A Handbook To App Development For The Non-Tech Savvy

1/3/23, 9:41 AM A Handbook To App Development For The Non-Tech Savvy
Our StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
BLOG
APP DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: A Comprehensive Handbook to App
Development for the Non-Tech Savvy
September 11, 2018
Chapter 1: An Introduction to App Development Terminology

It is no secret that to ensure the success of a business, you must constantly look
for new opportunities to grow and find unique ways to deliver services to
customers. According to App Annie, between 2015 and 2020 the global mobile
app store downloads will more than double, reaching up to 284 billion
downloads, because of the use of smartphones in emerging markets. With this
data in mind, it is clear that mobile applications are a current technological trend
with businesses jumping on board to create an app for their brand to increase
interest from existing customers as well as drawing in more attention from future
potential consumers.
https://www.guarana-technologies.com/app-development/intro-terminology/ 1/19
Because it can be intimidating being faced with all the technical language
Our act
associated with app development, the StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
of actually creating an app may seem
very complicated to you. You might be thinking to yourself that maybe you aren’t
tech savvy enough to take on such a project. Have no fear, because it is possible
to understand app development in Toronto without a background in tech or
programming.
This is the first chapter in a series of blog posts surrounding the theme of app
development for the non-tech savvy. This chapter will go over introducing some
terminology to help you through the app development process including
learning about MVP, API, SDK, MBaaS, UX and UI. Don’t let these terms make
you uneasy, we are here to help, so let’s dive in!
First and Foremost: What is an MVP?
If you weren’t already aware, in business, MVP stands for minimum viable
product, which according to Eric Ries, the author of Lean Startup, this can be
defined as “a version of a new product which allows a team to collect the
maximum amount of validated learnings about customers with the least effort.
Essentially, an MVP is a new product developed with enough features and value
to appease early customers into using or buying it. All final features of your
product are only designed, developed and completed after feedback is given
from the product’s early users. In terms of mobile app development, your MVP
includes the necessary features needed to help solve a problem for users which
can then be released on the market.
Now that you have an understanding of the definition, you may be wondering
what the purpose is for having an MVP. What’s the big deal? A minimum viable
product is a great learning experience to help you gain insight about the market
you want to go into and learn about the potential consumers who will use your
product. It gives you the chance to get feedback from your users, prove the
business potential of your product and allow for future stages of development of
your MVP. Our StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
Criteria to Know Before Launching an MVP

However, before throwing yourself into developing an MVP, there are a few things
you should consider:
Know your target. Have a focus on what market you are getting into and
know your demographic.
Your app has to be specific. If it’s too generic or broad it won’t attract very
many people. Not as many customers will care or identify with it. For example, an
app that sells women’s yoga clothing has a specific target audience.
Ask yourself questions. You must be able to confidently answer these
questions: what makes your app unique? Why should people care about it? There
is a problem if you have a difficult time coming up with answers.
Find a market need. Did you know that 42% of startups fail because of lack
of market need? If the app does not provide a solution to a problem, it is likely
customers won’t be interested. There needs to not only be a market need for
your app but customers have to want it as well.
Be goal oriented. Write down a long-term goal. Ask yourself “Why am I doing
this?
What is the Difference Between SDK and API?

Now that we have introduced the definition, purpose and criteria of an MVP, let’s
move on to the next couple of app development terms on the list: SDK and API.
What are these two acronyms you ask?
Let’s begin with explaining SDK, which stands for Software Development Kit and
is also often referred to as a devkit. This is a set of tools developers use, think of
it as a sort of toolbox containing the necessary tools, visual editors and pieces of
code to build software applications Our
on StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
different platforms. A simple way to put it
would be that a devkit is like a box of premade cake mix containing all the dry
ingredients you need to bake a cake.
What is an SDK? (Software Development Kit)
You are probably now wondering about API, which stands for Application
Programming Interface. Think of a restaurant and how you want to order food.
How do you communicate what you want to the kitchen? Through a waiter of
course. The waiter comes to take your order and relays what you want to the
kitchen. Then, when your food is ready, the waiter brings it from the kitchen to
you. The waiter in this analogy signifies the API.
An API is a messenger that takes requests for what you want to do and relays it
to a system, then the API comes back to you with a response. This allows one
piece of software to talk to another, whether it’s between data, applications or
devices.
Let’s go over some real-world API examples to help with your understanding of
the topic. While using Yelp, you decide you want to find the best Italian
restaurants in your neighbourhood. Yelp’s API will then search this for you and
come back with the results. Another example would be if you are using a website
like Booking.com or Expedia.ca to book a flight, the API will search the deals with
different airlines (Air Canada, Air France, Air Transat, etc…) and come back to
you with a list of different options. And finally, an example of how devices and
apps can communicate with each other would be how you can sign into different
apps using your Facebook or Google account. As you can see, based on these
examples, different API components and features can be added to enhance your
app.
What is an API? Our StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
Why is a Mobile Backend as a Service Important?

A Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS) plays a role in the app development
process and utilizes both APIs and SDKs. An MBaaS connects mobile apps to
servers or cloud services using Application Programming Interfaces (API) and
Software Development Kits (SDK).
A Mobile Backend as a Service helps move along the development process of
your application and aids in growing the product experience by enhancing it with
features and services like storage, push notifications, analytics, social
networking, location services, data privacy and security, and user management.
There are many different MBaaS providers to choose from, each offering
different features. The top providersOurare:StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
Kinvey:
Helps with securing online and offline Android and iOS apps for tablets
smartphones and web browsers.
Features: built-in security and compliance, built-in operational intelligence
and mobilizing enterprise data
Parse:
Supports iOS and Android
Offers 3 products: Parse Core (run apps in their cloud, store data and connect
with social networks), Parse Push (push notification platform) and Parse
Analytics (measure user retention and engagement)
Google Firebase:
“Firebase lets you build more powerful, secure and scalable apps, using
world-class infrastructure.”
Features: store and sync data between users and devices, secure
authentication using email and passwords, cloud storage for images, audio and
video.
AWS Mobile Services
Supports Android, iOS and web
Features: secure authentication (user sign-in), storing and syncing data such
as user profiles, photos, game progress and other settings, collect data on how
customers are using your application and send in-app push notifications.
Apple Cloudkit
Supports iOS (does not support Android)
“The CloudKit framework provides interfaces for moving data between your
app and your iCloud containers. You use CloudKit to take your app’s existing data
and store it in the cloud so that the user can access it on multiple devices. You
can also store data in a public area where all users can access it.”
Microsoft Azure Mobile Services
“Microsoft Azure is an ever-expanding set of cloud services to help your
organization meet your business challenges. It’s the freedom to build, manage,
and deploy applications on a massive, global network using your favorite tools
and frameworks.”
Accessible to small, large, old and new businesses
Features: authentication, data storage, artificial intelligence services and push
notification services
Kii:
Provides infrastructure for Internet of Things (IoT) applications and mobile
games
Available to businesses of all sizes
Features: easily onboard and authenticate users through social networks,
email and passwords, monitors usage and security, sends push notifications
(updates and alerts for users), provides geolocation, A/B testing and app
analytics (how your app is being used across platforms).
Knowing the Difference Between UX and UI

With all this technological terminology under your belt, it’s time to look at the
user experience (UX) and the user interface (UI) and how they both play a
large role in the development process of an app. It is important to note that one
cannot function without the other. They each perform very different tasks, but
they need each other to ensure a product’s success.
The user experience involves the internal experience a customer has with the
app, including how the user interacts with a company’s products and services.
The goal for the UX is to map it so it’s user-friendly, ensuring the ease of use
between a customer and a product (i.e. your phone). You want to make it as easy
as possible for customers to complete their desired tasks, focusing on the
optimization of the product, making sure it’s enjoyable to use.
On the other hand, the user interface involves the user’s visual experience and
the aesthetics and cosmetics of the app. This includes the look, feel and
interactivity of a product. The goal is to make it attractive to users through the
elements you use to interact with the device like screens, pages and visual
elements like buttons and icons.
UX Design vs UI Design | What's the Difference? Which one is right for me?
Learning About the Usability of an App

The level of usability of an app and the user experience come hand in hand. As
we mentioned before, the user experience ensures that the customer is happy
while using the app and that they had a pleasant experience with your product.
It’s all about enhancing the relationship between the customers and the brand
and analysing system performance and interactivity behaviour from users.
Three of the main characteristics to describe usability include effectiveness,
efficiency and satisfaction. Its importance is building an app that is easy to use
and making it possible for customers to achieve their goals while interacting with
the product. A good question to ask when thinking about usability: can the user
accomplish their goal? If the answerOuris StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
yes, then you are on the right track to
your app’s success.
The Core Principles of Mobile App Usability
Now that you have an understanding as to how the user experience, user
interface and the usability of a mobile app work together, let’s take a look at
some core elements of mobile usability. After all, the goal is to make sure all your
users are happy with their app experience and following these principles is a step
in the right direction.
Holding the device. Know how your users hold the device because not
everyone is the same (for example some people use it in landscape mode, while
others use it in portrait mode). A way to find out this information is by using
analytics or user surveys to know which devices are used and for what activities
they are using them for.
Where people use the device. Understand how and where people are using
the device because chances are consumers are not using an application with
their full attention, they are probably doing other things like taking the bus,
watching television or sitting at a restaurant. You must ask yourself if users can
move around freely while using the app.
Accessible for thumbs. Users navigate apps using mostly their thumbs,
which means everything on the screen should be easily accessible and within
reach for a thumb without having to change fingers or using two hands.
Placing content. Take into consideration that the most important content is
placed in the center of the screen so it is within a user’s line of sight and the
content is not blocked by their thumb.
Do not overwhelm. You don’t want to bombard users by showing all the
content in one place. You want to give them the basics and then provide users
with navigation controls to allow them to dig a little deeper into the app if they
want. You don’t want to overwhelm users with too much content on a small
screen space. Our StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
Keep it simple. Keep navigation in the app simple, make it concise to users
and clear when links have been activated.
Minimize user input. The less a user has to mess around with their phone
and the app, the better and more enjoyable it will be for them. For example,
allowing for a permanent login instead of them having to log in every time they
want to use the app.
How to Analyse your Mobile App Usability

