The rapid change in technology means web development and design trends are no exception. Every year web development trends change more and more, opening new opportunities to business owners and web developers. With the emergence of new technologies, website development is evolving, leading to dynamic websites and web application solutions. 

Businesses worldwide wanting to take advantage of their ability to advertise as well as sell their products and services online have further boosted this growth of the web development industry. In 2021, the current trends in web development have changed the way businesses can interact with their clients. For any business keen to make an impact, keeping up-to-date with the latest web development trends is vital. With that in mind, here are a few top new trends in website development for 2021 and beyond:

Mobile-First Development

With the rapid growth of users that access Google Search with a mobile device and Google’s Mobile-first indexing approach, the future of web development will vastly be affected. According to DataReportal, as of July 2021, global mobile users have reached 5.27 billion, which is just under 67 percent of the world’s total population. This means, having a mobile-friendly website will allow businesses to attract a large audience and boost conversions.

Google reports that 74% of users will return to your website if it’s mobile-optimized. Whereas 67% of mobile users say that when they visit a mobile-friendly site, they're more likely to buy a site's product or service. So, what does it mean for the future of web development? Since May 2021, Google’s Core Web Vitals update is considering page experience as a ranking factor on search engines. This means, developers will not work out the desktop-oriented site and then adapt it to the mobile site. They will start with light, minimalistic, and intuitive products that are easy to interact with using mobile.

Single-Page Applications

A Single-Page Application or SPA is a JavaScript-based web application. It avoids loading separate HTML pages from a server to show a certain page to a user. Instead, a SPA loads only markup and data to dynamically render them on a single web page. 

Due to the rise of JavaScript frameworks, SPAs have gained popularity. It lets you intercept particular browser events and request JSON, which makes users feel like they are browsing a single page for all their needs. Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, and even platforms like Facebook and Twitter are SPAs. Current web trends of 2021 suggest that in the near future, most functional websites will be built as SPAs. 

Why are the benefits of SPAs? 

• It’s more likely to hold users’ attention as they are fast operating 

• Compared to regular sites, SPAs provide users with instant feedback 

• Single-page sites consume less and work without server-side code at all (API technology).

  

Voice Search Optimisation

The future of web development will largely depend on the popularity of voice assistants. According to Juniper Research, there will be 8 billion digital voice assistants in use by 2023. In 2021, more than half of all smart and IoT devices will execute commands given by the voice of their users. Along with the ability to recognize the voices of different people, it will provide a personalized AI-based experience for everyone. 

Businesses worldwide are now brainstorming over how to optimize their physical and digital products for voice search and voice commands. With the forecast of 55% of all households globally owning voice assistants by the end of 2022, developers and marketers will need to adapt their strategies.
Schema Markup and Structured Data are going to be more important than ever in web development. This will ensure that the search engines can not only understand your business, your products, and services but can also provide them in search results of relevant queries.

So, what exactly is a Schema Markup?

Schema Markup is a semantic vocabulary of tags or microdata that you can add to your HTML to improve the way search engines read and represent your page in SERPs in the form of rich snippets. With more voice searches being conducted, expect more emphasis to be placed on implementing Schema Markup.

Voice search optimization has proven to be beneficial for both end-users and owners. 

• It saves time and allows a user to order more (online shopping and services).

• Voice usage is a powerful source of user behavior analytics for businesses.

How can you optimize your site for voice search queries?

• Use a natural conversational tone with direct answers to specific questions. Don’t forget to structure your keyword research around questions and answers, rather than on single keywords or key phrases.

• Optimize your content for position zero on SERPs with a short introduction of 40-50 words, and use tables or bullet points to add a structure to your content.

• Optimize your website content by removing duplicate pages and remember to update important information.

• Use the Web Speech API that facilitates the implementation of speech recognition to your website.

  

Progressive Web Applications

Progressive Web Applications or PWAs aren't a web development trend of 2021but has gained the attention of developers and investors due to their potential to perform a high-quality user experience close to native app one. In simpler terms, PWA is a type of application software delivered through the web, built using common web technologies including HTML and CSS, JavaScript, React, or Angular. It works offline when you don't have an internet connection, leveraging data cached during your last interactions with the app.

So, why should you care about Progressive Web Apps?

As it stands, in 2021 the number of digital buyers is at 2.14 billion, which is around 27.6 percent of the population worldwide. In other words, more than one out of every four people around you is an online shopper. PWA’s rising popularity makes it possible for users to view their favorite websites even without an internet connection. They recreate the in-app experience within a browser and help developers avoid building native applications for every device. 

While building a PWA, it is essential to create a UX/UI design that focuses on user experience. PWAs should ideally be similar to native apps in their look and feel, and it is important to create intuitive UX and a visually appealing UI design.

Artificial Intelligence and Bots

What does the future of web development include? - AI assistants and bots.

AI assistants and bots can learn and collect large amounts of customers’ data, enabling a great level of personalization by showing the customers only the information that is interesting and relevant for them. The future of web development includes bots that are increasingly self-learning and will easily match particular user’s needs and behavior. They utilize customers’ previous purchases, history of searches, top category pages, number of visits to the website, and more. With every single visit, AI platforms collect more and more customer data that enables this technology to make more accurate and relevant recommendations.

24/7-operating bots will be able to replace support managers and save costs for many companies. Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Skype are good examples of companies that already use the technology to serve their customers. Chatbots are a rising method of communication that has seen an astonishing growth of 92% in use since 2019. With the global chatbot market anticipated to reach $9.4 Billion by 2024, chatbots will be a driving force for business communications.

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP is an Open Source framework created by Google that provides a straightforward way to create web pages that are fast, smooth-loading, and prioritizes the user experience above all else. Even though AMP technology is similar to PWA, the difference is that pages become accelerated due to open-source plugins recently developed by Twitter and Google. 

Accelerated mobile pages are extremely useful for e-commerce websites, as they help to sell more in comparison with non-AMP pages because of the main simple reason — most people can’t stand waiting. A study shows that even a 1-second delay in the speed of a web page can reduce conversion by 7%.

AMPs are optimized web pages that operate fast with a simplified and yet convenient design with only basic features compared to full-scope web products. The pages are also mobile-friendly and their content is always readable.

Motion UI

A website with detailed information that matches the search query isn’t just enough. According to a report by Salesforce, 84% of customers consider the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. This new web development trend focuses on the design of web products. With the growing importance of user interface, motion UI is the future of development. Motion design creates an intuitive interface that guides users by telling them what to do and where to focus on the page. 

Motion UI uses visual cues to make web applications respond to users by creating a more fluid and enjoyable user experience. This involves the integration of custom animation and CSS transitions powered by stand-alone libraries with numerous classes of animated elements. With their help, developers are able to spend less time on digital product building and save the costs of product owners.