In the earliest years of the Internet, you could count on a few changes. Most websites used the simple hypertext language, HTML, to provide static information to researchers across the US and the world, so there was little web development news. Modern technologies appear nowadays. The turn of each year produces new code, languages, programs, and consumer demands because the purview of researchers became the playground of business and the general public.
Designers and developers are already looking forward to 2019 to prepare for changes consumers began requesting. What are the latest trends in web development? Here are ten to work with the next year of development. You’ll recognize a few website development trends as a carryover from this year that continue to grow.
Top Ten Website Development Trends
- Old-school design: Brush up on your layout skills. Static pages became all the rage about two years ago and continue to rule. Most people surf on their mobile phones now, so websites have to load in three seconds or less. You still need a snappy design to catch the user’s eye though, so you’ll rely on using layouts that capture interest.
- Single page sites: Remember when everyone had a “Web page?” That time has returned. Between people’s growing mobile use and rising development costs, many people returned to the single page site. It’s the main trend of 2019. You’ll use a ton of internal anchors and links to provide a menu full of choices delivered in a single page. The challenge is to keep its load time under three seconds. You’ll also hear this referred to as a “longread.”
- Progressive Design: Don’t forget the people who do look on mobile version first will probably go back on their home computer. You still need to design for both desktop and mobile, but the desktop version should automatically scale to mobile when accessed from a cell phone.
- Chatbots: Offer a chatbot, but ensure it’s programmed well. Many offer only a handful of questions the user can ask and extremely limited automated answers. Program the bot with the full contents of the site’s frequently asked questions (FAQ). If possible, find a bot script that offers machine learning. Offer a link to upgrade the chat to a real person, so the user doesn’t become frustrated trying to ask the chatbot in just the right language.
- Using Vue JS: Released in 2014 by developer Evan You, the open-source project Vue JS became popular with Chinese firms since Chinese was one of the initial languages the app used. It counts among its major users: Alibaba, Expedia, GitLab, and Nintendo. This lightweight, quick back-end development app offers source code libraries for web interface construction using MVVM data bindings with a simplified API.
- Typography enhancements: With the available bling to dress up a website limited, designers turned to enhanced typography. Although it’s still recommended to stick with the fonts mutually available on a desktop computer and mobile device, you will see effects added like drop shadow or outline. Also, the number of fonts used per page increased slightly from two to three.
- Brighter color schemes: Another way around the lack of bling is bright color scheme. It’s all CSS, so the web pages load quickly. Pink, blue, and yellow are popular currently. It’s not 1980’s neon clothing, but it’s rather assertive.
- Browser extensions: Browser extensions have surged in popularity since Firefox began supporting Chrome extensions, too. Extensions add features to a browser by extending the browser’s code. The extension can also change or add to the site’s look, function, and content. Extensions use simple languages like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
- Web apps: Instead of making users download an app from the store, you can provide the functionality and design on your website. A web app has to function reliably regardless of the user’s network conditions. Some users have a setting activated to automatically enable web apps. Don’t count on this, though. Provide a link to use the app or enable it.
- JavaScript and PHP: JavaScript remains a popular development language as PHP does. More than 80 percent of websites use PHP. In 2017 release, PHP 7 provided items like engine exceptions, anonymous classes, and CSPRNG functions to improve site performance. Using either or both of these languages extends the capabilities of a site and its functions.
If you are looking for the latest in web development news to be a breaking news item, it’s not. The latest trends in web development continue from the last year with a return to simple, single page sites as the main trend. The biggest happenings on the back-end continue to be the widespread use of Javascript and PHP with VueJS growing in popularity as a development shortcut. You may also increase your sales by including email marketing in your marketing plan; however, for more information, visit this site.
