10 golden principles to help create a successful web application

Popular web applications thanks to the presence of any program. The following article outlines 10 principles to remember if you want to build a successful web application.

These are shared by Fred Wilson , a talented investor in New York, who is also a fan of information technology and has a lot of profound knowledge around the building of dedicated applications. for web.

Principle 1: Speed

Most of us believe that speed plays a more important role than functionality, in fact, speed is the most important feature . If your application is slow, the inevitable result is that there won't be many people using it.

We can see this clearly when comparing application usage between two user levels. Firstly, for experienced users and professionals, they will have eyes that are more sympathetic to the challenges you will face when building fast-running web applications. Sometimes, they are willing to live with them. However, for amateur users (this is a common user group), they will never accept this.

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Speed ​​is not only a feature but it is also a mandatory requirement in designing a web application.

Principle # 2: High availability

This means the services must be really useful and can be used immediately. If you build a service that takes users time to configure, set it up, import contacts and many other data, no one will want to continue using it anymore. Therefore, all services provided must be available for use and really useful .

We may encounter many people who encounter this error. In fact, there are many tricks you can use to create an instant utility. A good example to demonstrate this is that if you are building an information service, you can collect data on the web for it. However, you need to show people what is useful from the service you provide.

Another example is when Google launched the Google Video market about 4 or 5 years ago, YouTube was also released. If you upload a video to Google Video, you will receive a note that says ' Please come back in a week and your video will be displayed ', and of course, this does not meet user expectations. . At the same time, YouTube has instant coding capabilities and so you can see your video just seconds after uploading it. Thereby, you can imagine what is the availability and its importance to the success of a web application.

Principle # 3: Software is also the media

This is a problem that has received many questions and related questions. According to Fred Wilson , software is also one of the most effective means of communication today. Especially for consumer software, when people use it, they approach your software the same way they approach the media. When referring to media means we are talking about a magazine, a newspaper or a television program. For example, when you think of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal , or Fox News and CNN , we all realize that every media company has a unique voice; They have a style, a completely different point of view. The main thing that makes a mark for each company.

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Therefore, every software or application that you design must have your own style . At that time, everyone who uses your software is as excited as using media. If your software has boring content and cannot express your own point of view, then surely can't expect attention and interest from users.

Principle No. 4: Build a solid initial foundation

As we know, from the start of publishing or launching an application or service, everything is very simple. Over time, you can develop more utilities for the service. For example, Facebook now offers 20-30 different features. However, when it first launched this social network, it was actually quite simple. Fred Wilson thinks this is largely true for most of today's great services.

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One of the favorite investments his company has made is Delicious . What interests you is its simple element. Initially, Delicious offers very few utilities, but what users can do is really quite powerful. People used it 5 to 10 times a day. Thus, from the original and simple things, you can accumulate, build and develop your application so that it grows stronger . A good initial foundation will be a solid foundation that will help the whole development of your application later.

Principle # 5: Ability to program

When discussing this issue with a group of web application developers, they think there is nothing worth talking about here. However, Mr. Fred Wilson thinks this is really important. That is the API - a software interface used by different applications. He also said that a few years ago, the founder of Delicious told him that if the application cannot read or write, it is not an API. This has become a motto of his company.

We should design applications that provide programming capabilities to users. That means they add value to your application , attracting more users to use the application and enrich the data source. This is really necessary and he himself thinks that this day is difficult to invest in a web application that is not highly programmable.

Principle 6: Personalize the application

Sometimes you want third-party application developers to promote your product. At the same time, also want other users to transmit and introduce their applications. That way, your application will be more known to users. However, the important thing to remember is to create an application that allows users to customize, personalize it in their own style. For example, allow them to change the background information, add avatars, create content or whatever they feel can better control your web application.

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Personalization can help increase the ability to promote applications from users

Fred Wilson said when talking to a staff member at Last.fm last week: she said their user community often wanted to feel as if they owned Last.fm and wanted it completely. self-responsibility. Every time they make a change will receive many posts on the forums. Mr. Wilson really thinks this is very good because it also means that there will be more people who care more deeply about your application.

It is also true for a number of other companies, although sometimes it also causes some painful problems. When the portfolio company Meetup made changes to Meetup Pages , there were thousands of comments on that announcement, most of which contained negative content. You must be the one making the decision whether or not to react or participate. However, in general this is a good job because people have shown interest and invested their time and energy into your application in the process of personalizing it.

Principle # 7: Create a unique URL

If you access someone's page on Twitter, just click on the ' lists ' link, you'll see a pretty clear URL, like ' twitter.com/fredwilson/list/… '. The entire Twitter application will be built that way, so you can use that URL, send it via email or export it to a social network.

With a unique and easy-to-see URL, Google will easily remember that address and distribute it to users via its search engine. Not to mention that those addresses are easy to remember for both you and the user.

Principle No. 8: Search engine optimization

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When you launch a web application, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Currently, there are hundreds, even thousands, of millions of web applications available on the World Wide Web. So, how can users easily find your application?Begin by exploring search engine optimization campaigns (SEO) and understand its rules . You have to build your application in a way that makes search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, . easily discoverable. In addition, we must also optimize our application so that the media and social networks quickly find it. Therefore, to build a successful web application, it must be designed as well as optimized for search engines and social networks.

Principle No. 9: Simple

This means you can access a website, work on it without being bothered by other things. For example, when you log in to Tumblr , only the field of username and password is entered on the page, and they can easily use the application. It provides a simple way for people to know what they need to do right away. Therefore, in the process of designing web applications, you need to find ways to make it simple and easy to use for users at all levels.

Principle No. 10: Interoperability among multiple users

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In any case, interoperability in an application is really important. Exciting games are often games that you can make users follow what you want. If you look at LinkedIn when it is first launched, you will be surprised by this. The goal of these applications is to attract more participants. At first, some people will try to build more relationships in LinkedIn , or others want more followers in Twitter , or Facebook friends . and these are real games. vibrant. Therefore, design applications that can attract and create opportunities for users to interact with each other easily .