[PHP SW] Software vs Web: What sets them apart?

We'll dive into the key differences between software and web development. We'll explore the unique approaches, contexts, and user needs that define each field. Additionally we'll discuss the specific challenges you might encounter - from resilience, maintainability, performance, needs of users and more. Whether you're juggling both worlds, focused on one or looking to transition, this talk will help you grasp what sets software & web development apart, what they can learn from each other and to help you make conscious decisions in your projects.

1. Adam Tomat - Development Lead @ Rareloop What Sets Them Apart? Software vs Web

2. Development Lead About me Software development Web development Responsible for our web & software team @ Rareloop

3. Overview What do I mean by “software”? What do I mean by “web”? What about software on the web? What sets them apart What can they learn from each other?

4. What do I mean by “software”? Platforms Dashboards Workflow systems APIs

5. Software is typically about saving money

6. Context More controlled users & devices Priority for desktop (typically) Complex business logic Long-living Software

7. Function over form Reliability Flexibility Recoverable User needs Software

8. Cost efficiency Low risk Stability Can adapt to business change Security Client needs Software

9. Brochure websites E-commerce website What do I mean by “web”?

10. Web is typically about earning money

11. Available to everyone Unpredictable devices and networks Visible to search engines Mostly business-logic free Long-living Context Web

12. Access information quickly Easy to use Reliable User needs Web

13. Brand representation Makes their information available Cost efficiency Low risk? Editable Client needs Web

14. Software on the web?

15. Context More controlled users & devices Priority for desktop (typically) Complex business logic Long-living Software on the web Available to everyone Unpredictable devices and networks Visible to search engines Mostly business-logic free

16. Function over form Reliability Flexibility Recoverable User needs Software on the web Access information quickly Easy to use

17. Cost efficiency Low risk Stability Can adapt to business change Security Client needs Software on the web Brand representation Makes their information available Cost efficiency Editable

18. ?

19. Resilience Maintainability Performance Security How do we meet these needs?

20. Resilience

21. UI workflow Undo-ability Multiple developers Reduced risk of bugs Automated (and manual) testing Multiple environments CI/CD Zero-downtime deployment Feature flags Software Resilience

22. UI components look considered across all breakpoints Editing content doesn’t cause issues Rely on declarative languages like HTML and CSS It can work without JavaScript ( progressive enhancement ) Embrace unpredictability of the web - be future friendly Accessibility (a11y) Web Resilience

23. https://icapps.com/blog/app-accessibility

24. Software > Web What can we learn? What’s our QA process? Can we add any automated tests round anything? Can we use linters and tools to help catch bugs? Can we use composer to declare dependencies? Can we improve deployments using CI/CD? Resilience

25. Are our UI components bulletproof? Do they look considered responsively? Is our frontend framework allowing us to build in a future-friendly way? Are we expecting the unexpected? Have we considered things like network conditions? Resilience What can we learn? Web > Software

26. Maintainability

27. Documentation Consistent local environment (e.g. Docker) Consistent coding style Software engineering principles Separation of concerns Automated tests & static analysis Software Maintainability

28. Componentisation (with a Design system ) Giving more power to editors (e.g. Page builder / full-site editing) Documentation Web Maintainability

29. Can we make a consistent local environment? What coding style could we follow for PHP, HTML, CSS, JS etc? Could we follow some software engineering principles, like MCV? Is there anything that would benefit from having automated tests? Maintainability What can we learn? Software > Web

30. Are we creating re-usable UI components? Could we use a design system to help document these? Maintainability What can we learn? Web > Software

31. Performance

32. Make it “feel” fast Performant database queries Run processes asynchronously and/or concurrently Infrastructure Software Performance

33. Optimising images Optimising frontend assets Caching CDN Bot spam protection Page Speed Insights Web Performance

34. Do we have the right infrastructure for what we need? Are there any slow database queries that could be improved? Can we use optimistic UI or anything else to help make it feel fast? Performance What can we learn? Software > Web

35. Have we optimised the frontend as much as the backend? Has our technical stack limited what we can optimise on the frontend? Can we optimise images? Performance What can we learn? Software > Web

36. Security

37. Prevent unauthorised access Data breaches Protecting sensitive keys Encryption Masking data / anonymisation of data Protecting APIs Penetration testing Software Security

38. Prevent unauthorised access Content Security Policy (CSP) Protect against SQL injection attacks Secure session management User enumeration Web Security

39. Do we need an incident response plan? Are we keeping our secrets safe? Can they be encrypted? Is penetration testing useful to do here? How can we prevent local databases from containing customer data? Security What can we learn? Software > Web

40. Could we add a Content Security Policy? Are we preventing user enumeration? Are our sessions secure? What can we learn? Security Web > Software

41. Don’t forget about SEO…

42. ?

43. Both software and web are hard to do well Make a conscious decision about the tooling you are using Are you serving the user’s needs and the client’s needs over yours? What can you apply to your projects? Wrapping up

44. Questions?