Web Development is a very broad category, but it can be roughly split into two sub categories, Websites and Webapps.

Websites

A website is simply a collection of web pages on the internet the contain information of some sort. When this is requested, we will generally recommend that a static site builder is used to create the website. Static site builders allow you to write the content for each page in a separate file with a simple format, and then combine these with the necessary HTML and CSS to produce an elaborate web page. They make use of hand coded template files to slot your content into your unique design. This ensures there is a consistent theme throughout your site, but gives you the flexibility to customise any element of your site without the fear of breaking the WYSIWYG editors formatting.

Despite their name, static sites can be anything but through the use of client side technologies. Although the builder will only be run once, the output can be an index of all the content on your site, allowing a JavaScript frontend to run on the users browser and modify the content in real time. Through the use of JavaScript, you static site can have interactive elements of all varieties.

In the unlikely event that a static site is not appropriate, Coded Internet will recommend an appropriate Content Management System (CMS). CMSs are usually best suited to situations where multiple users require different levels of access control, and where the content will need to vary without being changed. They do however present an additional overhead, both in terms of development and an additional hosting cost, as unlike static sites, these require active processing for every request.

Webapps

If a static site or CMS is not appropriate, then Coded Internet will look to create a full stack web app. Where possible we will look to produce a stateless application that does not depend on a database, but sometimes information does have to be stored. This will usually involve interacting with a database, adding additional development and hosting costs, as well as increasing the overall system complexity.

Webapps are also more difficult to host, and as such, free hosting is usually not an option. Whereas a static site can scale to millions relatively easily, webapps require orders of magnitude more processing power per request, resulting in slower load times and a lower limit on the number of concurrent users.

Coded Internet has experience working in a variety of programming languages and frameworks to produce webapps for all purposes. We will always aim to select the best framework and language for you use case, and at times will recommend switching languages if the scope of the problem changes or better tools become available. Recent experimentation with microservices has been found to help contain the system complexity and separate out concerns, but the extra development overhead that comes with such systems