10 Top Web Development Trends To Follow In 2024
With the emergence of new technologies almost every year, we observe that web development trends are changing to a greater or lesser extent.
The year 2021 has not been left behind either, as new technologies have emerged and web developers are trying to adapt to them and even reinvent the earlier technologies which they might have been working on.
For this reason, there will be some successful older trends that will be continued even in 2021. Look, each year, new trends and technologies shape the environment that web developers find themselves in.
Did you know that one year is marked by static websites, another by Chatbots, and another by mobile responsiveness?
And because I know just how keeping up with these changes alone can discourage most companies. In this article, we are going to look at the top web development trends to Follow In 2021.
Before we get into much details, here are the top development trends to follow…
| 1. Modular design and lower development costs |
| 2. API-first design and streamlined workloads |
| 3. Mobile-First Development |
| 4. Voice search optimization |
| 5. Accelerated mobile pages and load speed |
| 6. Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity |
| 7. Chatbots and customer support |
| 8. Internet of Things (IoT) |
| 9. Motion UI and suffering attention spans |
| 10. JavaScript Frameworks |
Now let’s dive deeper into these web development trends to follow in 2021.
1. Modular design and lower development costs
This modular design allows you as a developer to reuse components and modules, to create a web page rather than just creating a web page using a restrictive template.
Did you know that a visually, modular design is a set up from templates?
And that you can use it to create content blocks?
It should however be noted that creating a modular design web page is like building with a Lego set, where each piece interlocks with one another without worrying about how to rebuild the shape of the lego piece.
Just as pattern labs describe, “We should be able to put UI patterns inside each other like Russian nesting dolls.
But thinking about Russian nesting dolls, every layer has its own thickness, the equivalent of padding and margin in web design. When a three-layer doll is put next to a seven-layer doll, the spacing in between is uneven.
While it’s not an issue in particular with dolls, on web pages, that could lead to either uneven white space or multi-level CSS overrides.”
Modular design is cheaper, faster, and more flexible, and you are probably going to see more of this development trend in 2021.
2. API-first design and streamlined workloads
Well, it’s no doubt that the more connected our world becomes, the more APIs that each app ends up having.
And thanks to the rise of IoT our:
- Mobile devices
- Homes
- Cars
- Gaming systems
- Wearable tech
- Laptops
… are all connected.
But, all of these connections can get a bit dicey if you start building the application in the wrong place.
For instance, if you follow the traditional method, where you start with the user and continue building from there.
Let’s take an example of working with a team through this traditional method.
The back-end team starts working on an API, and once it’s finished, they give the API to the front-end team for testing. At the same time, the front-end team works to build SDKs to test and double-check the API’s interactions.
Looks simple?
Here’s where the problem get’s in, the front-end developers will be waiting on back-end developers and the process often takes an inordinate amount of time and coordination.
But by using the API-first design, you start with the appropriate APIs and then build the product on top of it, this will save you a whole lot of time.
3. Mobile-First Development
Since we’ve got as much as 54% of the internet traffic consumed with mobiles and tablets, there is no surprise that web design tends to be more about mobile phones and tablets than horizontally-oriented desktops.
Mobile-first development is just a concept according to which you start thinking about your product treating mobile screen and other mobile hardware features such as productivity and physical buttons placement as a major tech framework that you need to work with.
To get the most out of this, you should:
- Reduce page number and avoid using columns
- Use triggers with a mobile-oriented call to action (e.g. online calls)
- Use vivid colors
- Simple geometric shapes
- Contrasting color schemes
- Illustrations
It is also important to understand that since 2018 Google has separate search ranking algorithms for mobiles where mobile-first sites are prioritized.
And since mobile-first sites are prioritized, you should get familiar with this trend as it is one of the trending web designs in 2021.
4. Voice search optimization
Did you know that from 2008 to 2016, voice search queries multiplied 35 times?
Well, we can admit that voice search is a trend breaking into search engines everywhere in the world. And technologies like Siri on iPhone, Cortana on Android, and Alexa and Echo from Amazon are increasing how commonplace voice search is.
Voice search optimization enhances the importance of making your website mobile responsive. 20% of mobile searches are voice searches, according to Google.
And also as consumers become increasingly comfortable using voice search to browse the internet, you might eventually want to integrate voice search internally on your website too.
But if you are wondering how you can add a voice search recognition API to your website, then I’m here to let you know that you don’t have to worry about anything.
Fortunately, it’s easy to add a voice search recognition API to your website.
By adding one of these top web development trends to your website, users can search for what they want on your domain, but, more importantly, they can search in a way that best suits them.
5. Accelerated mobile pages and load speed
As you may have already heard, Google is trying to encourage and enable business leaders to develop websites that not only load instantly but also work smoothly on mobile devices.
Google went ahead and wrote in a blog post regarding AMPs that they wanted web pages with rich content like video, animations, and graphics to work alongside smart ads and to load instantaneously.
