How to Choose the Best Technology Stack for Web Application Development: 10 Tips to Know

Choosing the right technology stack for web application development is a crucial first step in the entire project lifecycle. It's a backbone in tailoring the product to your goals, strengthening its performance, and increasing the productivity metrics of the developer in charge of the project.

The right tech stack ensures that your product is quality and meets customers' expectations. Choosing the right technology stack for web development aligned with your product needs before the start prevents a huge number of all future issues concerning fixing or updates cases. That definitely can save a pretty significant budget sum and time.

This article reveals the main tips that can guide you on how to select a technology stack. You'll find out up-to-date information about current trends. Moreover, we'll talk about the front-end and back-end development and factors to put in place before considering an ideal tech stack for web development to choose from.

Read Also: How much does it cost to hire a back-end developer

Tech stack and web development process

In website and web app development, there is usually the client-side (front-end) and server-side (back-end) parts of a tech stack.

Here is a basic presentation of these two sides workflow:

In website and web app development, there is usually the client-side (front-end) and server-side (back-end) parts of a tech stack.

Here is a basic presentation of these two sides workflow:

Each web app consists of layers that are built atop the one below, forming a stack. Because of this, the components of the stack are extremely interdependent. You can create your web application from a variety of tools, frameworks, and programming languages.

But now, there is such a wide choice that it can be difficult to define what is perfect for your idea. And in order to understand what technologies are used to develop web applications, you need to study a number of relevant content.

The choice of which technology to use for either front-end or back-end development is then dependent on a number of factors. Let's start with the front-end toolkit for product development.

You can delegate this work to a software development company that can choose the best stack for your web application.

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Front-end development technology stack

Front-end, e.g., from client-side web development, refers to everything users see on their screens.

According to Statista, as of 2021, JavaScript and HTML/CSS were the most commonly used programming languages among software developers worldwide. Nearly 65 percent of respondents used JavaScript, and just over 56 percent used HTML/CSS.

• HTML, e.g., Hypertext Markup Language is a standardized system used for tagging text files on World Wide Web pages. It is used to input font type, color, graphics, and hyperlink effects. It describes the structure of Web pages using markup.
• CSS means Cascading Style Sheets. It is a style sheet language that describes how the document written in HTML will be displayed on the users' screens. As the name implies, it is useful for styling the outlook of a markup text. CSS can reflect HTML code applying easily different fonts, sizes, colors, formats.
• JavaScript is a programming language that is commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. With JavaScript code, HTML web pages can become interactive and even personalized for each user.

Front-end makes it possible for the users to interact with the application by applying a different framework with that purpose.

HTML and CSS toolkit

There are several frameworks used for HTML and CSS. Some of them include:

• Bootstrap
• Foundation
• Bulma
• UIkit
• Susy
• Materialize
• Pure

The most popular among them are Bootstrap and Foundation. While Bootstrap uses HTML, CSS, and jQuery libraries to make responsive web pages, Foundation is ideal for developing agile, responsive websites.

JavaScript frameworks for front-end development

Modern web applications use JavaScript in the front-end. The most popular javascript frameworks are Angular, React, and Vue.js (the progressive javascript framework). These trios are the best java framework for web applications.

Read Also: Svelte JS for web app development

Back-end development technology stack

Now, in the case of the back-end or server-side development stack, there is a lot more. It consists of the entire business logic of your product work. The back-end executes CRUD operations, an acronym for Create, Read, Update, and Demand operations. The back-end development would include:

• The operating system of the development process
• Web server setup
• Database storage setup
• The programming language used
• Web development framework for faster and easier development

In back-end technology, there are many programming languages. Those most commonly used are:

While a few types of back-end tech stack would include the following:

Wins stack

Windows Internet Naming Service (Wins) is another back-end stack that consists of windows server, internet information services, .Net, and Microsoft SQL Server. It is a system that is used to determine the IP address associated with a particular network computer. The OTRO app was built with the Wins stack.

Xampp (X, Apache, MySQL or MariaDB, PHP, Perl) stack

Xampp toolkit consists of X, Apache, MySQL or MariaDB, PHP, Perl. AMP stack lets you install Apache, MySQL, PHP on your computer, and other useful software. It has been designed to provide you an easy installation experience.

Serverless stack

The serverless computing service provides a platform for users to develop, run, and manage application functionalities without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app. In other words, it enables developers to write and deploy codes, to build and run applications and services without thinking about servers.

With the serverless computing service, you will need fewer servers to run and manage your project. Other benefits to be enjoyed will include:

• You don't need to worry about hosting runtime
• It is cost-effective, as you would only be required to pay what your application consumes
• You don't need to worry about the application has grown in demand because it is scalable
• The provider manages security, software updates
• Easy integration with other services offered by the provider
• Fast time to application deployment and changes

An example of these serverless platforms would be AWS Lambda. It was one of the first platforms.

Summarising this part on the most efficient tech stack types for web apps, the key idea on that staff is that your choice on some or another set of technologies for web application development should be based primarily on the functional and quality requirements you want to build in your software. If, with that web application tech stack, you can develop all desired functions and features you want to have in your product, then, probably, it's the right choice.

We develop web apps for businesses from a wide range of industries:

• Real estate
• Healthcare
• Video conferencing
• Fintech
• Entertainment
• Sport betting
• E-commerce
• Enterprise
• Cryptocurrency exchange/trading
• ICO services packages

We can offer innovative solutions that improve the results and meet the goals.

Read also: How to Create a Cryptocurrency Exchange

We're using the following popular tech stacks for web development:

10 TIPS to choose the best technology stack for web development

However, aligning tech stack development opportunities with your product-required functionalities might not be enough in each case, as there are some tips you need to discover while choosing your technology stack for web development. It cannot be taken haphazardly, so it requires much thought, research, and consultation.

