Web development trends in 2020. What should a modern site be like?
This article is 6 years old — prices and terms may have changed.
Ideas about websites change; new technologies, design solutions and tools appear. Let us look at which solutions became trends over the first months of 2020 and try to predict which of them will stay relevant for sites and applications later on.
Contents:
- PWA — Progressive Web Apps
- Elements of artificial intelligence and chatbots
- Accelerated Mobile Pages — AMP
- Single Page Application (SPA)
- Optimising for voice-friendly queries
- Motion UI — animated web design
- Automated testing
- JavaScript frameworks
- The Internet of Things (IoT)
- Responsive websites (RWD)
- Conclusions
PWA — Progressive Web Apps
Progressive web apps improve the experience of a site's visitors
PWA — progressive web apps — did not appear this year. But it is right now that the technology has caught the attention of developers, marketers and owners. The main reason is that PWA technology can markedly improve the user experience for a site's visitors. Let us work out what a PWA is and how it works.
There are several ways of understanding PWA. What they have in common is that the site has to interact with the user the way an app does.
The user can:
- install it on a device;
- receive notifications;
- work with the site as with an app (in some cases even without an internet connection).
All of these are functions that modern technologies make possible.
PWA vs native apps. What is the difference?
There are several radical differences between a PWA and a native app:
- A PWA can be loaded in all the most popular browsers regardless of screen size and other parameters. On a repeat visit to the site you will be offered the chance to install the PWA.
- Building a PWA is technically simpler than building an ordinary site.
- A PWA does not need to use backward-compatible APIs. Users run the same version of the site's code (unlike with ordinary apps).
PWA in 2020
In 2020 Progressive Web Apps are built with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React and Angular. Such sites can send notifications to users and provide offline access to a cached version of the content.
Who will the PWA trend be especially relevant for? Above all for e-commerce sites, news platforms and business projects with a relatively small budget for site development.
Elements of artificial intelligence and chatbots
Chatbots have become a familiar part of a site's functionality
Integrating a site with a chatbot has stopped being anything surprising or new. The solution has practically moved into the must-have category. Chatbots are available 24/7. They can take and handle around 80% of routine, simple questions that come down to checking a price, taking payment or confirming a delivery address. Your customer support team takes on the rest — the complex and non-standard situations. Imagine how much better they will perform once they are freed from constantly answering the same questions.
Hundreds of large b2c companies already use chatbots for customer service and sales through Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp and Skype. Modern bots can be integrated into a site, into a PWA and even into modern household appliances with internet access.
Bots affect web design too. Considerable progress in artificial intelligence and machine learning has created demand for virtual assistant projects that concern not only visual perception or the algorithms of serving a product, but also include audio content.
The main advantages of using bots:
- the ability to react to problems at any moment;
- a user experience as close as possible to talking with a person;
- scope for deep analytics of user behaviour on the site.
Chatbots have arrived in earnest and for the long haul. They will change and improve. Their main growth points are the capacity for self-learning and integrations with a variety of third-party services.
Accelerated Mobile Pages — AMP
AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a technical solution that makes it possible to load pages faster and to read information more easily on the screens of smartphones and tablets.
AMP pages can be implemented on sites running WordPress, Joomla, OpenCart, Drupal and some other content management systems.
Like PWA, accelerated mobile pages appeared a long time ago, but their popularity only grows over time. AMP and PWA have features in common; the main difference with AMP pages is that they are generated with the help of special plugins.
Another important feature is that AMP pages have a simplified design compared with standard URLs.
Single Page Application (SPA)
All the code of a single page application loads into one page
The main job of web applications is to give access to the functions of a site or service using nothing but a browser. Web applications are divided into multi-page and single-page ones (SPA).
Single-page applications are web applications whose entire code is loaded into one page, in order to save time and make the service faster.
The architecture and working principle of an SPA
So, the main feature of the architecture of such web applications is that every element needed for interaction sits on a single page. Additional modules can be loaded, but only at the user's request. To simplify navigation, all user activity is recorded.
When new modules load, the content is only partly updated. As a result the response speed is much higher. In many ways an SPA works like a desktop application. The main difference is that an SPA runs from a server.
The main advantages of SPA
The main benefits of adopting an SPA:
- Accessibility of the web application. From any device the user instantly gets access to the application's functionality — with no installation time and no strict requirements on the device's power.
- Maximum versatility. Such applications can be launched on almost any device with internet access. That can be a PC, a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone.
- The ability to work with large volumes of data. The device's memory places no limit on the size of the application or of the data it processes.
- Speed. Placing every element on one page makes applications faster and raises their performance.
Examples of the best single page applications: Gmail and Google Translate.
