If you’re in the web development business, there are some exciting things taking shape this year that you should keep an eye out for. While some are new, others are further developments of trends that started in 2023. All are leading to a more dynamic future in the field.
While this list won’t be anywhere near exhaustive, we will touch upon some of the top trends taking place in development. Let’s take a closer look at what 2024 has in store.
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Increased use of AI
One of the things that is happening is that AI is taking off even further. Yes, this is not limited to web development as AI is making inroads into all manner of industries. But its implications for web development are exciting, indeed.
AI for customer support
The area of customer support is one that will expand and grow. Chatbots are vastly increasing in prominence and sophistication, for one thing. While we have always been able to program their speech patterns to some extent, they will become increasingly customizable and able to speak to individual customer needs. This will vastly increase customer satisfaction levels, and further eliminate the need for companies to spend resources on customer service representatives.
AI for development
AI is also being increasingly used in the development process itself. Things like debugging code can be made more efficient and effective with the use of AI as algorithms can detect anomalies in code much more quickly than humans can. In addition, it can also help in the actual writing of code by offering suggestions based on your personal preferences.
Better frameworks
Thanks to advancements in APIs and other new technologies, web development frameworks are also improving. Framework popularity is growing thanks to streamlined procedures, better reusable code, and frameworks for effective applications that allow for web projects to be more easily constructed and managed. It is helping a great deal in giving developers stable and sophisticated constructs to work from.
Improved UX
Interfaces are changing along with people’s interests and their average attention spans. As research is increasingly indicating that people’s attention spans are growing shorter, UX is adapting accordingly. Interfaces are changing more rapidly, and they are including more and more dynamic graphics, animations, etc that cater to people’s personal preferences for websites. This is helping to keep people engaged, and helping maintain the popularity of websites for the companies that operate them.
Alternative modes for websites
While white on black has traditionally been the standard mode for scripts, for many people it is difficult on the eyes, and therefore there is a distinct preference among parts of the population for alternative modes.
Dark mode, for example, is becoming increasingly popular. Once considered something that was only fit for a select, narrow portion of the population, it is now becoming a standardized alternative that many people find preferable.
Design by component
Websites have different components to them. While developers have always known this, the idea of designing different components according to different designs has not been very popular until recently. But this is all changing as people see an increased need to treat different web components variously according to their respective functions. Developers are working on “atomic” design systems that function similarly to chemistry, and which build on the basic components of design in the same way that chemical components do.
Headless CMSes
Content management systems are changing, as well. There is an increasing trend towards headless CMSes in web design. This gives designers much greater freedom in using the technology they want on the back end of pages, without worrying about how it will affect the front end. It also allows for greater cross-platform usage without having to worry about incompatibility from platform to platform.
All this and more
These are just a few of the trends that are shaping up in 2024 to make development easier and more effective for web designers and users alike. Keep an eye out for specific applications that use these functions, as well as upgraded versions of existing ones. Trends like the use of AI in development will only continue to grow, so tools will become more and more sophisticated as time goes on.