How to Build a Business Website: Web Development Principles That Work

Today, a web solution has become a key tool for the company’s growth. It is not necessary to write your own code and create a website; you just need to recruit an outsourced team of developers to do all the stages of development, from Discovery Phase to uploading the project to the site. However, understanding the basic principles of web development helps clients to formulate goals more clearly, set correct tasks for the team, and distribute the budget more rationally. 

In this post, we will analyze why even a basic understanding of web development is useful for business owners, what risks are hidden by improvisation when launching projects, and what practical steps will help create a solid foundation for your online presence.

Web Development And Key Stages

Web development is the process of building, designing, and maintaining web solutions and web applications that run online. It involves a combination of technical and creative tasks, including writing code, developing the frontend and backend, planning the architecture, web design, testing, uploading the project to the server, and further technical support.

In particular, specialists of various profiles and qualifications are involved in web development. For example, project managers are responsible for organizing the development of the project from A to Z. Web developers of different levels (junior, middle, senior) and qualifications (frontend, backend, full-stack) write and conduct initial testing of their own code, and designers are responsible for creating an aesthetic and functional interface design. The development team also includes QA engineers who test the site and its parts for functionality, using manual and automatic tools.

Discovery Phase and Documentation Writing Web Solution

Every high-quality web project begins with the Discovery Phase, creating a wireframe and writing documentation. It all starts with a person coming to a development company with their idea, and the company should verify and check how viable and unique the client’s idea is. Thus, the company analyzes competitors with similar ideas and their presence in general.

The next step in the Discovery Phase is to check the audience and mentions of the client’s ideas by other users on forums and sites. Then, the technical feasibility of implementing the idea is checked. For example, if a person wants to make a website selling airline tickets, then a company checks the technical feasibility of implementing such a project. For example, they check whether it is possible to access information about tickets and find different sources where they can find this information, and on what terms.

The results of the search are drawn up in the corresponding Discovery Phase document, which contains sections of general research, technical research, and social research. This document allows a company and a customer to accurately see the concept of the project, the possibility of technical feasibility of implementation. After conducting the Discovery Phase, the stage of creating technical documentation and mockups begins. Depending on the type of project, a company can only make mockups and start the development process without documentation. Or only documentation without a wireframe is needed, and this makes sense with projects where there is only a dashboard. If the project still requires mockups, a company transfers these mockups to the designer. And then the development process begins.

The Standard Procedure of Website Design

Creating a website design is done in several stages. First, the designer collects requirements and wishes from the client on how the site should look, including the color palette, general page design, and details such as buttons and other visual elements. The designer can also work with a ready-made first sketch from the client. However, if the client does not know how his site should look, the company can conduct an additional analysis of competitors and their designs. During the analysis, the designer highlights the interfaces’ main features that will be relevant for the future project.

A designer creates the first mockups of the interface of the future project, which the client must approve. If the client is not satisfied with the initial mockup, the designer makes additional edits until the client finally approves them. After approving the mockup, the designer begins to create a more functional interface with an approved color scheme and more details. If the client fully approves the final design, then it is put into operation and tested.

The most popular instruments for design creation, used by designers worldwide, include Figma, Balsamiq, Adobe XD, Miro, etc.

Front-End Development

Front-end development includes the building of the user interface and the processes of user interaction with the interface. As a rule, technologies such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and frameworks like React and Vue are most often used for front-end development.

The key aspects of front-end development are the following:

• Interface development. It’s the development of the visible part of the site, including buttons, menus, and images. The development is carried out in such a way that the interface looks both aesthetically pleasing and functional. At this stage, the front-end developer actively collaborates with the designer who created the interface for the web solution.
  
• Interactive processes. This includes the development of interactive processes and interface elements such as animation, which makes the interface more lively and dynamic.
  
• Adaptive design. This refers to work on an interface whose design is adapted not only for PCs, but also for other devices such as tablets, smartphones, etc.

How We Develop Back-End

Backend development is responsible for creating and maintaining the server-side of the site, which handles the logic, connecting backend logic with the frontend to make it work, responsible for database interaction, and integration with external services, as well as security.

One of the main responsibilities of a backend developer is to write code that processes the user’s request, stores and transmits data, and also provides the smooth operation of the entire application. In particular, the backend developer creates server logic, manages databases, provides support, integrates with external sites, ensures the protection of personal data and the prevention of cyber threats, and identifies and eliminates errors in the code.

Unit tests. This is the basic level of testing that checks the correct operation of individual modules or functions. Thanks to unit tests, developers can quickly detect errors in the code logic at an early stage, before they affect other parts of the system. 

Tools We Use For Integration Between Frontend and Backend

After the frontend and backend have been developed, the stage of integrating the client part with the server part begins. The main purpose of this stage is to ensure correct data exchange between the user and the system. To connect the frontend and backend, developers use APIs, GraphQL, and the WebSocket tool. 

API serves as a tool for a standard architecture for exchanging data between the client and the server. To increase the efficiency of requests and obtain the data, we use GraphQL in our work. This technology helps reduce the load on the server and speed up the interface. They use WebSocket to create chats, trading platforms, or online notification systems, where instant information transfer between the client and the server is important.

When working with a combination of frontend and backend, developers test data exchange between the client and server, checking whether all requests and responses are processed correctly. In particular, they handle errors so that users do not encounter technical failures or delays, and the system can quickly respond to possible problems. Developers pay special attention to optimizing queries – they reduce their number, combine frequently requested data into common structures, and apply caching. This approach increases page loading speed and overall web solution performance.