As a customer, you may wonder, “Why to bother choosing a technology if the main thing is for the solution to work!” Partially, you are right, but the chosen technology directly affects the performance of a web project. Also, the type of solution and its primary purpose affects the choice of technology.
That is why I decided to share the views on choosing a technology stack for developing web projects and the criteria that we at GBKSOFT use in selecting a technology.
And one more thing that I would like to draw attention to in this article is the impact of the technology stack on the cost of the project. When choosing a technology, cost and performance factors should be considered.
Moreover, creating a web project is not only the development and release itself – any existing solution requires constant support and maintenance. Knowing the technology stack used during development will facilitate further updates, even if a decision is made to change the company that will support the resource.
What is a technology stack?
A technology stack is a set of tools and platforms used in the development of a software product. In web development, a technology stack consists of a particular set of components that create a working web project.
I propose to dwell a little on two main parts of the technology stack: the external (client-side) and internal (server-side) interface. Each of the two parts has specific functions and includes a particular set of tools.
Front-end
External components provide user interaction with a website or web portal. Interaction takes place in the browser thanks to the following components:
- HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which defines the structure of the information presented in the browser
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) that style the content of the solution (colors, fonts, and layouts)
- JavaScript that makes a website’s web page interactive
Most web solutions are built on the Bootstrap framework as the basis for HTML and CSS. That’s because Bootstrap is the complete library with a large user base. Although Bootstrap is the most popular framework, you can consider Foundation as an alternative, which is the second most used after Bootstrap and shows good performance.
There are also two leading frameworks – Angular and React. They are known for their high efficiency and flexibility and have a considerable following. While all of these platforms still dominate the front-end development market, developers are increasingly using Vue.js. It is due to its lightweight structure and versatility.
Back-end
The interior of the development stack includes more components. The back-end works behind the scenes and is invisible to users, but it forms the engine that manages the site and implements its business logic.
All tech stacks include the following main parts:
- A web server that processes requests from the browser and returns the appropriate content
- Database – stores data
- The programming language used to generate the project code
- Solution structure – for faster and easier development.
The framework used directly depends on the choice of programming language
Let’s take a look at the most famous examples of technology stacks used by web developers:
- LAMP stands for Linux (operating system), Apache (webserver), MySQL (database), PHP (programming language). LAMP is considered the most popular back-end stack and is prized for its scalability, security, and highly customizable capabilities. While most developers prefer Linux as their operating system, the same stack can be used with Windows or Mac OS without sacrificing development quality.
- Python-Django is based on the Python programming language. It also uses the Apache web server and MySQL database, and the Django framework, also written in Python. This stack allows you to develop quickly while maintaining a high level of quality. Many projects choose Python-Django when building their MVPs and other urgent products.
- MEAN, which is an acronym for MongoDB (Database), Express.js (Application Platform), AngularJS (Front End Framework), Node.js (Runtime). Here is where the stack structure is different because it includes both internal and external development tools, and it is more correct to call this a full-stack. MEAN is an implementation of the JavaScript Everywhere concept using the same programming language on both the client and server-side. The back-end is based on Node.js, the first platform to use JavaScript in server-side development.
- MERN includes MongoDB, Express, React / Redux, and Node.js. Given the popularity of ReactJS in the front-end and NodeJS in the back-end, it makes sense to call this combination the most used JavaScript stack for building high-performance single-page applications. MERN also offers high performance and increased maneuverability.
To conclude
The technological stack of any project should be based on the specifics of the project. We recommend contacting a professional IT company whose portfolio already contains some similar projects and who will be able to analyze your project, assess possible risks and provide an expert opinion on the development technology. The developer company must become a real business partner for you, who will be interested in the success of your project and the achievement of its main goals!