Statista estimates there will be 28.7 million developers worldwide by the end of 2024. This is a huge market, where competition and the pace of technology development force experts to constantly learn, track trends, and even get ahead of them to some extent. It is also extremely important to keep an eye on web development trends for entrepreneurs looking to make their businesses successful. Therefore, every year we talk about the trends of the future. Some of them are firmly entrenched, increasing their importance every year, while some change, and some completely disappear.
Let's see what trends the world of web development will be influenced by in the next year and what the web development future is like.
What Is the Future of Web Development?
The technological landscape is changing and evolving thanks to the development of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, machine learning, and other progressive directions. Web development is closely intertwined with them and at the junction creates new ways of providing information and interacting with it. For example, comScore claims that by the end of this year, 50% of all searches will be conducted via voice. In this regard, Gartner gives a figure of 30% of searches done without using device screens. The constant growth in web traffic from mobile devices, which accounts for half of all traffic today, is increasingly driving the advancement of mobile-first design, PWAs, AMP technologies, and single-page websites.
Also, a large role is assigned to the development of web design. Recent statistics state that eight out of ten users will not interact with content that does not display well on their devices (Ironpaper). Today, the winners are those companies that provide their platforms with an attractive and intuitive interface, which means that they will bet on Motion UI. Users expect more and more interactivity through content, vivid visualizations, and powerful video effects. This is supported by data from Web FX, which shows that people spend 88% more time on webpages with video. This trend shows the need for 360-degree video and VR technologies.
So, now let's talk in more detail about the latest trends in web development that should be under our close scrutiny this year.
8 Trends in Web Development to Expect in 2021
Internet of Things (IoT)
Personal assistants, chatbots, smartwatches, health trackers - which of these are we not using today? And this is just a small part of the technologies that IoT implements in web development. By the end of 2025, there will be approximately 64 billion IoT devices in the world. As the role of the Internet of Things continues to grow, companies will increasingly feel the need to integrate this technology into their web platforms.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI helps businesses deliver a more personalized approach to their customers and thus improve their user experience. Already today, websites are able to process tons of information based on which users receive accurate and relevant recommendations. Unsurprisingly, we expect more use of AI this year. In addition, AI evolves web development in the field of creating chatbots and voice interaction.
Voice search
In general, people are less and less willing to enter text to perform a specific action or issue a command. Google claims that a third of its daily searches are done using voice. And web developers cannot ignore this fact. Therefore, this year we will see more resources with such functionality. Plus, most websites will have to optimize their content so that assistants like Siri or Alexa suggest them during voice searches.
Chatbots
It is already difficult to be surprised by the integration of chatbots into web resources. This year, the trend of their distribution will increase. Chatbots supported by machine learning algorithms allow you to automate communication without human intervention or assistance. In the future, this technology will save more and more resources for customer service professionals by automatically solving increasingly complex requests.
Mobile-First
In 2021, this approach is the default. Moreover, this means that developers are already changing their focus and thinking: first, a version for a smartphone is created, and only then for a desktop. That was the other way around quite recently. This approach develops Accelerated Mobile Pages technology, which allows pages to load much faster than HTML. AMP has established itself as a highly successful solution for news sites and e-commerce resources due to its increased speed and search engine rankings.
Progressive Web Application (PWA)
This is not PWA’s first year on the trend list. Technology that combines the website and native app experience delivers impressive business results. With progressive web apps, companies are seeing increased audience engagement, conversions, and revenue. Global giants such as Starbucks, Twitter, Forbes and others have created their PWAs and note the trend of users abandoning native apps in favor of PWAs. So in the future, web development will increasingly use this technology.
Serverless Architecture
The serverless approach solves the problems of expensive system development and maintenance, their overload, and data loss. Therefore, serverless architecture is already quite confidently influencing web development. For example, cloud computing can help reduce development budgets, strengthen application architecture, and generally make applications more flexible and scalable. Some of the most common cloud-based tasks include downloading backups, exporting objects, and delivering notifications.
WebAssembly
This is a new framework for web applications that eliminates dependence on programming languages, platforms, and hardware. It optimizes website performance and runs code faster than JS. Thus, the technology allows for making cross-platform applications with high speeds and small sizes. These are super important components for web development today.
Gearheart in Trends
At Gearheart, we not only use time-tested and industry-proven technology but also keep up with current web development trends to provide customers with truly unique experiences and workable solutions. If you see the need to implement new approaches and solutions for your products, or you want to create something completely new from scratch, we are always ready for such challenges. Our portfolio cases and customer reviews will say more.
Final Thoughts
Obviously, it is not always possible and even necessary to catch on to any trends. After all, today it is customary to follow trends in everything, not only in technologies. But it is important to keep track of the trends the world has already switched to and brought to our environment. Our selection is technologies that increase power from year to year and firmly surround us in everyday life. Therefore, we advise you to take a closer look at the listed approaches and elements. Some of them can definitely take your business to the next level. And for more information, you can always contact us.
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