WebExpress 0.0.10-alpha – The hidden cost of missing conceptual planning in design decisions

Lack of conceptual planning is one of the most reliable ways to slow down a project unnecessarily. This becomes particularly clear in the current development stage of WebExpress. A late design decision resulted in a significant amount of additional work that could have been avoided if there had been an early conceptual alignment between server and client components. This concerns the integration of the user interface, Rest interfaces and JavaScript logic, which grew independently for too long without a shared foundational concept.

Originally, the idea was that control elements such as buttons would have their own modal field that opened the actual window and controlled properties such as size. This solution seemed sufficient at first, but as integration progressed it became clear that modal as the only target type was too limited. The application requires more flexibility. In addition to classic modal windows, full screen views, frame views and split views are useful and necessary. The previous solution was not designed for this and could not be extended without considerable effort.

The consequence was a fundamental redesign. Instead of using modal as a property, the system was changed to an action based approach. Primary actions now control the behavior of the control elements. A secondary action for double click was added as well, which noticeably improves usability. The new solution is far more generic and future proof, but it came late and had its cost.

The old modal function had to be removed completely and replaced by the new architecture. This affected not only the implementation but also comments, documentation and test classes. The effort was substantial. Code that was already finished had to be revised and tested again. All of this could have been avoided if there had been a clear concept for integrating the different components from the beginning. Situations like this are frustrating, consume time and would be associated with high costs in a commercial project. In this case it is only a matter of time.

Despite the delays, the overall schedule remains stable. Version 0.0.10 alpha will be completed and released at Easter 2026 as planned. Contributions are explicitly welcome, because WebExpress thrives on collaborative development and the commitment to learn from experiences like this. Every improvement strengthens the foundation for future versions and makes the system more robust in the long term. Anyone who wants to participate will not only find open tasks but also the opportunity to actively contribute to the evolution of a growing and living project.