations and realisations. For example, multiple types of social, shopping, entertaining, and learning apps may exist. And many of them can be all three types simultaneously, connecting communication interfaces, educational opportunities, and in-app purchases!

Facebook

• Social media for connecting people.
• It has user profiles, newsfeeds, friend requests, messaging, media sharing, and groups.
• Users communicate, share, exchange information, read, and play small games here. Also, it’s widely used for advertising.
• It collected a massive user base and significant ad revenues using its easy-to-use interface and constant innovation.

Shopify

• An e-commerce platform for creating and managing online stores.
• Enables broad store customisation, management, analytics, and robust security tools.
• Businesses may set up and run online stores here, managing products and orders.
• Shopify's success comes from its user-friendly interface, scalability, and extensive app ecosystem, so millions sell their goods here.

Zoom

• A video conferencing platform.
• Enables video and audio calls, screen sharing, chat, and recording.
• Individuals and businesses conduct virtual meetings and webinars here, so it’s indispensable for online work and education.
• Zoom skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of online work/learning due to its ease of use and reliable performance.

Google Drive

• A cloud-based file storage, productivity suite, and collaboration platform.
• It provides document editing and enables real-time collaboration directly in them. File sharing and integration with other Google services are also available.
• Here, users create and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online and store their files.
• Google Drive has a comprehensive integration with the Google ecosystem and is highly useful for real-time online collaboration.

Asana

• A project management and team collaboration platform.
• Enables task assignments, deadline setting, progress tracking, and project visualisation.
• Teams use Asana to plan, manage, and track projects and tasks.
• Asana has an intuitive interface that can streamline project management, so it has become very popular.

Canva

• A graphic design and visual content creation platform.
• It has intuitive drag-and-drop design tools, templates, and stock images.
• Individuals and businesses can easily create eye-catching visuals here, even in a free version. They are suited for social media, marketing, and presentations.
• Canva has a user-friendly interface and enables people to create tasty designs without extensive design skills, so it has become trendy.

Udemy

• An online learning platform for course creators and learners.
• It has a course catalogue, video lessons, quizzes, and certificates of completion. Everyone may register and submit their course.
• Learners enrol in courses to acquire new skills and knowledge, while specialists share their knowledge and earn money.
• Udemy's success is due to its extensive course offerings, affordability, and ample opportunities for course creators.

GitHub

• A platform for version control and software development collaboration.
• It provides repository hosting, code versioning, pull requests, and issue tracking. Also, some people use it as a blog platform.
• Developers use GitHub to collaborate on code, review changes, and manage software projects.
• GitHub has a distinctive role in open-source software development, so it became a central hub for developers to collaborate.

SoundCloud

• An online audio distribution platform.
• It enables audio uploads, playlists, and social features for sharing and engagement.
• Musicians, artists, and podcasters use SoundCloud to share their work and connect with audiences.
• SoundCloud focuses on emerging independent artists, fostering a vibrant music community, which is why it is popular.

As you see, all these apps are very different, but they solve various needs and desires of customers, and all of them work with information in some way. A social media (Facebook), an e-commerce platform (Shopify), a graphic design app (Canva), and a productivity tool (Asana): of them combine various types of web applications to realise their mission of making the world better. 

Now, let’s see how various apps are integrated and review the principles of user-friendly app creation.

Integrations

The web is about information exchange and interconnecting various information sources and applications. That’s why app integration is indispensable to any talk about web applications. You should consider how your app will communicate with others, how users can register, and whether other app developers can embed it into their products. Let’s see; you’ll decide whether to develop an API (probably, as a service) or utilise some web communication protocol.

API (application programming interface) is a typical way for an application to be embedded into another one or connect with it otherwise. If an app provides an API, another app’s developers may embed its functionality into their product. It’s the most popular approach: for example, map applications use it to add their maps to various services, translation services sell their APIs for translation, and endless other services use it too.

Webhooks are messages which apps send when something happens for which they’re programmed. Such triggered reaction enables real-time communication between applications. One sends HTTP requests to notify other applications when specific events occur. It allows instant data and update synchronisation.

Single sign-on (SSO) enables users to access multiple applications with a single login. It improves the user experience, enhances security, and is widely used between various apps (remember how many times you’ve registered using only your Gmail).

