How fast cloud hosting benefits web developers

Photo: Bru-nO, Pixabay

When cloud computing was in its initial stages, many asked the question: ‘Has the cloud revolutionized the jobs of web developers?’

The answer was debateable, to say the least. Some gave a straight ‘yes’. Others, on the other hand, were more skeptical and adopted the ‘wait and see’ approach. But this was a couple of years ago.

Fast forward to 2018, and we now see that cloud computing has made sweeping changes for the industry. Fast web hosting today helps smooth out web development tasks with minimal interruptions. And for developers, this is a major step in the right direction.

Here are six benefits that cloud hosting offers to web developers:

Low latency

Blazing-quick cloud hosting has given users the most bang for their. But for developers, cloud hosting has created a whole new development background that has changed the rules f the game.

Unlike the cloud, conventional hosting solutions are limited by their data server locations. In other words, the fewer the number, the more unlikely you have the choice of selecting a server location closest to your region. Because of this, latency issues become a key problem due to higher TFTB (Time to First Byte) and slow server response time. The result is slow response and dropped packets that translate into UX issues.

In comparison, cloud hosting offers a higher number of region-specific data centers. This helps minimize the time required to deliver the data to the requesting agents. The result: developers enjoy remarkably faster loading speeds and could factor in high data volumes into their dev processes.

Develop scalable and high-performing applications

Web developers create server applications that are ideally scalable and able to deliver high performance under stress. However, this all depends on the hosting solution that powers the entire process.

Shared hosting, for example, has several limitations that curb performance and scalability because of limited storage capacity and shared server resources. As a result, the performance is limited to the discretion of the hosting plan in use, and meeting client needs becomes a near impossible feat. This is especially true for developing complex applications such as CRM applications that depend upon inter-module communication for optimum performance.

In the case of dedicated hosting, web developers are far better off developing applications thanks to dedicated resources. But, the downside: they need to manage the applications and servers all by themselves, which is painstakingly frustrating.

With fast cloud hosting, on the other hand, developers have fewer burdens. Its simple scalability features and array of performance features allows them to create and install applications with little problems. If they opt for managed cloud hosting, they don’t need to bother with server administration, maintenance, and other technicalities. The managed cloud hosting provider takes care of these, leaving developers to put all their focus on delivering robust server applications.

The result: they meet client needs more efficiently without having to worry about sluggish server response times and server-related hassles.

Enhanced UX

Cloud web hosting benefits also extends to a enriched website user experience. And when it comes to improved UX, speed is king. Websites that provide a seamless navigation (online ecommerce stores or video-streaming websites, in particular) need to deliver a great user experience in order to stay competitive.

Developers can relate when I say how irritating it is when you receive angry calls from clients telling you to fix web page crashes and crappy looking visuals. What they don’t realize is that the UX is directly related to the speed of the hosting solution. In the case of cloud hosting, developer are able to use videos and hi-res images without worrying about the slow hosting and high latency.

Many cloud hosting providers offer lightning-fast hosting performance using local data server locations. And we have already seen how this overcomes latency. But fast cloud hosting has another edge – content delivery network known as CDNs.

These are a network of several nodes (servers) that are dispersed in different geographical locations. CDNs cache static content, such as images and CSS files, and help pull web server requests from the nearest available node.

Timely asset delivery

Developers also gain from rapid delivery of web application assets, such as internal and external scripts with fast cloud hosting. Through local data center and advanced CDN, they can save time spent on sifting through the web server for internal and external scripts, resulting in faster loading speed and user experience.

The same can be said for high-res images and videos, which make web development for portfolio and digital agency website a breeze. Developers no longer have to fear the dangers of a page taking 10 seconds to load and fully display all content.

This is why many websites with large-scale multimedia needs are opting for managed cloud hosting on vendors, such as AWS or Google Cloud. They can embed videos of more than 200 MBs in size without affecting loading speed.

No need to setup development environments

When developers choose a hosting service, such as shared or dedicated, they have to set up a development environment from scratch. This involves setting up an operating system (usually Linux), a database management system (generally MySQL) and a web server (Apache and Nginx are popular choices) to develop server applications.

The word ‘gruelling’ is an understatement for the incredibly long and burdensome process used to setup a web dev environment.

Now with cloud hosting, especially managed-cloud, developers get a pre-installed development environment with all databases, cache and web server in place. Thanks to this feature, developers can simply begin building custom applications in no time.

Collaborate in team-based projects in real-time

In contrast to shared and dedicated hosting plans, cloud hosting helps developers work in geographically distributed teams.

Despite the popularized stereotype of web developers as nerdy loners who stayed glued to their screens for hours at end, developers do need to work in teams on projects. The main problem is the security of a team lead’s master credentials.

Cloud hosting comparison, on the other hand, offers the exact opposite. Developers have the freedom to grant application-level access to multiple users whilst retaining complete access for themselves. They can collaborate and work productively on group tasks with full transparency.

No doubt, cloud computing has been a seismic shift for web development. Thanks to blazing fast web hosting, web developers now have access to an infrastructure best-suited for developing robust web applications individually and in groups at a fraction of the cost. It has further allowed them to cater to client requirements much more quickly and effectively.

If you’re a web developer and benefited from quick web hosting, share your experiences with us in the comments below.

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