Web development is rapidly growing. Major brands like Facebook and Youtube have made varying levels of changes to their UI in 2022. Website development can quickly become a pricey endeavor, so brands are focusing on building a better user experience and lowering development costs. 

In this fast paced industry, it is critical to stay on top of the latest development trends to keep your company from falling behind. However, the amount of changes to the industry can be confusing and discombobulating. We have highlighted some key development trends that we believe CTOs and development teams should keep their eye on in 2022.

Progressive Web Applications

Progressive web applications are a great way to improve the user experience. Progressive web applications or PWAs are a type of application software that combines the advantages of both web and mobile applications. Progressive web apps are easier to use than traditional mobile applications but are also easier to develop and maintain for the website creator. PWAs work offline and support the use of push notifications, making them a versatile option for any developer. Major brands like Pinterest and Twitter utilize PWAs, and the numbers are steadily growing.

 Sophisticated AI-Enabled Chatbots

AI-enabled chatbots are popular with larger brands but are becoming increasingly common. An AI-enabled chatbot is a program that utilizes artificial intelligence to communicate with and answer the questions of a user. Chatbots use preset answers and responses to assist the user, but they are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex. AI-enabled chatbots can help customers get their questions answered more quickly and save money in the long run on customer service costs. Brands like Slack, Microsoft, and Facebook all utilize AI-enabled chatbots. 

Single Page Applications

Single page applications are growing in popularity because they are cost effective and easy to build. A single page application or SPA is a website that rewrites or updates a web page rather than loading new pages. This gives the user a more seamless experience by avoiding page loads. However it is important to note that this rapid reloading makes it difficult to optimize for SEO, so you may need to rework your strategies. Many social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook are all SPAs. 

Voice Search 

Voice search is a technology that allows users to search the web or give commands to compatible devices. Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Siri all use voice recognition technology. Voice search is becoming more and more popular every year. As of 2021, nearly one-third of all Americans own a smart speaker. Voice search has made technology more convenient and accessible to many users as well. 71% of Americans prefer voice search to traditional typing for their queries. When optimizing for voice search, it is important to keep in mind that users ask questions differently with voice search than they do with a keyboard. Their queries are much more conversational, so be sure to recognize the unique keywords they will provide.

‍Increased Use of WordPress

WordPress is “a content management system (CMS) that allows you to host and build websites.”  WordPress is notoriously user friendly and has thousands of free themes and plug-ins, but where WordPress really shines is at the enterprise level. WordPress’s plug-in framework allows web developers to easily add the custom plug-ins that are typically used at the enterprise level. This flexibility saves time in development and in doing so, cuts costs. This flexibility and convenience is one of the key reasons why WordPress is so desirable. Camber Creative is a WordPress VIP gold agency partner. In this partnership, we use the WordPress VIP content management system to create solutions for our clients on the WordPress VIP platform. The templates and drag and drop system makes it easy for our clients to manage and create beautiful websites. 

Motion UI

Motion UI is used to create UI transitions and animations. Motion UI helps to bring imagery and product samples to life. As online shopping grows more popular, it allows web developers to move past the 2D online shopping experience so users can get a better sense of the look and feel of products. Motion UI is popular on websites and apps for airlines like American and United Airlines. When selecting your seat, they bring you to a scrollable image of the inside of the place. This is not only immersive for the user but also allows them to more accurately select their seat. Color and animation can not only draw attention to parts of your site, but it also makes it easier to navigate and keeps your site more organized. 

Dark-Mode UI

In web development, we are seeing an increased use of dark-mode UI and generally darker, low-light websites. Dark-mode UI is a user interface design that transforms the typically light colored backgrounds and surfaces into a design leveraging darker colors like grays and blacks. This setting is often called night-mode because some websites and applications enable the switch to occur automatically based on time; although, the feature is generally available to be toggled on and off at any time at the leisure of the user. 

API-First Approach

An API is an application programming interface that allows applications to communicate with one another. An API-first approach prioritizes APIs and how they will connect or communicate with other functions or software. An API-first approach improves the development process by allowing developers to use an already existing framework. This increases speed of delivery and decreases development costs. Utilizing this approach also allows developers to more easily scale and upgrade their platform.

‍Key Takeaway: Focus on the User Experience

Web development is a complex process. Between focusing on UI, your content, or your turnaround time, it is easy to lose sight of a key aspect of your application: the user experience. At the end of the day, it is how your users interact with and perceive your site that largely dictates your success. 

The trends we provided in this article are ultimately just a set of guidelines. Yet, you ultimately need to leverage the subset of these trends that work for you and your business needs. At Camber Creative, we have an experienced team of professionals that can assist you in your design and development process. If you are looking for some guidance with your product, our team is here  to help.