In this article, we’ll discuss 7 of the biggest web development trends this year. Both mobile applications and websites are in very high demand for businesses nowadays. Current statistics puts the number of websites on the net at around the 2 billion mark, with this number growing every single day. We live in an era where virtually every business is looking to establish a digital presence, which is why it’s important that you are up to speed on the latest trends so you remain competitive in the marketplace.
When it comes to business, it’s very important that you are totally aware of your customers’ needs and wants. This way you can better attract them to your website, and receive positive feedback as well as sales and recommendations.
So let’s take a look at the development trends, as of right now
1. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
AMP or Accelerated Mobile Page is a HTML based open-source framework, designed primarily to make your pages load faster, so that the end user receives a response as quickly as possible. It’s a very popular technology nowadays, used by a third of all websites on the internet, with many large and popularly known sites using it. A website that was built using AMP may load significantly faster than your non-AMP websites. Some comparisons put the numbers at a 100% – 1000% percent improvement in speed. Some of the benefits to creating your site using AMP are:
- It saves time and money that would otherwise be spent on the UX.
- Pages load significantly faster which results in a reduction in bounce rate.
- Your website is better optimised for the major search engines.
- Your site is quick and responsive even when you add other forms of media, such as video, on to it.
2. IoT Is On the Move
IoT is one for the present and the future, as it looks to make huge grounds in web development. IoT has been responsible for a number of new technologies that have been introduced to our lives.
IoT is capable of helping a company offer specific services to their customer base, by creating a more personalised experience.
As a result of IoT, many devices immediately become accessible to mobile device. IoT offers a range of benefits, such as reliability, scalability, security and support.
With the current trajectory of IoT, projections puts the number of IoT-connected devices at around 25 billion by 2030. Statistics show that IoT is a trend that will be here for many years to come.
3. Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology comes with peer-to-peer technology that allows for distributed, transparent and decentralised ledger. Contracts that are running on a Blockchain network can never be changed, making it a secure technology. The data on one of these networks is stored either privately or publicly, so that end users can access it when they want. Additionally, any data on these networks can be transferred without the need for any intermediaries.
Blockchain has massive amounts of potential, as it is capable of transforming entire business sectors by decreasing security risks. Thus, with the introduction of Blockchain, web developers are able to use open-source systems when making their projects.
Blockchain today is a highly sought after and versatile technology that is used by many of the largest organisations such as Amazon Web Services, IBM Blockchain platform, and Microsoft Azure Blockchain Services. They have adopted it providing a Blockchain-as-a-service facility.
4. WordPress Development
Almost half of all websites on the internet are powered by WordPress, as it continues to evolve to stay in line with current web development market trends.
WordPress has been a very popular content management system for some time now, with web users of all levels trusting it over its alternatives.
Because of its popularity, it’s very important that WordPress developers be fully aware of all the latest features, and new plugins from WordPress. With every update, WordPress releases new features and capabilities, with this trend not ever looking like ending.
5. Voice Search
The moment the Word Wide Web consortium introduced a range of standards and guidelines, web designers and developers have developed a keen eye for creating their own web apps that people from every walk of life, whether sight or hearing impaired can use. Over the past couple of years, we have witnessed a sudden increase in the number of voice recognition technology along with smart speakers, by many of the largest organisations such as Apple, Google and Amazon. For this reason, it makes sense for webmasters to implement voice search features into their sites, just to make their sites more accessible.
6. Cyber Security in Web Development
Cyberattacks are increasingly more important today. With the number of cybercrimes forever increasing, many companies that have their own web presence have now opted to shift towards verification and authentication just to avoid these kinds of attacks. Programs and tools such as Patch Management, Google Authenticator, Firewalls and more, are all created to this end. The largest industries, that carry huge amounts of data, such as the finance or health sector, are all vulnerable to these cyberattacks. This leads to calls for additional security structures. IT security departments are now in big demand. With the benefits to cybersecurity in the web development sector being:
- Protection against unauthorised users and data breaches.
- The safeguarding of sensitive data through encryption techniques and strong security tools.
7. Single Page Application
Single Page Application is another trend that will only ever lead to a more engaging experience for the end user.
Basically it is a website or web application that runs directly from within your browser, loading within a single document.
With this web application development trend, there is no need for your pages to refresh quickly. SPA utilises JavaScript APU in order to alter and improve important data without having to use any native tools.
This is a trend that we can say is needed in the industry, as it can be very easily used to provide the consumer with a more dynamic experience while surfing the web.
AUTHOR INFO
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his own computer support https://www.compuchenna.co.uk.
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