I was talking to my friend yesterday. He wanted to buy Turbo Tax software as Tax season is approaching. I suggested him to purchase from Amazon website. I just said it so naturally, but after a while I asked myself a question – is it a website or web application (app)? What do you say while talking to your friend – have you checked bla bla on Facebook website or Facebook app? The website and we app idiom is blurring with all technology enhancements. Do you feel the same way?

If you fail to come up with a concrete set of differentiators right away then keep reading.

What is a website? The core nature of website is still informational. Example of these could be any corporate or personal websites. Even though, all dynamic content that are may be generated through content Management System (CMS). Example: CNN.com, NFL.com, etc. Or any corporate targeted marketing website where one webpage leads to another or it requires you to fill up any forms, etc.

On the other hand, what is web application? The core nature of we app is interactive or dynamic.
Basically web app describes following in general:
• Allows accomplishing users’ goal by performing action through functions.
• Allows you to run app without having to install in your personal computers.
• Requires any browser and internet connection
• Stores data in the cloud so no need to worry about installing apps on your computer
• Requires no extra hard drive space or your computer running slow due to heavy app running
• Example: Google Docs, Gmail, etc.

Take a quick look at my above differentiation outline. I used to just remember only one thing—use your website to talk to your site visitors, and use Web apps to interact with your site visitors. However, now-a-days defining the two is a slippery task.

Lately, website and web apps look and work just the same. For non-technical users it’s really hard to identify the difference between both. Personally as a User Interface designer, I know it’s not an easy question to answer, especially when you examine existing web presences that have been around a long time and have evolved, such as Amazon. Designing User Interfaces, website vs. web app, one could apply many approaches, techniques and principles of User Interface design in general, but that’s not the focus of this blog.

Another example I gave above are CNN or NFL. However, when you start to categorize the above way, you find nearly every site is hybrid. CNN now became interactive means it includes sharing and commenting capabilities, all of which are web apps.

In nutshell, is it safe to say all web apps are websites (or a part of it) but not vice-versa? Interesting – isn’t it? Perhaps, the difference is lost. What would I ask my friend next time – did you read the latest news on CNN website or CNN app? If you get a clear set of definitions, please enlighten me.