Are you struggling to create a website or web app for your business? Web development can be a complicated and time-consuming process, especially if you don’t have the right tools.
Luckily, web development platforms and tools exist to help streamline the process and make it more affordable.With the right platform, you can create a responsive design that enhances the online browsing experience, improves SEO, and reduces maintenance needs.
To help you more, we’ve gathered some of the best web development tools of 2023 to help you create your website or web app quickly and efficiently.
Whether it’s selecting the perfect colour scheme or collaborating with other developers, these tools can help you create the perfect online presence for your business.
But first, let’s explore what factors you should consider before choosing a web development platform.
Join us as we explore the world of amazing platforms for web development!
How to Choose the Right Web Development Platform?
Are you planning to launch a website but not sure which web development platform to choose? With so many options available, selecting the right platform can be a difficult task.
However, choosing the right platform is important for your website’s success. Keep in mind these tips for selecting a platform that is best suited for your website’s needs.
Type of Website you Require
Determine the purpose of your website, whether it is a blog, e-commerce site, or company website. This will help you choose the right language, framework, and hosting.
- It Must be Easy to Access
Choose a platform that is easy to access and suits your website’s needs. For instance, if you plan to display a few articles online, opt for something simple and inexpensive. If your website’s requirements are complex, choose a platform that offers automation, documentation, and data requests for easier customer access.
- Performance & Speed of the Website
Visitors today expect fast-loading websites and slow-loading websites may cause them to leave your site. Regular updates and maintenance are critical to avoid unexpected problems that may cause frustration for visitors.
- Better User Experience
User experience is essential to improve your brand value and business growth. Ensure that the platform’s code complexity is balanced with its user experience. A developer should focus on programming and designing for better usability to keep
users engaged longer.
Choosing the right web development platform is crucial for your website’s success. By keeping these tips in mind, you can make an informed decision and select the right platform that meets your website’s needs.
5 Amazing Platforms for Web Development
To help you with choosing the best web development platform, we’ve listed and reviewed 5 amazing platforms for web development. These platforms will help you create a professional, functional, and visually appealing website.
We’ll compare their strengths and features and highlight what sets them apart from each other.
Let’s get started with the first one;
1. WordPress
WordPress is a versatile platform that powers more than 30% of the world’s websites, from personal blogs to complex sites of major corporations. It offers a wide range of features and benefits, making it the most popular content management system today.
WordPress is highly adaptable to changing needs and can run eCommerce stores, portfolios, social networks, and podcasts. Even beginners can set up a WordPress site in minutes with its user-friendly interface.
It offers a large selection of themes and plugins that enable users to customize the appearance and functions of their sites. With its built-in blog feature and SEO optimization tools,
WordPress sites tend to rank high on search engines. WordPress is mobile responsive, ensuring that sites look great on any device. Lastly, the WordPress community offers support and constantly updates the platform for added security.
With web packages starting at $2.99/month and two months free, it’s affordable and accessible to anyone who wants to create their own website.
Pros:
- Highly customizable design, features, and functionalities with access to WordPress codes, plugins, and themes.
- Third-party tools can be easily incorporated to add advanced features and functionalities.
- The self-hosted platform allows for greater control over hosting needs.
- A huge community of users and developers provides a wealth of online
knowledge and support.
Cons:
- Technical knowledge is required to set up and manage to host.
- Coding knowledge necessary to troubleshoot and customize website design.
- The steep learning curve for beginners is due to the lack of a “what you see is what you get” interface.
2. Shopify
Are you dreaming of starting your own online store but don’t know where to begin? Shopify is the solution to your problem. Shopify is the e-commerce platform that can help turn your dream into a reality.
With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive tools, Shopify is the perfect solution for beginners and high-growth D2C brands alike.
And the best part?
You can start a free trial and enjoy 3 months of Shopify for just $1/month on select plans. One of the biggest advantages of Shopify is its detailed admin dashboard, which provides a comprehensive view of your store’s performance.
You can easily access reports, analyze your best-performing product pages, view orders at a glance, and even track real-time website visitors to optimize your sales funnel.
But that’s not all – Shopify also offers a wide range of free features, including a customizable theme, making it easy for beginners to dive in and play around with different design options. And with cloud-based hosting bundled into your subscription, you don’t have to worry about server crashes and downtime during peak shopping periods.
If you’re on a tight budget or looking for white-glove service, Shopify has a pricing plan for everyone. And with a vast library of apps in the Shopify App Store, you can customize your store to suit your specific needs.
With Shopify leading the charge in lowering the barrier to entry for online entrepreneurs, there’s never been a better time to start your online store.
Pros:
- Powerful backend editor and inventory system ideal for larger stores.
- Multi-platform selling capabilities.
- Stand-out design functionality and flexibility with a variety of templates and customization options.
- Large library of over 3,000 apps and third-party extensions available.
- Extensive payment options, including Shopify Payments gateway.
- 24/7 customer support.
Cons:
- The editor is not as intuitive as other platforms.
- Fewer built-in features, requiring reliance on apps to boost functionality.
