We are in an era where we want to access the world online as much as possible. No doubt, this overgrowing trend towards digitization signifies the continuous online availability of web applications. Not to mention, this is a daunting task and needs a robust platform for hosting. And the best answer to this is cloud computing in web development. The use of cloud computing in web development leverages cloud-based services at a lower cost. This helps to avoid setting up an individual server separately and maintaining them.

Moreover, if the business requires geographical expansion, maintaining the servers in multiple locations is an additional overhead for the company. Coupled with the power of internet technology, cloud computing addresses this need very well.

However, the reason mentioned above is not the only limit for cloud computing usability in web development. Moreover, the list is growing over the period with the developing solutions in cloud computing.

[Please get an overview on the definition of cloud computing and web development if you are new to these terms]

What is a Cloud based web development?

Before discussing the benefits of cloud computing in web development, let’s have an overview of a cloud-based web app?

To begin with, traditional web apps it is solely browser dependent. However, this is not the case for a cloud-based web app. Interconnected devices could access it through custom-built apps in the cloud. Additionally, Cloud-based web apps have a few more characteristics, which include:

- Data caching can be done in full-offline mode.

- Additional support for data backup with security, data compression, and scheduling.

- Data is stored in a cloud infrastructure

- The app can be used to access cloud provided additional services such as storage, on-demand computing cycle, application development platforms, etc.

Benefits of Cloud computing in web application development

Benefits of Cloud computing in web development can be analyzed from two perspectives –

Business

Development

Benefits of Cloud based web development

Let's start from a business point of view. Why is cloud hosting services becoming the enterprise's choice? Of course, the verdict inclines towards cloud computing infrastructure benefits, which include many. Here are some of them:

Scalability:

The online presence is a significant matter a lot based on its easy accessibility and availability across the locations. To meet these two critical conditions, the business needs to focus on two areas:

- The speed of the application

- Geographical accessibility

- Minimum downtime

But can it be possible with on-premises server solutions? Yes, it can be with multiple high-end server configurations, leading to a huge investment. Interestingly, cloud computing brings a scalable platform that offers speed, less downtime, and geographical reach without user experience limitations and numbers.

Security:

Security is one of the critical measures when an application is hosted on the internet. Because it handles customer personal data, confidential data related to an organization, financial data, and it could be anything. Hence, if not rightly handled, it can impact a business poorly.

To demonstrate, the cloud security model is a shared security model where both the consumer of the services and the cloud vendor are responsible for securing the applications in the cloud. In general, Cloud security architecture varies based on the cloud model (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS). However, there are some primary security features, which include :

- Single Sign-On feature for multiple accounts for various service providers. This makes IT administration easier from the monitoring point of view.

- It is facilitating the prevention of data loss with appropriate tools.

- It is facilitating the prevention of data loss with appropriate tools.

Resource Optimization:

Web applications need various resources support, which may cause additional expenses for a company. Uses of Cloud computing in web development meets this need optimally by providing their already available resources.

Cost Effective:

Cloud computing is a cost-effective solution concerning data storage and maintenance. Usually, application data are maintained in on-premises or remote data centers, which becomes a significant investment. On the contrary, there is no headache for cloud-based applications for maintaining an on-premises data center or planning for disaster recovery.

The flexibility of access as per need:

Uses of Cloud computing offers more flexibility in terms of sharing and restricting access to data on a real-time basis. A company may provide access to its web developers only for development-related data and limit user data access.

Mobility:

With the cloud-based IDE facility, both the organization and the web designer or developer get the flexibility to work on the fly. Hence, they don't need a dedicated system to continue to work and collaborate from anywhere if they have internet connectivity. I have mentioned some of these IDEs in the next section.

Benefits of Cloud Computing in web development for developers and designers

As a developer, you may want a robust, easy to access web app development platform/IDE or web app development tools to develop a web application. Setting up an IDE on the local machine, much time slows down the development process.

Hence, with web app development platforms through cloud computing, it has become a must for professional web designers and developers. This is nothing but software hosted on a cloud and can be accessed from anywhere with the internet's help.

There are many such cloud-based IDEs or web app development platforms with their own set of specialties. Here I have mentioned some of the popular ones with their highlighted category:

Codeanywhere: One of the best Cloud-based Web Applications for Web Developers and Designers. Developed by Codeanywhere, Inc., this cross-platform cloud IDE is widely used to write, collaborate, manage, and run web development projects from a web browser or any mobile device.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/capublic/ca_logo_256x256.png

GitHub: Not to mention a popular IDE platform for a wide range of developers' community. It’s a collaborative platform for coding, managing, and version control.

https://cdn.tutsplus.com/webdesign/authors/ian-yates/github-pages-github.jpg

DropBox: Modern workspace for file storage and synchronization, among them when dealing with a good number of files for development purposes.

https://aem.dropbox.com/cms/content/dam/dropbox/www/en-us/branding/dropbox-logo@2x.jpg

Kodigen: As the languages like Python, JavaScript, Perl or frameworks like Django, NodeJs, Ruby On Rails have gained
rising popularity in web development, this cloud-based IDE –Kodigen has also established a niche for web developers.

TypeTester: If you are least interested in coding for your next web application design, then TypeTester is the best choice. You will get a fully responsive outcome with perfect typography.

http://codegeekz.com/wp-content/uploads/typetester.jpg

Final words:

So, it is evident that cloud computing in web development adds new capabilities for developing and designing applications with its infrastructure and services. Besides, its benefits are convincing enough for businesses and developers to move into a cloud environment for web application development. No doubt, cloud computing in web development brings flexibility in work, business flexibility and ensure a collaborative environment.

Please share your valuable inputs in comment area to make the article more informative.