Web development trends

We face increasing technological advances, yet designers still manage to keep up to date with the latest graphic design and website trends. 

With so many demands being placed on the world-wide web, websites continue to be user-friendly, innovative, and adaptable to the various devices we now use to browse the web. 

While mobile devices are the common method for catching up on social media, news, and googling anything we want, there is still a role for desktop browsing and therefore, they must continue to evolve to keep up to date. 

So, what are some of the key web development trends we’re currently experiencing? 

JavaScript improvements relating to Functional Programming but what is JavaScript? JavaScript is a programming language which allows interactive web pages and is therefore an essential component of web applications.  The vast majority of websites use it and all major web browsers have a dedicated JavaScript engine to execute it. 

Browser extensions – a plug-in that extends the functionality of the web browser - are becoming more compatible so while the viewable content isn’t affected, it can change the user interface of the web browser, e.g. adding a browser toolbar.

Real-time Web Apps are becoming more popular improving the efficiency of gathering data and sharing information instantly. 

The use of mobile devices has increased vastly of late and according to TechCrunch the average time spent on mobile devices has gone up to over 5 hours per day!  Businesses are getting smarter and realising their mobile interaction must be top notch if they’re going to increase their customer reach.

Material Design is also becoming more popular.  Developed by Google in 2014, Material Design makes more liberal use of grid-based layouts, depth effects i.e. lighting and shadows and includes responsive animations.

Our expectations and needs are increasing so the web will be forever changing, and while we can’t predict the future, change is the only constant we can be sure of!  

 (Sources: Wikipedia and Usersnap.com)