Gone are those days when building applications be it Web Apps, Hybrid Mobile Apps, or Native Apps, was seemingly an excruciating task-one that required hiring a development firm or onboarding an additional workforce capable of application development. 

But, today we have MXDPs- Multi Experience Development Platforms that help enterprises in low-code/no-code rapid application development using an array of advanced inbuilt tools and widgets to build enterprise-grade applications and get to market faster. 

One such feature frequently found in MXDP’s is Drag and Drop Interfaces. While these are not completely new, their usage has rapidly expanded since their original role of file manipulation and clipboard actions. Now, drag-and-drop interfaces are used to give the average non-coder the freedom to build a wide variety of products, from websites to movies to video games to business software.

While drag-and-drop is old news in website development, its role in software development is only just emerging. But before we dive in, let’s take a brief look at what drag-and-drop is:

Breaking into the Basics- What is Drag and Drop?

Drag-and-drop is a type of interface called a graphical user interface (or GUI). GUIs rely on the use of visual and audio to help the user communicate with the computer. Examples of a GUI would be software application icons on your desktop, rearranging widgets on your phone, or creating a hyperlink between two files. These types of visual triggers inform how you can interact with the computer to get what you want, and they don’t require writing a line of text to do so. 

(The contrast to GUIs are text user interfaces, which require text input in order to produce a response from your computer; your command prompt would be an example of a text user interface.)

Drag-and-drop style GUIs take visual interfaces one step further by allowing users to create “relationships” between the objects represented by visual items. For example, dragging a document into a new folder creates two kinds of relationships:

  • It tells the computer (and the user) that the document is now a part of the new folder
  • It tells the computer (and the user) that the document is no longer part of the old folder

What value does drag-and-drop offer to software?

It significantly speeds things up. 

Instead of cracking open the text-interface and typing in commands, the user can select an item (or items) and drag them onto the object they want a relationship with.

But speed isn’t just a matter of execution—it’s also a matter of understanding. Drag-and-drop tells us about the possible relationships different objects can have without us having to read a manual or understand it on a technical level every time. It’s the digital picture that’s worth a thousand words. 

Of course, this also relies on a well-designed interface to work. If the drag-and-drop interface doesn’t clearly indicate its uses in unspoken terms, it can quickly generate confusion and frustration in a user. 

But a good drag-and-drop interface can drastically reduce the learning curve people face when embracing new technology. Which is a significantly good thing considering the number of various software tools most business employees use on a regular basis.

Drag and drop builders have changed the game…

Today getting a website up and running has become a matter of days and not months just by dragging and dropping the right elements on a canvas. More and more businesses are now empowered to quickly have a digital presence in the form of a website.

Mobile app development has not been slow in picking up the drag and drop trend. We now have the ability to convert our ideas into a working model within hours by dragging an object, dropping it on the screen where we want to place it and it’s done.

The drag and drop systems today are so sophisticated that we can design and speed up the deployment of our app or web projects in matters of hours using drag and drop tools that are intuitive and powerful.

Hundreds of thousands of users are now reaping the benefits and convenience of using drag and drop technology.  The key advantages of drag and drop tools offer are:

Prototype within hours –Drag and drop tools enable you to quickly build the front end of your website or app that the user will interact with. This enables business users and knowledge workers to get involved in the solution development process to ensure the end product meets exactly what the problem requires.

Instant visibility into the results of your actions – Drag and drop tools bring with them the beauty of WYSIWYG. (What you see is what you get). There is no mystery anymore on what is going on with your application as it only involves selection and dragging of an element from an element kit, repository, and dropping it to the screen. You can see exactly how it looks, how the data transfers on the screen.

Whenever you move something you immediately see its impact. It is as easy as playing with building blocks; the same blocks will let you go from simple to complex structures.

No technical or coding expertise necessary– For a lot of people, interaction with computers stops at excel and emails. They feel computers are only for the technical. While that is an image that has often been portrayed in the movies, the real reason is the lack of confidence or the awareness about the vast possibilities of drag & drop, no-coding-required solutions. 

Drag and drop interfaces were created with the aim to give more people an opportunity to leverage the abilities of modern development technologies. Whether you are an experienced developer or you don’t have technical experience, you can create your applications without any knowledge about codes.

Speed and Simplicity– The drag and drop builders are designed to empower tech and non-tech users alike to turn the idea or plan in their mind into an actual working application or website. To suffice that, the builders need to be intuitive and easy to have a short learning curve for the users.

Flexibility to modify – The greatest advantage of drag and drop builders is the ability to restructure as and when required without the need to spend any extra money over it or calling in a specialist. From time-to-time, the nature of your business changes, new regulations, new company policies, changing consumption patterns, and so on. This calls for the freedom to modify your applications, change the appearance, add and remove blocks, and not lose time over it.

Get Responsive Apps with Tigersheet Drag and Drop Functionality

With no shortage of options to select from, the best drag and drop builders tend to be similar, intuitive, and user-friendly. You can make forms out of them to capture leads, sign-ups, surveys, requests, or new orders. Some app builders like Tigersheet will even let you add conditions and rules to hide or show form elements in your application in order to control the data that gets collected from these apps. Whether you are trying to make a form-based application or a dashboard kind, drag and drop builders are the easiest, fastest way to get there with all the different forms and visual fields, colors, size, border, background options to choose from. 

Tigersheet drag and drop functionality is one of the most powerful and advanced builders out there to create applications that are responsive. You can drag, drop elements, visually design workflows, trigger third-party events, and a whole lot more.

These features in Tigersheet when combined lay the foundation of a successful, robust, scalable application with all the security standards met to give you more confidence in your end product.

You can set reminders, schedule events, assign tasks and automate approval with a visual workflow designer that assists in total business process automation.

While it is one of the most advanced tools out there, the team behind the product itself needed a quick, easy to understand tool to assist them in their processes and that is exactly what the platform represents – a user-friendly tool to let you build any application without the need to code. 

Have you tried using such drag & drop tools for a task of yours? If you haven’t, you are lagging with the current trends and missing on a technology breakthrough that can make your digital goals easily achievable, faster than ever.