Flutter for Web Development: A Complete Guide to Build Flutter Web Apps

Flutter is a mobile app SDK used for writing native-quality apps for iOS and Android. Flutter also provides the Material Design UI framework for the Web, allowing developers to build beautiful and high-performance mobile and Web apps using one codebase.

However, the key consideration for any business is to provide an enriching user experience. Just as the users are provided a rich user experience on the mobile, they are expecting to get the same on the web. And this is where Flutter for web development comes to fill the gaps and help developers build exciting web applications.

Flutter for web development has arrived, and it’s all thanks to the support of Google’s Dart programming language. Flutter leverages the shared Dart codebase, which is used to build applications for iOS and Android applications to create web applications.

What’s more, Flutter’s Material Design UI framework can also be used for building beautiful and high-performance web apps. So if you’re looking to develop cross-platform mobile and web apps using one codebase, Flutter is definitely worth considering.

Let’s explore how we can build Flutter web applications and create enriching user experiences for the customers.

Must Read: Top 7 Eases Operations to choose Flutter for Cross-Platform App Development

What is Flutter and What is Dart?

Starting with Flutter, it is an SDK helping developers build iOS and Android-based mobile applications. With further advancements, today, we can also use Flutter to build applications for the web.

At its core, Flutter is Google’s UI library. Moreover, with Flutter, we can build cross-platform applications while catering to the nativity of the Android and iOS devices’ inherent properties.

Coming to what is Dart, it is the programming language used to code applications built on Flutter. So, Flutter and Dart are inseparable from each other. Plus, while creating an application for the web, iOS, or Android, developers must consider the development capabilities of Dart and Flutter together.

Furthermore, Dart is an object-oriented programming language with similarities to C and Java. In the case of web applications, web Dart is used as the programming language; it is transpiled to JavaScript. This helps it run on all the web browsers.

Introducing Flutter Web

The best thing about Flutter Web is that it will bring the same experience as users get with iOS and Android native applications on the web. Flutter Web is a powerful technology built specifically for this purpose.

Armored with a shared codebase and the potential to reach more users than other technologies, the Flutter for Web also has faster prototyping capabilities. It can quickly iterate the web applications while helping the developers run tests with speed to generate accurate customer feedback.

Does Using Flutter for Web Development Bring Value to Business?

Yes, it certainly does. Flutter for the web is a code-compatible representation of this development technology. The web applications built with it are rendered with the standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

In summary, when you are using Flutter for the web, it will basically compile the existing code, which is written in Dart, and embed it into a browser. This compiled codebase can then be deployed on any web server, making Flutter for Web a great option for businesses wanting to expand their outreach. Here are a few concepts on how Flutter-based web application development brings value to the business. 

• Simultaneous Development for the Web and Mobile: Flutter can become your go-to choice for creating web and mobile applications. Since you will have a shared codebase, but you might have to tweak it according to the platform, things will be easier.
  For a business wanting to expand its market outreach by targeting every type of device with the first mover’s market advantage at lower costs can choose Flutter. Yes, there are some considerations, including customizing the user interface according to the screen size and resolutions.

• Code Reusability: Reusing the existing code you might have written for the iOS and Android applications is time and cost-saving. You can use the existing logic and the UI components of the current applications and integrate them into the web application.

These two aspects bring the most value to a business. You can use them as a motivation to start with web development.

Advantages of Flutter for Web Development

• Flutter is Production Ready: One of the great things about Flutter is that it does not take much time to get started. To get started, you only need to run two commands;
  • $flutter config – – enable-web
  • $flutter create.

  With this, you can start developing web apps using Flutter. Basically, these commands will open the Flutter web portal for the developer to start working on the same. However, these commands are meant to be written in Flutter 2.0. If you are using Flutter 1, the set of commands are different. Here they are;

  • $ flutter channel stable
  • $ flutter upgrade
  • $ flutter config –enable-web
  • $ flutter create.

  After this, there’re a few steps to take, and you can start building web applications with Flutter.

• Add-to-App Function: With Flutter, you can add an existing application with Flutter to another. This action is completed by adding it as a module or library. Once added, you can then render a part or the entire UI of the added application into the new one with Flutter.
  This essentially means that if you have an application built with another technology than Flutter, it can get the Flutter experience with Add-to-App.

• Similar UI Logic across all Platforms: Flutter allows sharing the UI code and UI components. This is the first development technology yet, to provide this functionality. Other cross-platform development technologies only allowing sharing of the UI code.
  Due to the dual sharing model, Flutter can be used to build applications for any platform with complete nativity. Flutter also takes the lead in the rendering process. Where other technologies rely on platform-specific components to render the code, Flutter does not need the same. With Flutter, we only have to show the UI components; then, Flutter will render them as events.The benefit of this direct rendering is seen in the consistency across all the UI platforms.

• Improve Time to Market: With businesses competing to get the largest customer base, they need to get the first mover’s advantage. With Flutter, development takes less time. This means that using it; businesses can actually present the product with a relatively shorter span of time in the market.
  Flutter takes less time; hence it can drastically improve the time to market. Furthermore, Flutter uses a declarative API for building the UI. And this boosts the performance manifold.

• Customize Anything: Yes, Flutter makes it possible to customize and edit anything we see on the screen. No matter the complexity of the element you need to modify, Flutter can help customize it.
  This is something that you can do with other development platforms as well, but Flutter makes it happen with much less work and effort.

• Skia in Flutter: Skia is the reason that Flutter has been able to rule the block with its amazing and fast rendering capabilities. Flutter developers use Skia for rendering the technology onto a platform-provided canvas.
  Without a solution like Skia, we would have to adjust the UI of an application before transferring it to another platform. Hence, it takes much less time and effort to work with Flutter when you have Skia.

• Communication with Native-App Code: There might be some components on a native application that cannot be represented in cross-platform technologies. Most of the time, these include the communication components like Bluetooth, fetching GPS, sensors, permission handling, etc.
  With cross-platform technologies, such components are readily available as plugins. We only need to add them to the application framework and modify them according to the requirements. However, there might be instances when the technology you are using for building web applications does not have the same. However, in web app development using Flutter, you can use Dart Platform Channels to create these communication components.Hence Flutter does not restrict building any type of component or feature. If you need to add a feature, Flutter will provide a way to integrate it, period.

Should You Develop Web Apps with Flutter?

Given all the benefits and possibilities of Flutter, you must take this decision with prior analysis. Start by identifying your requirements and the objectives of building an application or a web app. Yes, Futter has several advantages and can make the development experience pretty amazing.

But there are some downsides to using Flutter as well, especially for web app development. First, Flutter is not SEO-friendly. So businesses wanting to market their products and solutions might have to work extra to promote their solution. Another demerit is the inefficient hot reload feature. Plus, in web development with Flutter, we cannot modify the existing code written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Given the benefits and disadvantages, make an informed decision.