OAuth is an authorisation framework that allows users to grant limited access to their accounts to other applications without sharing their credentials. It is commonly used for social media login and third-party app integrations: probably, you’ve used it on your Facebook, for example.

Data import/export functionalities can be explicitly created during the app development. After that, everyone who uses the app can download the data in various forms, from ordinary documents to tables and custom files, and then another app can take and interpret them.

Embedding is a simple option of adding some web app to another one or placing it on a website without an API. Web applications use inline frames (iframes) or custom HTML, which you may paste directly into your page’s HTML code. It allows seamless integration of functionality and content.

Messaging protocols like WebSocket or MQTT (for the Internet of Things) enable real-time data exchange and event-driven interactions. Apps can use them for communication, similar to Webhooks, but they allow two-way communication, which is usually more efficient. 

Web services for application integration are present, too, and a bright example is the Amazon Web Services suite. They help applications exchange data over the Internet, and you can use them.

Web app design: Meaning and principles

A web application requires hard work to build it. So, after exploring the essence of web apps, let’s talk directly about design and development! They include creative tasks, app logic development, a lot of coding, and testing. 

Usually, you’ll start with the branding and creating the app’s prototype and interface, and then we’ll cover user research and why UX is indispensable here. Then, we’ll talk shortly about the coding and review how to bring them all together, showing possible mistakes and how to avoid them. Each is a component of the final picture, so we’ll also provide a short instruction for bringing them all together.

Web applications utilise HTML, CSS, and JavaScript languages to develop an interactive front-end interface connected to the database and information proceeding facilities, which are the app’s back end. Here, we won’t cover the back-end peculiarities, as we’re focusing on the application's design, which is the crucial element of the app’s front end.

So, let’s see the general-purpose web app development algorithm based on everything you’ve read here. You can adjust it for your app’s case, and the main objective here is to make your app user-centred.

1. Ideation and planning: The base of your app
   Here, you’ll define your main idea, mission, and project roadmap and set all fundamental deadlines. Develop a brand, and choose the right colours, font, and vibes your app must have. All of them will become the distinctive element of your app and push its development.

2. User Research: Who’ll use it?
   Identify your target audience, their pain points, and expectations. Create a user persona to add a typical user’s preferences and expectations. Develop user flows and journeys, showing you how exactly your app will realise its functionality and then correct them with testing on subsequent stages. They’ll become the ground for your prototyping and feature implementation.

3. Market Research: What’s your place?
   Analyse the competitive landscape and similar apps in the market to identify unique selling points and areas of differentiation. Implement these insights into your development plan and determine your app’s budget. Then, search for investors if you need additional money for your project.

4. Prototyping: How it’ll look?
   First, create wireframes and mockups to visualise the app's layout and design. Gather feedback from your team, investors, and potential users. Then, develop a prototype of your app resembling its final look.

5. Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Your first move
   First, select the appropriate technology stack for the app's development. Which languages and frameworks you’ll use, and which databases you’ll connect to proceed with the information? Develop the app's core features to create an MVP, focusing on the most essential functionality.

6. Testing: How it works?
   Conduct various tests by using apps on multiple devices to solve problems it intends to solve. Identify and fix bugs and errors connected with functionality, usability, and compatibility.

7. Feedback: How it goes?
   Gather feedback from your first users, connect it with all technical requirements, and create an improvement plan, which you will use to leverage and improve your application.

8. Leveraging: Coding and development
   Develop an app according to your prototype and implement all required advanced features, refining and leveraging your MVP. Focus on code clarity and efficiency here.

9. Beta testing: Your second move
   Release the app in a closed beta version to a limited audience and gather their feedback to identify any remaining issues.

10. Release and launch: Your final move
    Prepare the app for a full public launch and deploy it on the chosen hosting platform as a website. At this stage, develop the API and other integration facilities and connect all third-party apps which’ll be necessary for your functionality.

11. Maintenance updates and support: Remaining user-friendly!
    Monitor the app's performance and user feedback closely to update it based on their needs. Conduct regular tests to identify flaws, bugs, and vulnerabilities. Also, maintain a customer support team to answer all their questions and solve usability issues.

