Changes in the application development industry are
happening at a frantic pace, like everything else related to the Internet. New
technologies, development environments and business strategies emerge every day
to challenge the status quo. To be a successful mobile app developer, you need
to know some differences between website and mobile app development.
Despite the tremendous rate of change, there is a variable
related to mobile application development that will continue to increase in
importance in the future: user experience. According to Nielsen Norman Group,
the user experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user interaction with
the company, its services, and its products.
A user's experience with software or websites is primarily
with the application's user interface. The user interface is defined as the
means by which the user and a computer system interact, in particular for the
use of input devices and software. To summarize, a user's experience is defined
through their interaction with an application's user interface.
Follow the
business and consumer technology industry
Mobile app developers would do well to follow the lead of
the enterprise and consumer technology industries. These industries have been
successful in leading the design process with user experience.
The mobile application development industry, compared to the
website development company UAE industry, is a
new and emerging field. When we started in 2009, there were only a handful of
companies looking to build mobile apps, and even fewer who could.
On the contrary, website development has been around for
more than 20 years. It is a fast maturing industry. Having been in the web development services USA industry for the past
sixteen years, I can tell you that it has been primarily technology that has
led the design process. We seek to build websites and user experience around
their interaction with technology.
Mobile
application development as an extension of website development
A common mistake many mobile app developers make is treating
their mobile app as a website with a smaller screen. Many app developers will
try to shrink their apps or websites to work on a mobile screen. While this is
a noble goal, many of these same applications have failed in terms of business
goals, especially if these applications were outwardly focused. In other words,
these applications did not attract the amount of downloads that was expected.
If downloaded, they were rarely used and in many cases removed from the mobile
device on which they were installed.
Mobile
application development based on the mobile experience
For mobile app development services
USA to be successful, we have learned to design for mobile devices first.
Unlike web and desktop design, the designer and developer have to do a lot more
with a lot less. They should also do so while providing a pleasant experience.
This is the mobile experience and it has many more limitations than website
design.
The mobile experience is not about software that works on
mobile phones. It is about moving or mobility. The devices that people are
using are their mobile phones, tablets, and soon, wearables like the iWatch.
The rules that applied to the development of desktop or laptop computers will
not necessarily apply to the extent that they once did. Mobility is about the
mobile experience and not so much about the device.
Therein lies
the challenge
As stated above, mobile app development requires the
developer to do much more with less compared to traditional web design. For
example, security and privacy considerations are very important when developing
mobile applications.
Website security and privacy updates are very easy for
websites. All you do is update the code on your production server. By contrast,
security and privacy updates for mobile apps require a lot more preparation and
planning. Mobile app updates must be delivered to the mobile device. As a
result, poor planning and mistakes when it comes to an upgrade can become
immediately apparent in a very important way. On the contrary, this is not the
case with the publication of the code of a website. The only users who will see
an error are those who visit your site.
A second difference we've seen with mobile app development has
to do with build cycles. New iterations and feature sets are much slower in
website development than with mobile devices. Previously, new functions and
features were released at regularly scheduled intervals. With Android Development team USA, new functions and
features may need to be implemented when required. In short, aspects of the
mobile application development and maintenance process have become increasingly
reactive compared to website development, which can be increasingly proactive.
Additional
differences between website and mobile app development
There are several additional differences between iOS development team USA and website development
that need to be taken into account. Bandwidth restrictions are much more
limiting with mobile app development. While download speeds are important in
website development, they are even more so in mobile app development because
there is a wide variety of download speeds in a wireless environment. Fast
download speed is a critical requirement when developing mobile applications.
A second difference has to do with the scalability of an
application on a website. An application should be designed assuming several
many more users at any given time compared to developing a website.
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