Let's dig deeper into the main tips that can guide you on your choice of the best tech stack for web development.

1. The size & complexity of the project

The tech stack needed for a small project will vary from a mid-sized or even a large project. It's a key factor to watch out for in the choice of a tech stack. Aside from the size, the complexity of the project also matters. The more complex the project is, the more thorough the programming language to be used.

2. The product specification and functionality

When you choose a technology stack for your project, you need to be sure that you define your target audience's needs and what functionalities your product should have to solve these problems. It makes sense to run this step after or with market research to find out what products already exist and what additional specifications your software needs to have to beat the competition.

3. Products' required functions, speed, and performance

It's the same as the factor mentioned above. It goes forward to double-check on the efficiency and compatibility rate of pairing a project and the best tech stack for web apps. Here, the performance, speed expected, and the functions the project is supposed to perform to its users go a long way in determining which tech stack to use.

4. System load requirements

It's another very important element. Several projects have different processing loads, and therefore, not all tech stacks can cater to all processing load requirements. So, this is to say that you need to compare your prospective product processing loads with the capacity of the tech stack to be sure it can meet that need.

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5. Flexibility and scalability of the tech stack

This is quite important because technology is not a static lot. Technology is changing, upgrading, and adapting with each pass of a day. So you should first be aware of the latest web development trends for the next few years and think about whether it's worth it to use someone in your project. That lets you be sure of the flexibility and scalability of the modern tech stack for web development you choose to keep your project relevant during all the stages of change.

6. Timeline of the project

The timeline of the future requirements of your project will play an important role in determining the tech stack to choose. It is not enough for your chosen tech stack to meet the present needs of your project. You should ensure that the tech stack can meet subsequent needs. Your tech stack must meet your product's and product developers' timeline needs. You should still ensure this, even if it is open-source software.

7. Tech stack ecosystem

The choice of using a particular tech stack for web app development would be highly dependent on the ecosystem of the tech stack. For instance, you want to know how large its community of users is before using it, so you don't turn out a lone ranger with no support and help as you use the tech stack. Reviews of people using it matter, its documentation, and the available support for developers of the tech stack are important factors to consider.

8. Security and privacy of technology stack for web development

Another vividly important question is the security and privacy level your product details and design will enjoy using a particular tech stack for web application development. You don't want to run your project and then discover that it is not well secured and can be tampered with by external factors.

9. Qualifications of your development team and specialists' availability

It has to do with the operational capacity of your team of developers in handling and using the development stack. What this would mean is that you would need to consider the qualifications of your developers. If they don't know how to run the tech stack, that will be a mismatch problem. Although it won't be too much of a problem as you're going to outsource your project development.

10. The current implementation of this tech stack in successful products

Before choosing the right IT technology stack, you should first research and find out the volume of popular and successful brands that have used the tech stack in their development. It could be an assurance of its quality. We've put together some examples from different industries to help you:

• Social Media Network (Facebook)
• Collaboration Tools (Slack)
• eCommerce Platform (eBay, Amazon, Alibaba)
• Learning Platform (Coursera)
• Q&A Forums (Reddit)

Factors to put in place before considering which stack is best for web development

Well, in case you've decided on your tech stack type, here are a number of points you can walk through and check whether you consider these factors. They can save you some budget on development and fixing some problems that might arise in the future. So, check these factors while choosing your tech stack for web development too:

• Defining your needs and resources
• Ensure you do not copy what competitors exactly have implemented
• Create an MVP first and then test it
• Use ready-made solutions when possible
• Start with a simpler tech stack and stay agile during all SDLC
• Save on cloud hosting solutions
• Be futuristic in your thoughts

Popular technology stacks for web application development

We have prepared a list of best tech stacks to develop your web app. This list includes LAMP, Python-Django, MEAN, and MERN. Below we will describe in more detail each of these stacks. Maybe one of them will suit your requirements and business needs.

LAMP stack

The LAMP stack is traditionally technology used in website development and to create an environment for running PHP applications and hosting websites on Linux. The stack is made up of the following technologies:

• Linux (the environment OS)

• Apache (the HTTP server)

• MySQL (the database)

• PHP (the server-side programming language)

The WordPress, Drupal, and Laravel App were built using the LAMP stack.

Python-Django

It's a tech stack based on Python language and uses the Django framework for back-end development. This stack provides an Apache web server with MySQL for its database use. Developers that use Python-Django can avoid many common security mistakes. Moreover, with this technology stack, you can quickly and flexibly scale web applications.

MEAN stack

The MEAN stack consists of MongoDB, express.js, angular.js, and node.js. It is more of a full-stack structure. It is an open-source JavaScript software stack for building dynamic websites and web applications.

MERN stack

The MERN stack consists, MongoDB, Express, React/Redux, and Node.js. The MERN stack is very similar to the MEAN stack. It is used because of the growth of popularity of ReactJS in front-end development and NodeJS in back-end development, and it is useful for building high-end single-page applications, like the Plaid app.

Choose the best tech stack with Softermii professionals

Choosing a technology stack for web development is a complex process with many nuances that should be considered. There are many options for how to apply, but it is worth thinking about everything in advance. It will save time, money and facilitate the timely launch of the finished web application. Of course, you can try to choose the best stack independently for web development. Or you can use the services of a software development firm.

We at Softermii have extensive expertise in using different tech stacks for various industries projects and can pull off your web development and MVP development jobs. So, you can hire our dedicated team of professionals to implement your ideas, requirements, and business needs.

By the way, if you're only choosing what technologies would be better to apply for your project purposes, don't hesitate to give us a quote. We can help you figure out the best option of web tech stack for your product development, considering all your requirements and industry trends.