When designing a mobile app, it isn’t enough to just code into the void and then launch the app to consumers. No – there are numerous ways in which apps should be optimized for maximum user enjoyment, starting with the selection of an appropriate mobile platform. Follow these five rules when choosing your mobile app platform to ensure ease of use and top performance.
- Choose a hybrid platform. Using a hybrid platform will allow your app to translate across different platforms and environments. This makes it less expensive to design and avoids the pitfalls of trying to translate a platform specific application. Make sure your hybrid platform is compatible with mobile coding, can run background activities, and can manage secure on-device backup.
- Adopt HTML5. HTML5 still has its problems, but because as a platform it embraces so many different functions, from messaging to data semantics, it is unwise to forego this platform entirely. Making HTML5 part of your hybrid platform will help to integrate your app into the growing community of HTML5 users, while still providing it with some firmer ground in the form of a joint platform.
- Engage with the cloud. It can feel strange to back-up your devices and programming in what seems to be the equivalent of thin air, but the cloud is the way to go these days. Don’t overlook more traditional back-end systems, but combine them with public and private cloud structures to improve the overall integration of your app with other programming.
- Choose your provider carefully. With the rapid changes that app platforms are undergoing resulting in constant turnover, it is important that you choose a supporting provider who is financially solvent and that has an extensive roadmap for product evolution. Your provider should be able to make new formats available to you rapidly, and their company framework needs to align with your service level agreements.
- Emphasize collaboration. Nothing in today’s marketplace is designed by a single person. Rather, it is much more common to find multiple teams of people engaged in the problem solving process of designing an app. With that kind of diversity, however, it is not uncommon to find different coding languages and conflicts between the groups. Make sure to choose a platform that can help to integrate the multiple groups into the final product and that offers collaboration software, resulting in a seamless experience for the consumer.