With all this mobile app usability information in mind, how can you analyse it and
monitor the users’ experiences? This can be done through both qualitative and
quantitative analytics. Quantitative analytics is numerical data, for instance, it
may show that your app has a daily crash rate of 70%, but this data won’t
necessarily show you why this is happening. This is where qualitative analytics
come into play when information can’t be evaluated using numerical data. With
usability being so subjective and unique, it can be difficult to measure it with
numbers.
There are a couple of tools you can use to help acquire qualitative data. Touch
heatmaps and user recordings can provide the analytics to measure mobile app
usability to see how users are behaving and interacting with your app. It can help
you understand what works and what doesn’t. For example, using qualitative
analytics might help you realize that a certain feature in your app is frustrating
for customers to use.
Touch heatmaps are tools that monitor all the different gestures done in your app
whether it be taps, swipes, double taps or pinches. The heatmap is layered on
top of the app so that you can see how users are interacting with it. These
interactions are shown in a colour frequency from blue to red, with blue showing
the lowest interactions and red showing the highest. This can help reveal which
features on your app are the most and least popular.
With a heatmap you can see if there are any unresponsive gestures coming from
your app, this means when user interactions and gestures with the app are left
unanswered. For example, this could be a bug in the app leaving some of the
buttons unusable or unresponsive. You could see maybe a lot of users are
constantly quitting out of a particular screen and then investigate as to why that
is happening.
Another tool we mentioned earlier is to apply user recordings in your app. This is
pretty self-explanatory where everything the user is doing with your app is
recorded, following your users through their app journey. This gives you insight
into the user’s experience, whether anything needs to be fixed and if they are
experiencing any particular problems.
Platforms like Google Analytics and Mixpanel can also both aid in tracking web
and mobile traffic. Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google which
collects data related to actions by users, individual app visits, individual page
visits as well as button clicks and video views. Mixpanel has the same idea where
the goal is to track user interactions with web and mobile applications to better
understand how users engage with your product.
Finally, one last tool to help you analyse mobile app usability would be to allow
your users to provide in-app feedback. Besides just using email, your users need
an efficient way to voice their experiences with your brand such as chats, phone
numbers, etc.
Discover the Different Types of Apps
After going through all that app development terminology, it is important to note
the different categories of apps that exist. We have come up with a list of the
different types of apps to help you decide which kind will be the best fit for your
brand if you ever decide to developOur
yourStoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
own:
B2B or business-to-business: business conducted between companies. B2B
apps that help manage businesses include Google Analytics, which helps track
everything on your website and monitor who is visiting, and DocuSign which is a
platform where digital contracts with vendors, clients and employees can be
signed.
B2C or business-to-consumer: transactions conducted between a company
and consumers. For example, the Starbucks app helps with mobile payments and
skipping long lineups by ordering ahead of time.
B2E or business-to-employee: providing products and services to
employees. B2E apps can let employees fill out company surveys, contribute
company feedback, communicate with other employees and provide training.
SaaS (Software as a service): Allows people to use and connect to cloud-
based apps over the internet like calendars, emails and other office tools like
Microsoft Office 365. You pay as you go, renting the app for your business or
organization. For example, Slack is a messaging platform for business
communication in the workplace. This includes direct one-on-one private
messaging between colleagues or it can be used for team conversations. The
messaging platform also shares files, documents and spreadsheets between
colleagues.
Loyalty App: Rewarding long-term or new customers with coupons, cash
back, discounts, gift cards, freebies and points. For example, with the Sephora
app, members of the loyalty program get free birthday gifts and beauty classes.
The Starbucks app also has a rewards program where stars are collected with
the goal of redeeming rewards like getting a free drink.
Social Media: Supports publishing and sharing text, video, audio and photo,
building personal profiles and connecting with other communities. Examples:
WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Skype, Pinterest, LinkedIn
Games: These include games designed for mobile devices. They can be
anywhere from basic games like Solitaire to more advanced 3D augmented
reality games like Pokémon Go. Often games have connectivity features like Wi-
Fi or Bluetooth making it possible forOurmultiplayer
StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
games (two or more players).
IoT (Internet of Things) Apps: IoT involves connecting physical devices to
the internet. This includes using apps to connect to objects. For
example, Amazon Go allows you to leave a store without going through the
checkout. You use the Amazon Go app to enter the store and when you leave,
the items you took with you will be charged to your Amazon account.
POS (point of sales): A point of sale is the time and place of a completed
retail transaction, but in this case, we are talking about how business owners can
install apps on their mobile devices to accept credit card payments as well as
track business sales and inventory. These systems can also send receipts,
complete refunds and exchanges and track customer information. For example,
Square is a free POS app which is good for startups and small businesses which
includes features like credit card processing and business management tools.
App Glossary/Dictionary
To finish off the chapter, we have provided you with a glossary of some app-
related terms which will help you better understand technical jargon:
A/B testing: This is a way to test two different versions of an app to see which
works and performs best.
ASO: Stands for App Store Optimization and involves the process of helping
mobile apps rank higher in app store search results.
Backend: What goes on behind the scenes of how your app functions, such as
updates.
Bounce rate: The rate of people visiting your website without interacting with
the page (not clicking on anything on the page they entered the site on).
Bug: These can cause apps to crash due to an error or flaw in the application.
CMS: Stands for Content Management System. CMS makes it possible to
manage, edit and add digital content on an app.
Debugging: The process of identifying and removing flaws (bugs) from an
application.
End-Users: The targeted users your app was intended for.
Frontend: The parts of your app you can interact with like contact forms,
buttons and drop-down menus.
Hybrid app: One app built to run on multiple platforms and devices.
iOS: Operating system used for Apple devices like iPods, iPhones and iPads.
Native app: An app built specifically for one platform or device.
Push notifications: Alerts and messages sent from the app to the user on their
home or lock screen (for example, update reminders).
Retention: The users that consistently use your mobile app.
Specification (spec): A document showing all the necessary information about
an app before building it. This includes the target audience, budget, design, etc…
Wireframes: A blueprint that shows the functionality and navigation of your app
If you want to see a more extensive list of technological terms, you can consult
this mobile app dictionary or this app development jargon glossary.
As you can see, there is a lot to learn before jumping straight into developing an
app. With an introduction to MVPs, SDKs, APIs, MBaaS, UX and UI, you should be
a little bit more self-assured in your technological knowledge. Chapter two will
focus on knowing the difference between native and hybrid apps, understanding
the pros and cons of choosing both options and the different programming
languages used in iOS and Android to develop both types of apps. Be sure to
check it out in an upcoming post!
SHARE ON:
by Guarana
Filed under App Funding
Tagged API/SDK, mbaas, mobile app usability, mvp, Apps, UX/UI, app development
Our values Partners - not providers.

