This paper discusses the operation, design guidelines, and control strategies of the bidirectional dual-active bridge (DAB) converter with single-phase-shift (SPS) modulation. Some key issues, such as steady-state analysis, average values, output voltage ripples, and soft-switching operations, are also addressed in detail. The operation modes are individually investigated for heavy and light load conditions, and the boundary load conditions that will maintain the converter in the soft-switching region are derived. The output ripple analysis is conducted only under heavy load conditions for each operation mode. Some practical considerations are pre-sented for design procedures. The transformer turn ratio trade-offs are discussed to configure the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) operating range as well as characterize the root-mean-square (RMS) current level. Simple design guidelines are proposed for the best design that allows the converter to operate in the ZVS region as much as possible in case of a wide input voltage range. This study further discusses five different PI-based control strategies, namely tradition-al voltage loop control, load current feedforward control, enhanced model-based phase-shift control, basic direct power control, and virtual direct power control. To be used in simulation studies, an exemplary converter with 50W rated power that steps down the input voltage of between 36V and 60V to 5V is designed. All theoretical analyses are confirmed by the simulation results of the designed converter. Similarly, the control strategies are tested for three different operating scenarios through the designed converter. The results are evaluated in terms of the transient and steady-state responses. A comparative analysis of control strategies is presented, and the scheme that exhibits the best performance is determined.