Web App Overview
Custom Web Applications
Looking for bespoke web or online application development? You’ve found the right place. Blueberry Consultants is an expert developer of online web applications and database-driven websites.
Web App Development
What is a Web Application? It’s a business system or application delivered over the Web. It might be an internal expenses application used only within a company (intranet); a reseller purchasing application used with partners (extranet); or an online system available to members of the public like an eBay or a holiday cottage search site.
Deciding whether a website might better be called an “application” can be tricky – but in general, if the site presents forms and stores data in a database – it’s a Web app.
Blueberry has been developing bespoke web apps for many years. Over this period, the Internet has seen vast expansion – and the tools and technologies available for web development have evolved beyond recognition.
Furthermore, as technology has progressed, so we’ve moved on to designing web applications that are Web 3.0 compatible. Web 3.0 provides a far more personalised browsing experience for all of us. Websites can automatically customise themselves to best fit our device, location, and any accessibility requirements we may have. Web apps are also becoming far more attuned to our usage habits.
Blueberry has all the skills required to deliver your online system:
- We have strong expertise with Microsoft IIS and ASP.NET – the leading Microsoft Platform for website delivery.
- We are experts in MS SQL Server, used at the server side to manage the database.
- We also have strong expertise in JavaScript and Angular – technologies necessary to deliver the interactivity required by website users.
Creating a bespoke ‘Web App’ or online system is a significant software development project, which requires careful management. You can read here about how we work with you to understand your needs and make sure we deliver the system you want.
If you’d like to understand more about the technologies we use to implement leading-edge custom online systems and web applications, please continue reading.
Hosting and Development Platforms for Web Apps
Blueberry primarily uses Microsoft tools for custom web application development – which means we use a Microsoft Server, which includes Microsoft IIS / ASP.NET as the web-server. We generally use Microsoft SQL Server as the back-end database.
We use Microsoft tools primarily because we believe they allow us to be more productive. We can write the system code using C#, which is a very modern and powerful language.
The major alternative to Microsoft technologies is Linux. You may hear the acronym “LAMP” mentioned – this stands for “Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP”, and refers to a collection of technologies commonly used together on Linux-hosted web-applications. We appreciate that the Linux platform has some strong benefits – notably that components are mostly free – and we see good sites being developed using LAMP. But most of our customers still use MS products, and we’re happy with this choice.
In truth, the vast majority of developers have strong expertise on only one platform – so very, very few people are really in a position to say “this platform is better”. And the right platform may well depend on exactly what sort of application is being developed.
Web Technology Overview
In the beginning, the web used HTML. HTML was originally a very simple way for people to write pages which included text, graphics – and links to other pages. The extreme simplicity of HTML powered it’s rapid adoption, and launched the Web.
HTML has since been massively extended, which has led to huge problems with browser compatibility which continue to cause web developers headaches on a day-to-day basis. The core problem is that HTML simply wasn’t designed for the purpose it is being used for – which means it doesn’t work that well.
In recent years, there has been a major push to find ways to develop “rich Internet applications” – i.e. websites which are significantly more interactive than plain-HTML sites, and provide users with more interesting and convenient ways to obtain information.
Blueberry has strong skills in AngularJS, Flash and HTML5 application development. If you’d like to know more about web programming technologies, see our Web Programming Technologies page, where you’ll find unbiased information on Java, JavaScript, AJAX, HTML5, ASP.NET vs. PHP & Drupal, and Databases.
The following is a brief summary of the competing technologies for Rich Internet Application development:
Geolocation Systems
Tracking systems used on vehicles can be fitted to any piece of movable property.
Shoes/Clothes
Equipped with a pedometer/heart rate module.
Access Control
Any sort of door, safe, cabinet etc. intended to control access will be equipped with three-factor authentication, with smart token, biometric and password capability.
We're easy to talk to - tell us what you need.
CONTACT USDon't worry if you don't know about the technical stuff, we will happily discuss your ideas and advise you.
Birmingham: 0121 285 6404
London: 020 3867 9404
Email: enquiries@bbconsult.co.uk