There are many platform options when it comes to web development, but which is the best platform for web development option for you? In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the different platforms and their features. We’ll also discuss which platform is best for different types of developers in different types of development environments, like WordPress, Drupal, Magento and many more! So if you’re looking to know which platform is best for web development, keep reading!
There is no real answer to the question “which platform is best for web development?” other than “it depends”. Every web developer is different. Same thing with individual customer requirements, preference, the nature and length of the project: they’re going to be different every time you take a new client.
You need to know how to use more than one web development platform and some tools in order to be ready to take on any project that may come your way and know which platform is good for web development. It’s important to know which platform and tools are great and what they do.
So, which platform is best for web development then?
Tips for choosing which platform is good for web development
- Easy to learn: You want to be able to get the best of a website builder, so make sure to choose one that will help you learn how to best use its features. Of course you are going to put effort in learning, but some platforms or tools don’t have a great learning curve which may require you to take a course in how to use it.
- Cost: Don’t buy the cheapest website builder, but also keep an eye on whether or not you are being overcharged. If you are starting out, the best thing that can be done is look for platforms that offer free demos or trials. Try some of them and decide what is best for you before paying. Once you have purchased one it doesn’t mean you can’t upgrade it later by buying a more professional tool.
- Features: Some platforms and tools are more professional than others. Their goal is to make the web developer’s life easier. Depending on your identity as a web developer, there are features that will interest you more. Remember: always look for features that would make your job easier. If you are comfortable getting work done, you will be more productive and be able to take a few more clients on board, a really wise thing to do in today’s development environment.
Content Management Systems
Content Management Systems (CMS) are prebuilt web development platforms that allow a web developer to build a website on a server. This is way more easy than doing the coding by hand.
Web designers create templates that work with a CMS, so web developers are able to quicky install designs to start working on the testing phase of creating a website.
A CMS is fundamental for those web developers who aren’t that good at code. Content Management Systems allow web devs to control and manage the content and design of a website with ease.
The best website development platforms
As an introductory practice you should test a popular, available to anyone, easy to use web development platform like Joomla. Joomla has many features to try on, and all of them are free to use because it’s a community made website builder.
If you are looking for a more niche site builder that would be the best fit for your job, keep reading.
The best eCommerce web development platform
If you are already working with WordPress as a site builder but your client wants to add an online store, you should give this platform a try. 3dCart is an easy to use cart platform that’s also highly intuitive for customers to use. It’s ideal for small businesses as the platform will support only the shop site, no more content or design is needed. Its back end features are also attractive, setting it up on a server is not much trouble and doesn’t require a lot of coding.
The best SEO web development platform
As a web developer, you will often be asked to take charge of the SEO aspect of a website. If you are not familiarized with SEO this can take a while or, worse, you’d have to relegate the job and lose money. What you need is a site builder that will assist you with SEO and make things easier and faster. But not only that, there is going to be a client looking to build a website entirely based on SEO, so it will be a plus if you have a development platform you can trust to give you advice and direction on what is best for your business. That web development platform is GoDaddy. With GoDaddy’s help, of web developers were able to make websites that ranked on the first page of google. Their services are a bit expensive, but what you get is a team of professionals working to make the website you are developing be as sharp as possible. They fix your keywords, content, target market, you name it. They’re good at what they do.
Website platforms that are easy to use
Clients may be familiar with easy to use web development platforms, so it is in your best interest to be familiar with them. Some clients may even ask to work with a certain platform because they will be involved in maintaining the website after it is done by a web developer. These popular, easy to use websites are: WordPress, InVision Studio, Figma, Wix, Magento and Canva.
Web Development frameworks
With the use of frameworks, developing web applications has become more accessible and competitive.
- Better performance: Web frameworks come with built in features that provide high functionality and performance. This will allow the web developer to put in as much design, web apps and media he desires without worrying of the page not loading while running tests.
- Less mistakes: Another built in feature of web frameworks is reviewing the coding as you write it, preventing things from going wrong while running tests. Also, it saves time as you won’t have to rewrite code and fix basic bugs anymore.
- Reliability: The web development community is always changing and new technology is seen everyday. Web frameworks will prevent you from falling behind in regards to web building and design. You can always count on a web development framework to give you the best solutions currently available in online web development.
Most popular web development frameworks
Now you know how much value a web development framework can give you while building a website. It’s time to decide which web development framework is best for you and your client’s website. Let’s review some of the most popular ones.
- Drupal: Drupal is an open-source framework aimed at managing a website. One of the reason it’s so popular is because it is available for free. This framework is coded in PHP and distributed under the General Public License. Drupal is known to provide the back end development for more than 2.3% of all websites in the world. Its interface is so flexible it can be used to create personal blogs, business websites, even government sites.
- Sinatra Sinatra: is a free open-source web development framework written in Ruby. It is a very lite framework that focuses on creating websites and web applications quickly without much effort. It’s ideal for preparing a quick model of the whole project to show a potential client.
- CherryPy: an object-oriented web application framework that uses the Python programming language. It was designed specifically for rapid development of web applications, and can act as a web server by itself or can be launched using any WSGI compatible environment. CherryPy does not help with some tasks, like templating for output rendering or backend access but you extend your experience with the framework using filters. This makes it very versatile and easy to use.
- CakePHP: When it comes to e-commerce website development, CakePHP is probably the best tool out there. It has a lot of features that make it popular with developers and it’s also easy to use. What makes CakePHP interesting is that all the coding for your old projects may be reused through it. This means that you won’t have to start from scratch when you want to update or improve an existing project. CakePHP is coded on the Model-Controller-View model, which , at the same time, is a very popular framework.
Why use web development platforms and tools?
There are many reasons to use web development platforms and tools, but some of the most common include:
- Easier time management: With a single platform, you can manage your projects from start to finish with ease, without having to switch between different tools.
- Faster project completion: Using a platform like CodePen makes testing and debugging your code much faster and easier.
- More efficient design: With a wide range of built-in features and templates, you can easily create beautiful and functional websites.
As you can see, the possibilities are endless when it comes to web development platforms. Think about all the factors you just read and see how using a web development platform can make your job easier and better. Part of being a web developer is the need to stand out from the competition so getting to focus more on your creativity and less on coding and managing a website is an amazing thing. This is a great time to be a web developer, do whatever it takes to be the best at web developing, using a web development platform is one of the steps to follow.