The weak points of SPA
Using an SPA also creates several difficulties:
- Dependence on the internet connection. Without access to the global network an SPA cannot be used. Sometimes that becomes a problem.
- SEO difficulties. The technical nature of SPA makes indexing by search engines harder or outright impossible.
- They will not work when JS support is switched off. Users often disable JS in the browser. In those situations an SPA will not work.
Optimising for voice-friendly queries
Voice search is a convenient function that saves users time
Many people say that the future of sites and of optimisation has more to do with video content and voice prompts. In 2020 more than half of the devices connected to the internet of things (IoT) can respond to a user's voice commands.
Voice search is only one use of this technology. It stands to reason that in 2020 users want to type as little as possible into the search bar, and voice search helps them with that. Most companies are now looking for ways to adapt their physical and digital products to a market where voice search exists.
The latest achievements in web development are stand-alone voice-activated devices and voice optimisation for ordinary websites and applications. Optimisation for voice-friendly queries, reinforced by artificial intelligence, benefits both end users and owners. First, it saves time and lets the user order more (online purchases and services). Second, the technology means multitasking and ease of use. Third, it raises user loyalty, because it helps people deal with routine. And finally, the use of voice search is a powerful source of data for analysing user behaviour.
Motion UI — animated web design
Animated web design is another important trend in the modern digital world. Every year startups focus more on the user experience than on aesthetics. At the same time, beautiful sites and web applications have a better chance of catching attention and going viral. Because of that, modern design is becoming an element of marketing strategy.
The tendency to keep MVPs minimalist will most likely survive into 2020. At the same time, interest in new design approaches such as motion UI will grow.
Moving interface elements appeared back in 2018, but they are only becoming widely available now. That is happening thanks to the spread of SASS libraries.
Using motion UI makes digital products more intuitive and easier to understand. This approach to design is based on animation and CSS transitions implemented through stand-alone libraries with classes of animated elements.
Motion UI is one of the solutions that will help in the fight for users' attention. That matters especially if your project is one of many players in a competitive field.
Automated testing
Automated testing makes it possible to cut development costs
Most modern web technologies aim to make development cheaper and to provide a better user experience. Automating development at various stages is one way to reduce the cost of the final product.
Thanks to elements of machine learning and artificial intelligence, complex projects can be delivered by a small team. Test automation helps developers check whether a project is ready for release.
Test automation can cut development costs by 20%. The time spent on testing goes down as well. In short, test automation gets you the final product faster and for less money.
JavaScript frameworks
JavaScript frameworks save developers time, since they already contain compatible libraries
JavaScript appeared quite a long time ago. Today it is one of the most widespread programming languages. In 2020 JavaScript frameworks are actively developing and being updated.
JavaScript frameworks grew out of attempts to standardise the language and create a convenient working ecosystem. In 2020 JS frameworks define many aspects of UI and UX testing and of managing a product's technology. Using a framework is built on ready-made components for running a site.
Frameworks are still based on the integration of libraries, both functional and visual. That brings many advantages, including feedback for the user without reloading the page. On top of that, sites and web applications built on JS frameworks work much faster.
Bear in mind that every modern JavaScript framework differs considerably from the old versions. Their main innovations are:
- built-in HTML templates;
- composite design;
- support for a system of building data management tools.
The familiar Vue, React and Angular frameworks remained the most popular products of their kind in 2020.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
The internet of things influences trends in web development
The internet of things is a global network of devices — electronics and household appliances — that need almost no human involvement to operate and produce a useful result.
This technology also influences some trends in web development. Experts forecast explosive growth in the number of devices connected to the IoT. That will create demand for solutions related to security and to IoT integrations.
The growth potential of the IoT is enormous. Its main value lies in freeing people from routine work for more complex and higher-priority tasks.
In 2020 the IoT is reaching into marketing and the household. Many trends in web design will depend on changes in the internet of things too.
Responsive websites (RWD)
Responsiveness is a mandatory quality of a modern site
A conversation about web development trends in 2020 would be incomplete without the subject of responsive websites. The technology appeared five years ago, when mobile devices began to take over the market in earnest.
Already last year more than half of all search queries were sent from mobile devices. In that situation, ignoring mobile users simply means depriving yourself of roughly half your audience.
The core idea of responsiveness is to write HTML and CSS that automatically changes how your website is displayed depending on the device it is opened on.
Clearly, responsiveness is here in earnest and for the long haul. It is definitely worth implementing.
Conclusions
2020 strengthened several digital trends that had appeared earlier. In the main these trends come down to maximum rationality and to saving time, money and resources.
Sites and web applications will keep becoming faster and more convenient from the user's point of view.
In this article we have only sketched out some of the trends and described part of the technical solutions available. Which of them should you use? It depends on the specifics of your business and on the tasks your site is meant to solve.
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