The web development world is an ever-changing environment, which means developers need to stay constantly informed. Clients want state-of-the-art services, and they expect you to deliver them. So, if you want to stay ahead of your competitors, you need to focus on the latest trends and updates. Also, try to anticipate approaches that may be getting popular in the following year.
To help you keep up with what’s new in web development, we made a list of what we believe will be the most dominating trends of 2021. And with features ranging from artificial intelligence to motion design and cloud technology, we can speculate 2021 will be quite a challenging year for developers.
All in one place
Users want information, and they want it now. They don’t like to click and wait around for pages to load. This is why single-page apps and single-page websites are starting to gain a lot of attraction.
Single-page apps have been around for quite a few years, but have only recently become a popular choice among developers. They have been created with the purpose of streamlining communication to the server, thus providing both better performance and improved data protection.
As the name calls it, a single-page app is an app that works inside the browser. It does not require you to reload the page when you use it. Some examples are Gmail, Facebook, as well as Google Maps, and Twitter.
Some key advantages single-page apps provide:
- Improved user experience in a native browser environment.
- Uses less bandwidth.
- Focuses more on API.
- Setup and debugging are more accessible.
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Artificial Intelligence
As you are probably expecting, artificial intelligence is still on the list, and it won’t go away anytime soon. Developers keep discovering new and improved ways AI can be integrated into the development process, precisely since the sector is growing so fast. The AI market was valued at $39.9 billion last year, and it is expected to reach $190.6 billion by 2025. That’s four times more, and then some.
“Consumer behavior shifts very fast, and businesses need to keep up to date. Here is where Artificial Intelligence can help most. Integrating AI in web development can help businesses make more accurate predictions about consumer behavior, and then use those predictions to improve their website and business.” – as nicely explained by Richard Fuessel, the Director of Salt & Fuessel, in one of his recent interviews.
You can gain access to information such as:
- What consumers plan to purchase.
- The time frame during which the purchase decision is made.
- The type of products that attract customers most.
- The type of products that customers keep away from.
Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
As we mentioned earlier, users want access to information in a reliable and easy way. This means applications that run smoothly are easy to navigate, load fast, and are reliable. If they also provide a user-friendly experience, then you have got yourself the definition of progressive web apps.
While progressive web apps are not new to developers, they are predicted to dominate the market in 2021. What drives developers to PWA is their ability to deliver a high-quality user experience. The fact that they are also very mobile-friendly will make the demand for PWA increase tremendously in the coming months.
Besides cross-device compatibility, here are some other advantages of PWA:
- Improved user experience.
- Reduced bounce rates.
- Works offline as well.
- Makes your app reliable.
Voice-search optimization
Hey Siri, Google, Alexa! Find the nearest restaurant.
The phrase above is all too common for every one of us, which makes voice-search optimization a must for 2021. Voice-oriented apps are not just for those who don’t have time to type in their question, but also for people who don’t have the ability to use the screen.
Voice search is already a big part of our lives, and it will continue to become an even more prominent feature for upcoming apps. It makes apps easy to use and allows us to multi-task – a skill much too needed in this hectic world. It makes for a good user experience, which is much appreciated by customers.
Some of the key benefits of voice-search optimization are:
- Ease of use.
- Improved user experience.
- Intuitiveness.
- Speed of execution.
Motion design
Motion design is going to be big in 2021, in both web development and web design. In fact, it is a trend that brings the two together and delivers stellar user experiences.
The trend revolves around minimalistic designs with engaging features integrated to catch the user’s eye. The name suggests motion design is all about animating elements, but in fact, it goes far beyond that. For motion design to be successfully integrated, it needs to be introduced ever since the user experience design stage.
This way, the animations are going to have a clearly defined purpose and won’t just be there to make the page load slower.
Pop-ups, charts, pull-down menus, and page header transitions are just a few of the elements motion design can be implemented.
Here is why you should consider motion design:
- It simplifies navigation.
- It hides slow loading times.
- Reduces bounce rate.
- Guides users through the sales funnel.
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Chatbots integration
When consumers need help, they have to receive help as soon as possible. If not, they will go somewhere else where they will receive it. This is why chatbots have grown in popularity in the past few years and are going to be even more present in 2021.
Chatbot integration automates communication and makes things more accessible to users. Without needing human assistance, chatbots can use machine learning algorithms to respond to inquiries provided by customers. While for a more delicate situation the customer would still need to get in contact with a human to solve it, chatbots can help speed up the problem-solving process for a lot of simple problems.
Key advantages of using chatbots:
- They will streamline communication.
- Can be used in a variety of situations.
- Easy to train and integrate.
- Enhance the user experience.
Native apps
Experts say native apps are going to dominate the web development market in the following year. That’s because they provide reliability to users. One example is when you are working on something, but suddenly you have network connection errors. If the app you are using can’t work offline, it means you will lose valuable time waiting around for things to start working again.
Most native apps can be used without internet connections, with some exceptions, as they are installed directly on your smartphone. Keep expecting more and more clients to ask for this in 2021, in an attempt to deliver better products to customers and stay ahead of their competitors.
Native apps deliver a better user experience as well, as they are uniquely designed to fit the platform on which they are used. Compared to hybrid apps, they will provide much better performance.
The main advantages of native apps:
- Can have broad functionalities.
- User experience is much better integrated with the device’s OS.
- More responsive and faster.
- Can use push notifications.
Continuous integration
Speed plays a crucial role in the digital world, as well as in the business sector, and the web development industry is influenced by both. If you want to deliver good services, you need to be fast, reliable, and always up to date.
If you want to make clients stay, you need to work on improving your services, solving bugs, and updating the framework. This will improve the user experience and ensure you keep your applications up to date.
This is part of continuous integration, which englobes the process of automatically testing changes done to your codebase as early as possible. This ensures all possible errors are foundable in the early stages of development, and the product reaches the market faster, and with fewer issues.
Some key advantages of continuous integration are:
- Small code changes are easier to do.
- Finding and isolating problems quickly.
- Increased productivity.
- Improved testability.
Cloud technology
The cloud is going to be here for a long time. Both businesses and consumers are becoming more and more interested in it. This year alone, cloud services generated close to $40 billion in revenue. This means a 17% growth over the past year alone. If it continues to grow in a similar fashion, it could exceed $300 billion in total market value in just a year or two.
Looking at these figures is enough to determine that cloud technology is going to be a highly requested service in 2021. And this can only be a success for big cloud vendors such as Microsoft and Amazon.
No matter the industry, small and big businesses across the globe are migrating to the cloud. This trend is going to continue for the following years for sure.
Key advantages of cloud technology:
- Great security and scalability.
- Improved security for sensitive data.
- Improved services for users.
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Final Words
These are just a few of the trends that will dominate the web development market in the year 2021. Don’t forget to keep an eye on features such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, and virtual reality as well; they will also be important for the industry in the months to come. Remember that only by being up to date with the trends will you be able to deliver good products to customers.
Web developer and SEO specialist with 20+ years of experience in open-source web development, digital marketing, and search engine optimization. He is also the moderator of this blog "RS Web Solutions (RSWEBSOLS)".