- High transaction fees unless using Shopify Payments.
- Monthly costs can add up with transaction fees and the need for additional apps.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace is the ultimate solution for creative minds and website owners looking to build a beautiful and professional website without any coding knowledge. It started as a blog hosting service in Maryland in 2003.
It’s an all-in-one platform that offers a range of features, including website templates, website analytics, e-commerce tools, appointment scheduling, and much more.
With Squarespace, you can create a website that not only looks stunning but is also optimized for search engines and social media. Its drag-and-drop website editing and design feature makes it easy for anyone to create a website that’s not just good for SEO but also great at making your small business stand out from the crowd.
Squarespace’s strength lies in its ability to cater to designers, artists, photographers, and anyone in the creative space. So, if you’re looking for a hassle-free way to build a website that showcases your creativity and skills, Squarespace is the perfect platform for you.
And with prices starting at just $12 per month, it’s an affordable option too.
Pros:
- Stunning templates optimized for all devices
- Excellent marketing features, including email and social media support
- Best value for money
- Top-notch customer support with 24/7 email and weekly live chat support
Cons:
- Limited customizability with basic editor
- The manual editor prompts frequent saves, lacking autosave functionality
4. Laravel Framework
Laravel is an MVC-based PHP framework that offers developers a robust and intuitive way to create enterprise-grade applications and systems. It is easy to manage, scalable, and open-source, making it a popular choice among developers around the world.
Laravel is widely preferred by developers worldwide due to its simplicity and lightweight. About 200,000 sites were built using Laravel, making it one of the most accessible and best frameworks in terms of quality and functionality.
One of the key tenets of Laravel is that the development process should be as smooth and enjoyable as using a high-quality application. Developers can create applications using various elements of many other frameworks, including Ruby on Rails, CodeIgniter, Yii, or Symfony.
Laravel web development is perfect for those who need to significantly reduce app development time. Everything made with its help is extremely simple and intuitive.
Laravel is best suited when you need to build scalable and integrated solutions in the future.
Developers and stakeholders benefit from Laravel because of its conciseness, which speeds up the development process and simplifies project support, ultimately having a positive impact on budgeting.
The business benefits of the Laravel framework are numerous. Laravel helps keep things clear and concise, has a small learning curve, and includes Eloquent ORM, which increases development speed.
Laravel offers flexibility and human-friendly syntax in most of the components, has a wide scope, and is easy to find subject-matter experts.
Pros:
- Built-in access control system for user authentication and role-based access control.
- MVC architecture for improved performance and built-in features.
- Simplified email integration system and cache integration.
- Easy exception handling and improved technical vulnerabilities and security management.
- Automated testing and separation of business logic from presentation logic.
- Simplified URL routing configuration and efficient command schedule and management setup.
- Smooth database migration and access to ready-made templates and widgets.
- ORM for PHP and detailed documentation.
- Shortened development cycle time and Laravel queue manager.
- Variety of resources and packages, IOC container, and built-in libraries.
Cons:
- Lack of highly skilled Laravel experts.
- Difficulty with some updates and documentation can be heavy.
- Limited built-in support and some features can be more complicated than necessary.
5. Node.js Web App Development
Node.js is a powerful tool that has been revolutionizing the web development industry in recent years. With its ability to handle large-scale applications, Node.js is becoming increasingly popular among developers and businesses alike.
This open-source, cross-platform runtime environment for server-side and networking applications is perfect for creating real-time applications, offering many advantages over traditional web application frameworks.
Major enterprises use Node.js to provide web services, powering some of the most visited sites on the internet today, including Facebook and LinkedIn.
In fact, a recent stat showed that nearly half of all developers worldwide use Node.js for their web development projects. In this context, it is important to understand the basics of Node.js and its potential to transform the way we build web applications.
Pros:
- Offers easy scalability due to its asynchronous and event-driven nature
- Allows the maintenance of long-running connections with just a single thread with an event loop
- Follows non-blocking I/O, making it efficient, fast, and high-performing
- It can be easily adapted to fit new requirements as the business grows
- Has a low memory footprint, making it suitable for vertical scaling
- Easy to learn and requires less time and effort
- Offers high performance compared to other server-side scripting languages
- Has a large and active community to provide support
- Offers advantages in caching and faster time to market
- Ideal for cross-platform app development
- Uses a single programming language for both front-end and backend development
- Has a built-in package manager called NPM to increase developer productivity
Cons:
- Unstable APIs can cause difficulties for developers
- Lacks a strong library support system and documentation system
- An asynchronous programming model can be difficult to maintain code
- Less capable of processing CPU-bound tasks, reducing performance on average
Conclusion
Web development platforms and tools can significantly simplify and accelerate the process of creating a website or web app. We have listed and reviewed 5 of the best web development platforms of 2023, including WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Laravel Framework, and Node.js.
Each of these platforms has unique strengths and features that cater to different needs, from e-commerce sites to creating portfolios and enterprise-grade applications.
With the right platform and tools, you can create a professional, functional, and visually appealing website that enhances the online browsing experience, improves SEO, and reduces maintenance needs.