All new or emerging businesses are rightfully cautious of the big investment required to launch a successful web presence. A new cost-effective and time-saving service enables companies to fast track their strategic and tactical web initiatives while still actively growing their user base. Unlike past methods of web development, rapid prototyping is a back-to-front development process that allows the product user interface to be fully designed before writing any code.

Rapid Web Prototyping is changing the process of web development and design. By designing the user interface first and making it extremely clear, developers are able to write the supporting code using the integrated screenshots as guides, thus, in most cases, avoiding written technical specs entirely. This is not to say that technical specs are not required for some complex functional architecture but rather that the development process no longer needs to be based entirely on a written specification document.

Reducing the requirement for a functional spec in preference to creating the user interface has advantages for both technical and business teams. Customer-facing teams can begin user testing before coding begins, reducing the risk of developing functionality that customers will resist or ignore. In both consumer and B2B web applications, having a visual reference for the exact user experience is a preferable investment of time over developing a text or matrix-only technical spec.

The intensely visual nature of the web means that functional specs are generally a waste of everyone's efforts. They cost time and offer no guarantees that the presentation of functional elements will be interpreted correctly. The problem is that simply writing down a technical process does not ensure agreement about the tool’s user experience. Using the complete visual interfaces and screenshots will help get everyone on the same page, literally.

A plethora of websites and guides have sprung up to educate startups and development houses about the advantages of a design-first development process, and, in return, design-driven reality has become a popular theme in web application blogs and conferences.

With traditional web design, the customer rarely has input when the spec is written, and the user interface designers are sometimes the last to see the product, thus disenfranchising the very people who determine the success or failure of the application. In today's Web 2.0-influenced economy, rich with user-generated content, it’s important to instantly reflect feedback from the customer or usability experts. Launching a complete product often gets blindsided by unfavorable customer feedback.