So you have decided to build an app or website for your business requirements and are venturing in this domain for the very first time. You must be uncertain about many things – be its launch date, its marketing, hiring developers or development company and beyond. But the biggest question that must be badgering is you how long would it take for your app or website to get ready? Well, to answer your question the time required for building an app or a website can take up to weeks or even months and the major factor here would be its complexity – higher the complexity the more your app or website will take time to get ready. As every business would have different app/website needs and requirements the timeline of developing one would obviously be different from one another. Well, talking about the needs/requirements let’s look at the factors that affect the timeline of a mobile app or a website development:
Complex Graphics/Design:
It might happen that during your whole development cycle you decide to focus more on the designing aspect and the time required to complete the app or website will be based majorly on the design complexity only.
If you are designing just to test out your app or website idea then it would take less time in comparison to when you are designing features and functionalities for your real end product. Also if there is a requirement of detailed graphical elements then your timeline would be determined according to it.
Addition of Features & Advanced Features:
Both your app and website would obviously have their core features and as you add the features its complexity will increase and as the complexity increases so will the timeline. And that too when you are going to add technically complex features it will only add to the time required to build any particular product.
For example, if you are developing an application where you want to add a virtual dressing room then it might involve a complex algorithm which would only add to the timeline of the app development.
Yes, it is possible that some of the complex features can be developed quicker than the projected time but it might also require few cut and try approaches i.e. trying out numerous ways to develop the feature which would only add to the overall timeline.
Cross-device compatibility:
You as an entrepreneur would, of course, want to pitch to your target audience base no matter if they are on iOS, Android or on the web platform but developing your idea for multiple platforms would also require a considerable investment. See every platform would have its own coding and design standards and your app might perform well on one device and not on another. Moreover, planning, designing and developing for multiple platforms might take around 4-5 months to the least.
And if this timeframe exceeds your projected timeline then what you can do is build your idea for a single platform first and then build it out for other platforms. When you do this you save considerably on both the time and budget of your to-be-developed product.
Utilizing Custom Components vs. Off-the-Shelf Components:
If you want to launch your product as soon as possible then you can make use of the off-the-rack components. Here you wouldn’t have to build anything from scratch and this would also make the integration of the components easier. But the catch here is that when you use pre-built components in your product it might prevent you from making changes to it in the future.
Well, to counteract this you can use customized components i.e. build your components from scratch and it would give you the flexibility of tweaking it whenever you want to. And as we discussed before, it all depends on your product needs and requirements and depending on that you have to make your decision of whether to go for custom or pre-built components.
Author Bio: Jay Patel
Mr. Jay Patel is the Founder and CEO of Vrinsoft PTY LTD – a globally recognized software and Android and iPhone app development and IT consulting company. With 10+ years of experience in the IT industry, he has acquired the required expertise in the domain of project coordination, business development, dealing with global clients, etc. and has also published many blogs and articles on latest web-based technology, development tips, and mobility solutions.