What Is the Future of Web Development?

Artificial Intelligence

Wherever there’s talk of new trends in web development, artificial intelligence (AI) is bound to enter the picture. This is because there have been several advancements in this field over the last few years, and research continues unabated. After all, it’s been some time since Google’s DeepMind built AlphaGo, the first program to beat a professional Go player.

A number of corporations such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have already embraced AI and made use of it in different areas of computer programming. Google uses this technology to improve search engine efficiency. Wikipedia relies on it to identify damaged articles as well as ones that carry inaccurate information.

Large eCommerce platforms such as Amazon have implemented chatbots, voice searches, and other AI solutions to enhance online shopping experiences. Spotify, one of the largest on-demand music service providers in the world, is already making the most of existing technology by using AI and machine learning.

Since AI technology is becoming easier to access, we may expect to see more web designers and developers using AI in their work. For instance, you can already find an artificial intelligence web designing platform that asks you about colors, branding, content, and layout, and then creates a website based on your inputs/requirements.

A web development machine such as this, as with all things AI, will continue learning with the aim of delivering better results in the future. However, until there’s an AI web development program that delivers desired results, you need to make the most of human web developers who have some expertise in artificial intelligence.

The future scope of web development extends to using AI in different ways.

• Web development companies may use AI-based algorithms to get real-time design/layout suggestions.
• Web developers may enhance customer engagement by using AI-powered chatbots and other communication tools.
• AI-based coding brings with it the potential to reduce turnaround times significantly and create more intuitive applications.
• Website owners may use AI systems to analyze user behavior and provide personalized user experiences.
• AI algorithms can help manage monotonous tasks such as website maintenance and collection of data.
• eCommerce web development can benefit through AI image recognition to detect counterfeit products and the technology can also help identify fake reviews.

Virtual Reality

When you look at the scope of web development in the future, you cannot help but notice what virtual reality (VR) has to offer. This technology has taken the gaming world by storm and you can see its presence in other industries as well. Large companies such as Mozilla and Google are already working on application programming interfaces (APIs) that will help in the transition of virtual reality technology to the web.

Based on the momentum this technology is gaining and the trends witnessed over the last few years, you may expect VR to find a place in various other industries and numerous applications. For instance, much like today’s VR real estate tours, you may expect to see VR in news coverage in the coming times.

By integrating VR with online browsers, WebXR, an open standard, gives users the ability to experience virtual reality through their browsers. Already available for use with popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, the WebXR API does away with the need to download specific tools.

Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a technology that involves enabling typically non-internet-connected devices and appliances to send and receive information. These can be smart TVs, air conditioners, kettles, toasters, and blenders as well as sensors in concrete to detect cracks.

While the involvement of web developers in developing this technology might not be direct, they will play an intricate role in creating applications that help in their operations. They will also be responsible for the analysis and display of data collected from these devices.

Various tech-based companies have already started working on APIs that web developers will use in communicating with IoT devices. However, while this technology continues to evolve, concerns surrounding security remain. At this point, it is clear that web developers will have to face numerous challenges, especially in protecting these devices from hackers.

Ruby on Rails

Even if you looked at the latest web development technologies a decade ago, you would find mention of Ruby on Rails. However, given the various versions of Rails that developers have used since its initial release in 2004, this server-side web application framework has come a long way. Despite all the changes, the Ruby on Rails framework still relies on three basic design principles that help promote simplicity in building rather complex systems.

• Its model-view-controller (MVC) architecture centralizes a program’s business logic, it determines how users interact with the program, and it establishes how the program displays information to users.
• Its conventions over configurations paradigm gives web developers the ability to save time and effort because they don’t have to focus on configuration file details.
• The “don’t repeat yourself” (DRY) model helps minimize the repetition of information, simplifies how developers make modifications, and reduces errors during the development stage.

Angular

Released in 2016, Angular will continue to play an important role in the future of web development. Built using TypeScript, this development platform is a component-based framework that developers may use to create a variety of scalable web and mobile applications. Its integrated libraries make way for a variety of features geared at addressing existing and future requirements of web developers such as client-server communication, routing, and forms management.

Angular provides multiple benefits for web developers, and this is what you may expect.

