POSTED BY DAN YOUNG

As the mobile space matures, development tools become more sophisticated. Each week, we learn of new companies launching app-making tools for various mobile platforms. Marketing slogans for these rapid development environments pontificate that you can "code once and run anywhere" and you too can create the next great app. We are now at a point that parallels the earlier days of the web when anyone could "build a web site that runs on any machine." Yes, we are fast approaching a dark period in mobile app design.

In March 2011, Mike Melanson of Read Write Web posted a great article that outlines the similarities between the late 1990s and the "land of irrelevant features and terrible design" and the era we are entering now. As more and more people have the ability to create "drag-and-drop" apps, more and more people are going to create "drag-and-drop" apps. The universe of mobile apps is about to get polluted with useless software and bloated features.

There is a lot of hype around rapid development software. It can empower the non-technical with the tools they need to become a part of the mobile revolution. However, just because you have the tools, you should use everyone of them.

If you are considering developing a mobile application with one of these tools, take a step back and ask yourself "why?" Why are you building an app? What is your objective? (Making money does not count; you are probably not creating the next Angry Birds...) How does it solve a problem or serve an underlying business model?

If you are satisfied with your answers, now ask yourself one more question: how can you achieve your objective with the simplest set of features? How can you build an elegant app that does only what it needs to get the job done? This is the essence of good design: do what you need and nothing more. Even if you have the tools to add in anything your "feature orgasm" may produce, please don't. Take the time to design your app well before you buy the tools to build the app. In the end, you will have a much better solution that was done right the first time.