What in the Heck is a Web Application?

If you’ve ever operated a site where you have some specific features that go beyond what HTML can accomplish, you might know what a web application is. One important thing is that you don’t want to confuse it with a smart phone application. Those are totally different, and not something that you should be thinking about when you are thinking about web applications. Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive entry on this, and it’s definitely worth reading.

Consider this: have you ever used a website that has a shopping cart on it? Well, then you’ve used a web application. Have you ever used a site with a video player on it? Well, then you’ve used a web application there. The main thing to understand here is that a web application is a special component of a site that allows it to accomplish a specific function or task that’s beyond what can normally be coded in standard HTML. Again, a web application is not a app like you’d think of on your smart phone; it’s not a standalone thing, it’s actually part of a website. Even though their page touts a product, Dotcom-Monitor does give quite a bit of background info about web applications on their page, and so does TrustWave. Another thing to know about web applications is that they can’t be coded by any old HTML developer per se. They are often coded in specific languages like Ruby, PHP, or other advanced coding languages. Just about anyone these days can slap some HTML together, but it takes a true developer to create a web application. It’s important to be able to make this distinction because not everyone is going to be able to design a web application, so if you aren’t a trained developer and were considering dabbling in creating a web application, you may want to re-think your strategy a little bit. This isn’t to say that you can’t learn to create a web application, but it’s definitely something that you need to research and spend some time leaning…it’s not something that you can do overnight.

With that said, don’t be shy about learning how to code web applications either. Learning how to code is great fun, and it’s one of the most exciting things that I’ve ever learned. I know, I know, that sounds extremely nerdy, but it’s the truth. Being able to write code and create something digital is an experience like none other, and it’s a skills that I firmly believe everyone should have.  If you’re interesting in learning to code, there are tons of different free resources on the web where you can learn, and get started.

Thanks for checkout out my blog, there’s more great stuff to come! And please, take the time to learn how to code, you’ll be glad you did!