What Low-Code Features to Look For To Streamline App Development
This is the era of AI, app makers, design-to-code solutions and other progressive IT innovations. So, the future of the web and software demands a different type of app development — one that adopts low-code tools. They all have the goal to revamp the way developers build modern-day apps. But what are the most mandatory low-code features you and your team should look for in such tools? And what does really set apart the good low-code solution from the bad one?
Read this article to find out all about it.
Here are the main article pillars:
· Low-code tools in a nutshell — what exactly is App Builder
· Why enterprises and IT teams should use low-code tools
· The industry challenges low code and App Builder can handle
· The features that speed up the entire app design and development cycle
· Questions to consider
· Key article takeaways and leading industry statistics
In A Nutshell: Understanding Low-Code/No-Code Tools
In essence, a comprehensive low-code/no-code tool like App Builder™ works as a modern-day app development platform that covers everything from design to code. Having the goal to streamline app development processes and accelerate the way teams build mission-critical apps with clean code, such tools usually pack UI/UX controls, various components, app templates, and real-time code preview and code generation options.
From a business perspective, low-code development does two major things: First, it optimizes design-development workflows, enabling developers to transform any prototype built in Figma or Sketch, for example, to a production-ready app in Angular, Blazor, Web Components, or other technology much faster and in an easier way. Secondly, it enables them to embrace digital transformation, remaining competitive and robust.
From an app developer perspective, low-code/no-code platforms like App Builder™ allow citizen developers to step in and handle simpler, repetitive tasks while IT experts and senior programmers focus on the app’s business logic.
From a stakeholder perspective, they serve as a single source of truth, eliminating silos and in-between processes that consume too much time. Yet, at the same time, low-code platforms allow fusion teams and everyone involved in the app creation process to keep track of the app development stages and the app itself much more easily.
Why Enterprises and IT Teams Should Use Low Code and App Builder?
The benefits of low-code tools are immense — from achieving digital transformation goals to eliminating bottlenecks and managing various industry-specific challenges. Precisely:
Designers and developers who either work separately or act as UI designers. And by the way, nearly 3 out of 4 developers have no other choice but to handle the UI behind apps. This is what the stats from the “Data Insights: Challenges and Preferences of Developers and Designers in 2022” survey pointed out. Something else that’s interesting as well is the fact that without the help of a design team, developers can spend up to 30% of their time on Screen Design & Layout. Which is a lot.
Product development slowdowns are caused by the ever-increasing havoc caused by the use of multiple tools, legacy systems, and even teams that find it hard to work with HTML/CSS but have to.
Not enough people on the team who can handle repetitive and simpler tasks when more experienced developers can actually focus on crafting unique features, complex customizations, and building innovation.
Professional developers that are in high demand but difficult to find and at the same time more and more citizen developers with (scarce but vital) experience and skill level that vie for attention and recognition.
Fusion teams, designer-developer handoffs, DevOps and DesignOps that go along the way.
More projects, time constraints, inefficient and cumbersome processes scattered across the board, and development costs keep increasing.
Over-determined competitors + end-users that are “digitally hungrier” than ever before.
Now, What Are The Must-Have Features of A Powerful Low-Code Tool?
The market is already observing an increase in the number of low-code/no-code platforms being developed and delivered. But not all app makers include all the necessary controls, support, and capabilities that developers expect. App Builder, for example, offers the following features that only a truly powerful low-code/no-code platform can have.
Reusability, flexibility (components), and parity — Having the ability to easily create an application with drag & drop UI components and styles used in the final app, plus the option to display them interactively without programming all in advance, is a huge advantage. And what’s more, everything built on the platform must result in feature-parity and component-parity.
Data integration — This is another great feature, providing developers with encrypted data migration options with provisions to carry out data operations to source, organize, and transform legacy data. In other words, with a low-code point-and-click approach to data binding, there’s no need to write data-binding and access code.