Guaraná will act as your partner and advisor through
development process is tailored to be collaborative a
projects. Being a well rounded and skilled team make
both startups and established companies.
iOS App Android App App BlogResourcesReferral Careers

Development Development Development Program
DEFINING YOUR APP DEVELOPMENT APP PUBLISHING

PROJECT
iOS app development Launching a mobile app
What are the steps to
building your mobile Android app Organic and paid user
app? development acquisition
About the app Web app development Mistakes to avoid when
development process launching your app
Connected objects
Should you go hybrid (IoT) Retention and
or native? engagement strategies
How to build a AR/VR app App Store Optimization

successful MVP Our StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact
development (ASO)
Crafting your app UX/UI services
product requirements
© 2022 – All Rights Reserved English

A Handbook To App Development For The Non-Tech Savvy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

A Handbook To App Development For The Non-Tech Savvy

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Handbook To App Development For The Non-Tech Savvy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1/3/23, 9:41 AM A Handbook To App Development For The Non-Tech Savvy

Chapter 1: An Introduction to App Development Terminology

Criteria to Know Before Launching an MVP

What is the Difference Between SDK and API?

What is an SDK? (Software Development Kit)

What is an API? Our StoryServicesTechnologyPortfolioResourcesContact

Why is a Mobile Backend as a Service Important?

Knowing the Difference Between UX and UI

Learning About the Usability of an App

How to Analyse your Mobile App Usability

Our values Partners - not providers.

iOS App Android App App BlogResourcesReferral Careers

DEFINING YOUR APP DEVELOPMENT APP PUBLISHING

How to build a AR/VR app App Store Optimization

© 2022 – All Rights Reserved English

You might also like