API implementation is an effective way to add custom functionalities to a web or mobile application without having to develop it from scratch. It saves hours of arduous development work and ensures smooth integration of third-party services across all types of web interfaces. For this reason and many other reasons, APIs (application programming interfaces) have become increasingly popular in web application development. At the same time, REST APIs have replaced several traditional software architectures like SOAP (simple object access protocol) and RPC (remote procedure call).
As a matter of fact, the API-centric approach goes a long way toward improving website user experiences and improving app usability. Besides, it plays a critical role in interconnecting different web application components with third-party modules or services. The use of REST APIs facilitates seamless interaction between different app components, modules, and disparate software systems.
This blog post highlights the crucial aspects of API-centric web development as well as the benefits of the API-centric approach for web application development.
The API-centric Approach
The question worth asking here is “what exactly is an API-centric approach to web development?” The answer is quite straightforward! The API-centric approach refers to the development methodology that focuses on building web services using APIs to enable frictionless data exchanges between different app components. It enables the application’s frontend and backend components to communicate in response to different actions performed by the client. APIs implemented on a web interface fetch the desired information from a dedicated server and delivers appropriate responses to the client. As a result, the use of APIs truncates development time and effort by connecting users to a third-party server. At the same time, it significantly reduces development costs and aids in improving user experiences across multiple devices.
Benefits of API-centric Web Application Development
There are numerous advantages of developing API-centric websites and web applications. Read further to explore these benefits and learn how you can enhance web user experiences to maximize user engagement.
Information Sharing
Web APIs can provide your website visitors easy access to content from remote databases at the click of a button. Thus, API-centric custom web application development facilitates frictionless information sharing with secure user authentication and authorization mechanisms.
Reduced Development Efforts
As already mentioned, API-centric web application development significantly reduces development time and efforts. Moreover, by using third-party APIs, you can directly link website visitors to remote databases. For instance, if you own an eCommerce store, developers can implement APIs of Google Maps to provide the exact store location to website visitors. In doing so, you are not going to develop a GPS-based location tracking application from the ground up. Instead, you are using the APIs of an existing application on your website or web application. This approach is a more efficient and cost-effective way to achieve the required functionality.
More User Convenience
Whether you develop custom APIs or use external APIs, ‘user convenience’ is the ultimate goal of API-centric web application development services. More so because the main objective of custom API development or implementation is to the enhance user experience. Even if you implement external APIs on a website, it would act as a native website component. That is the whole purpose of using APIs – “to bridge the gap between different web site components or third-party services.”
Enhanced Security
APIs provide a secure communication gateway for different app components to interact and exchange data. Some people are of the opinion that implementing external APIs on a website exposes it to security risks, not to mention the breach of privacy from third parties. On the contrary, using external APIs, in many cases, enhance your website security, bring it under the direct surveillance of remote servers. However, it is critical to ensure that you are only using APIs from reliable sources. On the other hand, with custom API development solutions, you get complete control over the APIs. Hence, it becomes possible to customize them as per your needs and add multiple layers of security and privacy.
Ease of Integration
Understandably, APIs allow developers to embed any type of application or service into the given website or web application. It provides ease of integration between different website components, custom functionality or third-party services. Furthermore, APIs ensure seamless interactions between the interconnected applications, modules, plugins, third-party services, or disparate software components.
You may also be interested in reading Top Frameworks For Custom Web Application Development
Wrapping Up
To a certain extent, the benefits you get from using APIs in web development depends on the quality of APIs and their ability to interact with webpages. Therefore, it is critical to hire experienced developers that are proficient in API development and implementation for your web project. If you don’t have a long-term requirement, then setting up an in-house team of developers could be an exorbitant affair. That being said, the best approach, under these circumstances, is to outsource a reliable technology partner or web application development company.
Avail Our API-centric Web Application Development Services?
At Oodles ERP, we have years of industry experience in developing and implementing custom APIs for web and mobile interfaces. Our custom API development services enable enterprises to enhance their user experiences and enable smooth navigation flow. Our seasoned developers use agile methodologies to implement custom functionality in web applications to enhance user experiences and provide a smooth navigation flow. Our API development services also include end-to-end API testing to help deliver a bug-free web application. We have a team of experienced QA engineers who specialize in using API testing tools like Postman, JMeter, and SoapUI. For project-related queries, drop us a line at [email protected].