Support for design tools — Having the choice to either start a new app from scratch or use an already finished design in Sketch or Figma is also one of the things that today’s low-code tools must have. With full UI Kit support, designers and developers don’t have to waste time with design-developer handoffs, multiple design reworks, UI changes to match a certain design element or feature, and so forth.
Real code, code preview, and code generation — The biggest strength of the drag-and-drop App Builder is its ability to generate REAL editable, testable, production-ready code in a click, eliminating the need for error-prone hand coding. It facilitates real-time app preview and assessment, eliminating heavy coding, and instead generates editable, testable, production-ready code in a click. On top of having a WYSIWYG app design, App Builder, for example, integrates a UI library of 60+ components for Angular, Blazor, and Web Components. In combination with the reusable building blocks mentioned before, it can quickly craft full-featured software that generates HTML, TypeScript & CSS for Angular, plus clean Blazor code and Web Components code in a single click.
Ability to nurture collaboration and serve as a single source of truth — One of the key things to look for in a comprehensive low-code app development tool is whether or not it works with a design system. App Builder for example integrates one such platform — Indigo.Design — to further provide designers and developers with a single source of truth in the process. This promotes well-structured DesignOps, which when coupled with existing DevOps processes, ensures time- and cost-efficiency, plus effort-savings when driving down backlog deliverables. Lastly, by facilitating the collaboration between developers, designers, PMs, and stakeholders, the low-code platform allows different team members to come in at any stage of the app development cycle, provide feedback, and take action right away.
GitHub integration — This feature allows users of the low-code app builders to sync their project right from the design surface to a GitHub repository where the actual generated code in the targeted platform can reside.
Questions & Factors to Consider Before Jumping Straight to Using Full-Featured Low-Code Tools
1. What are the reasons and the needs for adopting a low-code development tool?
2. Do you aim at eliminating heavy coding and instead build apps using drag & drop components with a WYSIWYG experience?
3. What is the quality of the produced application?
4. Is this tool only a temporary solution while working with remote developers?
5. Who is going to use the platform? Developers only? Developers and Designers? Fusion teams? Stakeholder? Citizen programmers?
6. Does it integrate with other Design Tools and how smooth is the integration?
7. Assess the interface, features, and how easy it is to use the system.
8. Is the low-code software scalable?
9. Are there any system limitations, and what are you willing to compromise?
10. What is the subscription mode? Is it “per user”, “per application”? Is it an individual product? Is it sold as part of a bigger product bundle plan?
Key Article Takeaways, Leading Industry Statistics & Questions to Consider
Low-code/no-code tools are becoming an essential part of the digital transformation strategy of any enterprise. With capabilities and features like code generation, analytics, reusability through drag & drop components, design system support, and more, these platforms are here to revamp traditional app development.
According to the Gartner Harness the Powers of Low-Code: A Gartner® Trend Insight Report[1]:
· By 2025, 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code technologies, up from less than 25% in 2020.
· 74% of development teams do not have designers or expertise in modern web development, with 44% of IT developers saying they are slowed down by coding in HTML & CSS.
· Low-code screens and app builders can save up to 80% of time in the application development phase, while significantly reducing bug counts.
· SDK’s and plugins for embedded analytics can save up to 18 months and $700,000 in development time in digital transformation projects.
· More than 5 million developers will be added to the global workforce in the next 5 years, which is still 1.4 million developers less than global demand.[2]
With all of this in mind, it is just a matter of time before every company starts adopting low-code tools, benefiting from all the features and capabilities of these app development platforms.
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[1] Harness the Powers of Low-Code: A Gartner® Trend Insight Report”, by Jason Wong and Kyle Davis, https://www.pmi.org/landing/gartner-market-research/harness-the-powers-of-low-code
[2] Harness the Powers of Low-Code: A Gartner® Trend Insight Report”, by Jason Wong and Kyle Davis, https://www.pmi.org/landing/gartner-market-research/harness-the-powers-of-low-code
