In the early days of the internet, web apps were purely “static.” The content was coded in HTML and could not be modified unless edited by a webmaster. Now while the static web apps are still in use, they have largely fallen out of favor within development projects though due to their inability to adapt to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
As more and more people use mobile devices to access the internet, businesses are trying to find ways in which they could offer a good user experience both on their desktop websites and mobile ones. This is where they start considering alternatives to static websites, like dynamic or responsive pages. How are they different?
Static web apps: Static pages are among the simplest kinds of web apps as they consist of a fixed number of pre-rendered pages with hardcoded, pre-determined content and structure. This means that each user will see exactly the same content regardless of their location, browser, or device used. While this type of web app is cheaper and easier to create, they are not very convenient for modern users, especially those who use mobile devices. For companies that only need a simple web app with a few pages, a static one can still work well though.
Dynamic web apps: Unlike static web apps, the content shown on dynamic web app can be customized for each user based on the information stored in the web app’s database. This makes them far more popular with users because the web app can provide relevant content, responsive design, offers, and suggestions based on what the users did previously on the web app. Dynamic pages are also easier to update because the webmaster only has to make changes to the database record to alter the content.
Hybrid web apps: Hybrid web apps are the “best of both worlds” as they can include both static and dynamic elements on the web app to create a single uniform design for desktop development or other development projects.
Mobile web apps: Although a mobile web app might look like a smaller version of a desktop site, this isn’t exactly true. As mobile device screens are much smaller and our fingers aren’t as precise as mouse cursors, opening a desktop website on a mobile device can be tricky (if not impossible). A good mobile website adapts the content and navigation to suit the screen size so that mobile visitors can find the information or take action as quickly as possible. Additionally, images, videos, and animations are usually removed as well, due to bandwidth restrictions on people’s data plans, as well as their tendency to slow down the mobile web apps.
Responsive web apps: Most companies today opt for responsive web design as it can provide the best experience for users regardless of the device they use. Those pages are designed to adjust themselves to fit on any size screen and device, from the biggest desktops to the smallest smartphones, ensuring that the web app looks good and works fast both on mobile phones but also on tablets or desktops.
Custom web apps: A custom web app is specifically created for your brand, product, or company and is tailored to your target audience. If you would like something that stands out from the rest of development basics or have a complex web app in mind with multiple features and content types, then custom design might be what you need.
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