Website development is the design and build of the sites and browser-based applications an organisation runs on. Arke Technologies, a web development company in Johannesburg, builds business websites, portals and web applications for organisations, public bodies and schools across South Africa, covering UX and UI design, front end, back end, testing and hosting.
A business website tells people who you are and what you do, and turns visitors into enquiries. A web application does work: people sign in, enter data, approve requests and run reports, all in the browser. Many organisations need both, and the line blurs once a website gains a client portal, an online application form or a tender-document library.
Web application development (procurement documents often say "development of web-based applications") suits processes that many people across many sites must use without installing anything: staff portals, case and permit management, bookings, learner and parent portals, supplier onboarding and reporting dashboards. Because the software runs on the server, one release updates every user at once. Making a web app is therefore closer to building software than to laying out pages.
Every web application has two halves. The front end (or frontend) is what runs in the browser: the pages, forms and interactions people see. Front end development uses HTML, CSS and JavaScript or TypeScript, usually with a framework such as React. The back end (or backend) is what runs on the server: the business rules, the database, sign-in and the APIs other systems call. Backend web development uses languages such as TypeScript on Node.js or Python, with a database such as PostgreSQL.
An API (application programming interface) is the contract between the two halves, and between your system and others. A well-designed API lets the same back end serve the website, a mobile app and your ERP, which is why we design it before the screens. Python makes a strong website backend for data-heavy work, but front end development with Python is rare: browsers run JavaScript, so Python belongs on the server.
Designing the journeys before the pages: research, wireframes and a design system. UX decides whether the site works for people; UI decides how it looks and feels. Public bodies should specify an accessibility standard (WCAG 2.2 level AA is the usual target), and we design and test to the level your specification sets.
Fast, accessible sites where your name, tagline and offer are clear on the first screen, with technical SEO built in (clean URLs, structured data, sitemaps, quick pages) and forms that route enquiries to the right inbox or CRM.
Client, staff, learner, supplier and citizen portals with role-based access, audit trails and reporting. Multi-tenant platforms are covered under SaaS product development.
PayFast, Yoco, Paystack, Peach Payments or Stripe, built into the application.
Software testing for web applications (automated, cross-browser, performance and security), release pipelines and monitoring.
A multi-tenant web platform for professional services firms on Next.js, React and PostgreSQL on Google Cloud SQL, with database-level isolation between firms.
ESG data collection with GRI- and SASB-aligned reporting in React and PostgreSQL.
Our hardware division's catalogue and quoting platform, with more than 26,000 products and a dated source behind every priced quote line.
Buyers comparing website developers in South Africa with an offshore web development company in Kochi or Lahore may find lower rates abroad. The trade-offs are time zones, POPIA's conditions on sending personal information across borders (section 72), and who answers when the site fails at month end. We are a website development company in Johannesburg, based at Greenstone Hill, working remote-first for organisations in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria. Whether you are shortlisting web developers in Cape Town, web designers and web design companies in Durban, or web development companies in Johannesburg, ask each for a working reference system, its security practice and its exit terms. Our custom software development page sets out how we work on larger builds.
