10 Web Development Trends for this year

Check out some of the key web development trends that will be relevant this year and beyond.

No-code and low-code

No-code development platforms are similar to low-code development platforms but require no coding at all. No-code platforms are accessible to any end-business user while low-code platforms require professional developers who can work within the platform's constraints. Experienced developers can use No-code and low-code tools to reduce their workflows and streamline workflows and enable them to work on other tasks

Artificial intelligence and machine learning

Artificial intelligence has been incorporating its way into our digital lives for a few years, but as more companies invest in technology, we can see significant leaps in what's capable. Natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML), in particular, have gone from theoretical concepts to full use cases. Furthermore, AI can be found in chatbots, recommendation engines and Saas tools that help make employees lives much easier through answering of employee questions, onboarding of staff or as a mechanism of supplying improved customer service to external customers.   

Voice search

The internet of things (IoT) has held much promise for quite some time, but 2021 could be the year we see exactly what can be done. Two areas, in particular, voice search and smart speakers, could be responsible for this growth. This year it’s predicted that there will be 163 million smart speakers and by 2023 there will be 8 billion digital voice assistants in use. Growth in these areas will impact how everyone from developers to users interact with search engines so they will need to adapt how they do things.

PWAs v mobile apps

Progressive web applications (PWAs) influence will continue to grow in 2021.

PWAs offer a host of advantages, their user experience is exceptional, they recreate the in-app experience within a browser and make things easier for developers than building native applications for every device.  Many brands are adopting them for their business and this year we expect to see an even bigger uptake.  

PAs for app development

Another already established concept that will continue to see increased use is single-page applications (SPAs). Waiting for pages to load when browsing online can be annoying for a user, but with SPAs they allow for uninterrupted scrolling which are seeing increasing popularity.

Huge companies like Google and Facebook provide the clearest examples of how an SPA should function and with JavaScript-based frameworks and more users coming online, expect SPA adoption to continue for other companies as well.

Get interactive with Motion UI design

A website shouldn't only be informative, it should be engaging, interactive and aesthetically pleasing. Increasing emphasis is being placed on the user interface, and motion UI is the next stage of explosion.

When a user visits a website, they don't want to have to wonder where to go. Motion design helps create an intuitive interface that guides users, telling them what to do and where to focus on the page.

Motion UI involves the use of visual cues and makes it possible for web applications to respond to users, creating a more fluid and enjoyable user experience.

Cloud computing

The growth of remote work wouldn't be possible without cloud computing, and that trend should continue into 2021.Public cloud services is expected to grow to $306.9 billion by 2021, up from $242.7 billion in 2019.

With the growth that SaaS companies have seen in 2020 and the announcement from several top tech companies that they will be shifting to remote-first, you can expect that new cloud computing advancements will be necessary to keep up.

Process customisation

Every business has its own way of doing things, and with several options available, they also have their preferences for software solutions to solve specific problems. This wealth of possibilities gave rise to the best-of-breed approach to building software stacks.

API-first development

As new applications and technologies emerge, the need to connect these technologies continues to increase. New IoT devices, web interfaces, and software tools all contain APIs that enable them to connect to each other.

Previously, many developers may have focused on the product first and then treated the fact that it needed to be connected to other devices as an afterthought. However, now APIs are at the front as companies look for ways to increase interconnectivity.

API-first development puts the users first and has other benefits, such as allowing development teams to work in parallel, reducing app development costs, and increasing speed to market.

 

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