• By dividing the user interface (UI) of an application into independent logical components, compressing elements with similar functionalities into well-defined components is easy.
• By running dependencies parallel to their components, Angular creates a tree of dependency injectors that web developers may alter without having to reconfigure its components.
• By using intuitive APIs, developers can create high-performance animation timelines with minimal coding.
• Its command-line interface (CLI) mechanizes the development workflow completely. It simplifies initialization and app configuration as well.

Package Managers

Package managers have become incredibly popular with frontend JavaScript communities. These tools have made life simpler for developers, especially in installation, updates, and configuration when dealing with app development.

NPM, Yarn, and Bower are among the most popular package managers in JavaScript. Yarn, a software packaging system developed by Facebook for Node.js JavaScript runtime environment, aims to address the problems that Facebook faced with other package managers such as NPM when it came to matters related to security, consistency, and performance.

Static Site Generators

Static site generators can develop websites from plaintext, where developers store text in files as opposed to databases. The use of static generators has advantages such as speed, security, and ease of deployment. One problem is that they do not make room for user content such as comments, which are a must in today’s world. While this technology may find its way going forward, it might not carry as much weight as some experts expect.

Web Programming Languages

Much of what web developers do depends on the web programming languages they know and use, so it’s fair to wonder which language is the future of web development. While some of the languages have been around for years, new ones continue to enter the sphere. As a result, keeping up with the changing landscape becomes very important for developers. The future of web development languages will include names such as:

• JavaScript. Among the most commonly used programming languages by developers, JavaScript offers widespread acceptance, reduced server-side load, and interoperability.
• HTML. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is lightweight and fast, is supported by all browsers, and allows the use of templates.
• SQL. With simple syntax, structured query language (SQL) finds favor with developers when it comes to creating, reading, updating, and deleting database records.
• R. This programming language finds its place under the sun when it comes to developing programs that support machine learning and data analysis.
• Swift. While Swift has become the go-to language for many who specialize in iOS app development, it is also increasing its foothold in the field of web programming.
• Go. This open-source language that Google supports has syntactic similarities with C, although it also boasts of structural typing, memory safety, and garbage collection.
• PHP. Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) continues to find favor with backend developers who need to create data-heavy and dynamic websites. The fact that they can use it with all major operating systems definitely helps it retain its position.
• Python. Python’s extensive libraries ensure that developers don’t have to write a lot of code, which is one of the reasons it remains a part of the future of web development languages. It also makes for a great alternative when dealing with data science, machine learning, and IoT.

Accelerated Mobile Pages

Data released by Statista surrounding global web traffic shows that mobile devices (not including tablets) generated 58.67% of website traffic the world over toward the end of 2023. With mobile use continuing to rise, one may also expect this number to increase accordingly. This is why accelerated mobile pages (AMPs) play a key role in the present and future of web development. The main advantages of AMPs include reduced page loading time, lower bounce rates, increased conversions, and higher search engine results page (SERP) rankings.

Progressive Web Apps

Progressive web apps (PWAs) offer user experiences that are similar to ones generated by native/mobile apps. Developers create such apps by leveraging the latest web development technologies, and you may think of them as an amalgamation of a website and a mobile app. In addition, developing PWAs is typically much simpler and more cost-effective than developing native apps.

Web developers may create PWAs by using standard technologies such as Angular, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. Businesses that hope to increase their digital footprint in the future might benefit by turning to PWAs in different ways.

• Users may add PWAs on their home screens to simplify access.
• These apps work equally well across different browsers, devices, and screen sizes.
• They rate better than native apps when it comes to finding them through online search engines.
• They give you the ability to retarget users through push notifications.
• All pages/products come with individual URLs, so users may share them easily.

Conclusion

As in the past, one will witness various trends in web development as time progresses. If you work in this field, you need to keep your eyes wide open because some of these trends will play a major role in what you do. If you’re looking at creating a new website for your business or revamping an existing one, one or more of the aspects mentioned here might have a bearing on how you should approach the process.

Bear in mind the design and development of your website or mobile app plays an important role in how your target audience interacts with your business in the online world. As a result, it’s important for you to partner with a digital agency that specializes in popular web technologies of the day and keeps a continual eye on the future of web development. Only then will you get a website or an app that is capable of meeting your customers’ ever-evolving needs.