The idea of making apps without programming may seem ludicrous, but it’s the kind of proposition that MobiForms 7.0 is looking to advance. Though it may not completely remove programming, it’s going to certainly scale the amount of it back, allowing developers to write just once and then have the results ready for multiple platforms.

The MobiForms Developer is a tool that’s geared toward creating both native and HTML5 mobile apps on a wide array of different platforms, and allowing developers to make those developments much more rapidly and with less effort than was needed previously. It removes the need to know many programming languages—like Java, JavaScript, Objective-C, C, and HTML—and instead compresses the development process down into a much simpler overall interface. While Mobiforms itself uses Java to do the development work, that part of the operation is kept very much behind the scenes so as to keep the overall landscape uncluttered and easy to work with, featuring drag-and-drop tools to make apps happen.

The newest version, meanwhile, offers up an array of new helpful features thanks to a particular focus on HTML5, allowing users to take advantage of several new possibilities. Users can get in on the SQLite database engine, which is in turn embedded as Web SQL in most current browsers, as well as being able to change default appearance just by altering the custom style sheet (CSS (News – Alert)) properties. Deployment of such an app can be done with as little as a URL, and deploying to supported devices—which includes an enormous variety of potential devices from iOS and Android (News – Alert) to Windows Tablet and BlackBerry—is free and simple, not to mention doable without the cumbersome app approval processes that can take weeks for an app to get in on the store action.

While saying that the app requires no programming isn’t exactly the case here, the use of the aforementioned drag-and-drop menus means that the whole affair is much simpler yet achieves much the same result as would be realized from full programming. Better yet, the whole thing is done via a simple one-time license fee, so paying once gets a user access to an enormous amount of programming capability.

MobiForms may well open up the floodgates to an unprecedented amount of new applications being developed for a host of platforms. Though the number of apps currently available is already substantial in its own right, it’s worth considering how many apps might well have reached the app stores had the person who came up with the app known how to program same. Chances are, someone’s sitting on an idea for an app right now, studying how to program in JavaScript and the like to try and bring it to fruition, but MobiForms may well make it possible for that app to arrive without knowing all those programming languages.

The end result here is that more apps are likely to start emerging, thanks in no small part to the growing popularity of HTML5 as a development platform. The individual app stores, meanwhile, will likely need to consider this growth accordingly, as the platforms of same are about to be very much opened up.

For those interested in learning more about HTML5, a developer’s conference, DevCon5, is currently running in New York City. The event provides sessions and opportunities to learn about coding and network with other developers.