A Static Web application is the very first type of web apps that have come to exit on the Internet. It is built with simple HTML and CSS to display only relevant content and data. In addition, static web apps have various GIFs, videos and animated banners displayed to attract visitors. Static Web Application is very easy to manage when it comes to modifying the content or the web application code. Examples of Static Web Application are pperson's portfolio website, a company's website and a business card.
A dynamic web application is an upgrade for regular static one since they are more complex to build from the technical point of view. Their main goals is to directly interact with the client. They do have various inteactive elements and methods to engage a client in the services or products the web app is offering. The most common of programming language are PHP and ASP.NET. Example of dynamic web application is Digital Agency website.
E-Commerce Web Application can be called to directly promoting the products or services towards potential customers. This web app type requires much more features as the customers have to perform certain actions to purchases products or services compared to the dynamic web application. Some of the basic features such as web app may include electronic payment systems, a management panel for the administrator to listing new products, updating or deleting products and managing orders or payments and a personal cabinet for user. Example of E-commerce Web Application are Jumia, Lancome, Pure Formulas and Flipkart.
Content Managemnet System (CMS) is a web app type where its owner doesn't need any assistance from the technnical team. The user can modify the content of the website by himself, without learning any programming languages, using only the admin panel or CMS of his website. In addition, CMS also include WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. Example of CMS Web Apps is Amazon.
A portal web application is a web platform that provides a specific type of user with a single access point to thr relevant information. A web app portal can be used to distribute employee training information or improve the way users interact with the business they own. Some if the very common portal web application examples are Domino's Pizza, Stanford Unvesity and Allians.
Animated web applications refer to the Flash Player technology, where entire web app is presented as one complex web animation. It does offer a creative and modern design and back in the past, it was considered as one of the core technologies used by designers and creative directors. However, developing animated web applications will not in any way influence search engine optimization nor will it hain any page ranking. Example of Animated Web Application is Flash Player.
Single-Page Applications (SPA) is a dynamic web application type that does not need any browser reloads and acts as a single web app unit. SPA web applications are considerably faster and agile since all of the business and technical logic is executed in the browser and on the client's side. The development process of SPA is relatively simpe, while the deployment is fast. Additionally, the process of handling the user’s request and response is rapid, as the communication is happening in asynchronous navigation. And any type of SPA web application can be restructured to meet the desired results. However, the main issue with SPAs is that it is not compatible with the SEO guidelines. As a result, they are hardly compatible with any E-Commerce platforms. On the other hand, SPAs can be great social networks, email providers, and online video/audio players. Examples of SPA are Gmail, Twitter, Google Maps, AirBNB, Pinterest and Paypal.
Progressive Web Application (PWA) is a very popular type of web application. With just a regular development bundle such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript can build an app that does feel abd seem like a native mobile app. At the same time, customers can access web application data that enrich the performance and mobile compliance with any mobile browsers. PWA accurately captures all SPA advantages in practice. The primary goal of PWA is not to introduce new rules, but to increase the speed and versatility of web applications in the face of poor internet connections. Examples of PWA are Pinterest, Twitter Lite, Spotify and MakeMyTrip.
Multi-Page Web Applications (MPAs) act very similarly to dynamic web applications. Whenever the data packages are being exchanged between the user and the server sides, a new page is demonstrated in the web browser. It takes time to request the data and respond with the right web page. So, it makes sense that this process may impact the overall user experience. With the introduction of AJAX, however, it was possible to render a particular component of the web app. But, this makes web app development more complex. Examples of MPA are Amazon, Forbes, CNN and eBay.
Rich-Internet web apps (RIA) are aware of browser limitations and rely on customer-side plugins. This type of web app is created with resources that are both capable and visually appealing, with the interactive user interface and superior perception as compared to old desktop applications. Examples of RIA are Adobe Flash, Google Gears and Microsoft Silverlight.
With the rapid development of web applications, developers have created some of the most trending front-end frameworks that play a significant role in the web application creation process. Angular.js, React.js, Vue.js and Node.js are examples of web app frameworks that changed the web app’s logic and started to move towards the client-side, providing higher adaptability. Currently, such logic enables to rapidly perform various rapid server-side tasks like asynchronously accepting one user request, while answering the second one. Every web application that is built on any JavaScript web app frameworks listed above, has better performance, various levels of user interaction and is highly optimized with SEO practices. Examples of JavaScript Web Apps are Yahoo, Uber, Linkedin, Netflix and Mozilla.
Different types of web-based applications are suitable for different types of businesses. There can’t be a single web app that suits every kind of business.
For instance, an eCommerce web app is suitable for a small or a big eCommerce company while a Portal web app is suitable for government, school, public or private organizations.
The selection of a type of web app for your business should be done based on your target audience’s needs and your future goals.