Bringing all together: Common mistakes in web app design

All components of your web app design and all code your team has developed must be brought together to form the end version of your product. At the start, as mentioned, it’ll be an MVP, which will show you how much your idea is viable. After you test it, you’ll add new features and automatise many of them, but refining and modifying the MVP differs from developing the product from scratch.

Let’s overview common mistakes which you may face while bringing everything together. It’s an excellent approach to start by positioning possible errors and correcting them as soon as they begin to reveal. So, what you’ll probably face during the web app research, design, development, and building?

Inadequate user research is a danger that’ll make you unprepared for everything you’ll face during the release of your app and after that. Not conducting user research to understand the audience's preferences and user behaviours will lead to a design that doesn't comply with their expectations and doesn’t solve anything, probably causing only irritation.
🟢 Make sure you have user research in your schedule and a separate workflow. 

Poor UX data utilisation can become an obstacle, too, even if you don’t ignore the user research. Your feedback, user personas, and other instruments should be the ground for your decisions. Otherwise, you’ll miss your opportunities for improvement and optimisation.

🟢 Your UX research and design workflow should be deeply interconnected with all development stages, so ensure the proper information exchange.

Lack of clarity in branding includes unclear colours, symbols, and other visual elements representing your idea. While it may seem more like art, it’s deeply intertwined with your app’s marketing and how your interface will look. So, failing to establish a clear and consistent branding identity makes it difficult for users to recognise and remember the application.

🟢 Your brand determines how your app will work and solve users' problems. It’s the symbolic interactive representation of your vision and mission. Make sure that your brand includes everything you want to cover in your brand

Ignoring responsiveness, which means creating a design that adapts to different screen sizes and devices, must be corrected. Your app will be used from various interfaces, so test how it looks on each. Otherwise, it will result in a poor user experience.

🟢 Your app should work on all devices with access to its features. It won’t be user-friendly 

Inconsistent interaction is a critical mistake that you should handle carefully. It includes inconsistent buttons, navigation, sounds, moving forms, and various gamification features. They profoundly influence the users’ attention, and if they work wrong, they can confuse users, so they’ll be unable to accomplish their tasks, leaving your app dissatisfied.

🟢 Pay attention to your app’s structure and which user flows you want to organise for your customers. Only then add interactive elements to facilitate these flows, so all of them will serve the same purposes.

An inefficient code structure is when developers use weak algorithms and decisions which use excessive memory and CPU, leading to slower loading. Also, it includes disorganised code, which is hard to understand and thus creates problems with collaboration.

🟢 Make sure you and your developers annotate the code, use clear structure to write your application and test all decisions, ensuring quick debugging and loading.

Insufficient testing during development and before launch is also connected with your app’s quality. It can lead to bugs, functionality issues, and user experience flaws. All of that will hinder your app’s performance significantly.

🟢 A user-friendly app becomes so only after testing, based on precise data and analysis results, so schedule regular app tests in your team and for various audiences!

Lack of collaboration between designers, testers, developers, and project managers will lead to discrepancies between the design and implementation.
🟢 This problem is often the core of many others, so ensure the proper and meaningful information exchange between all team members!

Summary: Keys to successful web app design

A user-friendly and convenient web app design is necessary to achieve success with your application. So, let’s summarise what we’ve learned here in several tips!

• Start with a robust idea and work it out to see how it can change the world and help people.
• Focus on user research and construct verified user flows, basing your interface design on them.
• Develop a responsive application and ensure it can be easily accessed from any device.
• Ensure good cooperation and meaningful communication in your team.
• Conduct testing on the MVP and subsequent stages to obtain as much user data as possible.

Conclusion

Web applications composite a large market, including various tools and websites for fulfilling people’s needs and purposes. To enter it successfully, your app design must be user-friendly, meaning it’ll be convenient and solve some specific range of customers’ problems, meeting their expectations.

To do this, invest your time in user research and develop a plan which enables you to build your app based on the user preferences and solve actual problems. Using the development plan presented here and utilising some tips, as well as avoiding mistakes, you’ll significantly increase the success chances of your project.

Author Bio: Aleksander founded Purrweb, an app development agency. Over the last eight years, this agency has designed and developed more than 300 MVPs for clients worldwide.

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