They also mentioned that they wanted the same code to work across multiple platforms and devices so that content can appear everywhere in an instant, no matter what type of phone, tablet, or mobile device you’re using.
Well, AMPs are challenging to customize so not everyone likes this idea by google.
But, you should consider changing to this new web technology even if you just want to drive a higher engagement and brand awareness with your website.
6. Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity
I’ll admit it.
AI will become the future of cybersecurity because so many developers across the world are putting in more effort learning how to build AI that can help with everything, from customer support to predictive trends and image recognition.
Since a team at MIT has already developed an AI system that detects 85% of attacks before they even happen, you should expect AI to make cybersecurity cheaper and more efficient.
This is because once the robots are created, you don’t have to pay them per hour or even give them breaks. But you can expect them to attack a problem the moment it occurs.
In fact, Statista forecasts that businesses around the world will spend almost 2.5 billion dollars between 2016 and 2025 on artificial intelligence that’s meant to prevent cybersecurity threats.
After all, even cybersecurity professionals have to sleep, eat, and go to the bathroom. The point is, these people aren’t always available but this website development trend will always be available.
If you are interested in learning more about network security threats and you can fix them, then you should check out my other article on Common Network Security Threats And How To Fix Them
7. Chatbots and customer support
Did you know that 57% of consumers appreciate chatbots?
Well, it’s no surprise that chatbot is finding its place among customer service professionals. This is because by using chatbots, businesses can save a lot of money.
And Gartner predicts that over 85% of customer interactions will happen without humans in the business by the end of 2021. Similarly, according to TechEmergence, chatbots will become the number one application for consumers across all AI integrations in the next five years.
Now, have you ever wondered how consumers feel talking to a bot instead of a human?
This might surprise you.
Evidently, consumers are comfortable with chatbots. This is because 48% of consumers prefer contacting a company via live chat for which chatbots are perfect.
But that’s not all, the numbers go even higher as 95% believe chatbots will be best used for customer services. For this reason, businesses are eager to use chatbots.
This just means that this top website development trend is here to stay and you should join in too.
8. Internet of Things (IoT)
You should note that in 2021, some web development trends will be caused by IoT development.
As stated by Statista, there will be around 30 billion Internet devices operating in 2025, so we should expect a certain demand for solutions that could level up secureness on automated IoT interactions.
Some of the fields that are likely to be major IoT niches in 2021 are:
- Transport
- Healthcare
- Housekeeping
- Marketing
Furthermore, new trends in web design (UX) will also be influenced by changes in the IoT environment. So we should also foresee voice interfaces design and the emerging approaches to big data architecture.
Think of it this way, with payment automation, smart home, smart city technology, and e-health environment development, we could become generally less overloaded with routine tasks and invest our cognitive resources in the more complicated ones.
9. Motion UI and suffering attention spans
The internet is massive. But I guess you already know that.
What you might not know is how that affects the average person’s attention span and some sources also claim that the human attention span is worse than that of a goldfish.
Since attention spans are suffering, what better way can you grab the attention of a user than with a captivating motion UI?
Well, you’ll likely see more motion UI efforts on the part of developers to grab visitor attention and keep them engaged. Of course, we have yet to see how effective this strategy actually is, as it might turn out to be a dud.
But, we won’t know until closer to 2021 or 2022 to know whether this is the future of web development
10. JavaScript Frameworks
Although JavaScript wasn’t invented yesterday, it is considered to be one of the most used programming language in the world which makes every innovation concerning it that much actively discussed.
In 2021, new website trends will include the rise and further development of JavaScript frameworks.
JavaScript frameworks emerged as attempts to standardize the language and create a convenient frontend ecosystem that is easy to benefit from.
JavaScript frameworks in 2021 will involve UX, UI, testing, and product tech management aspects. And the Frameworks usage will be based on the ready components that one needs to compose working on a website.
Technically, JavaScript frameworks remain an application framework created with JavaScript programming language and based on library integration.
This web trend has lots of benefits. Immediate feedback that is given to users without page reloads, high efficiency, fast performance, and coding simplicity are just a couple of them.
Conclusion
Are you planning to upgrade your website to be more relevant, faster, and stronger?
If your answer is yes, then you need to pay attention to the web development trends to follow in 2021.
To recap, here are the website development trends you need to keep an eye on in 2021:
- Modular design and lower development costs
- API-first design and streamlined workloads
- Mobile-First Development
- Voice search optimization
- Accelerated mobile pages and load speed
- Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity
- Chatbots and customer support
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Motion UI and suffering attention spans
- JavaScript Frameworks
Look, it doesn’t take long to develop a website. But trust me it does take longer to develop a great website.
So spend the extra time making these futuristic integrations so that when users stroll around the corner with a new set of expectations, you don’t look different from what they’re already familiar with or expect.
Have you ever used any of these latest trends in web development?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below
