The Rise of No-code and Low-code development
The direction of the web development industry is steering firmly towards the lane of autonomous development. Independence is seen as the key motivator to bring more individuals and companies into the field.
This is why no-code or low-code development is seen as such an important feature of 2021. Thanks to this variation of development, more people than ever before can try their hand at creating websites and applications. The idea is to simplify the process to help those without a background in coding to take on coding-intensive tasks.
Not only does this make life a lot easier for non-technical personnel, but experienced developers can also utilize this tool to help reduce their existing workloads. They can also use these tools to streamline all future workloads and thereby maximize their efficiency.
We have already seen numerous citizen developers develop various useful applications without the need for writing any code whatsoever. The year 2021 will focus on this facet with a deeper lens, aiming to broaden the skillsets of citizen developers even further.
Improvements due to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
It’s been a slow and steady integration of the artificial intelligence world with that of the web development world over the past few years. We can now expect this integration to take on greater steam in 2021 due to various important developments in the recent past.
Important facets of artificial intelligence, such as Natural language processing and machine learning, have attained major breakthroughs recently. They are no longer elements of science-fiction but have instead become the tools of the modern developers’ world.
We can see these tools being utilized in various facets of web development, such as recommendation engines, SaaS tools, and competent chatbots.
Now is a great time to take stock of these invaluable tools and recognize the need for their contributions to your business. If your company requires artificial intelligence or machine learning of any kind, it is best to integrate them as soon as possible.
You can also rely on the use of AI-based analytical tools in your marketing endeavors to uncover deeper insights regarding your business model and customer interactions.
AI-based chatbots are also extremely useful in helping you tackle various internal processes in your company. This includes the ability to answer employee queries, improve existing onboard processes, and offer recommendations for various learning resources.
The upcoming boom of Voice Searches
The voice search feature on your phones, computers, laptops and smart devices has improved dramatically over the last few years. According to the Internet of things (IoT), 2021 will be the year that this technology can hit its peak.
Recent estimates have alluded to the fact that there could be as many as 8 billion voice assistants being utilized in the market by 2023. Even the smart speaker market is supposed to land over 160 million customers by 2021.
Such radical development in these two specific fields is sure to impact the world of web development in major ways. The very method by which users will interact with the internet is going to be upturned entirely. It, therefore, becomes vital that individuals keeping in tune with the web development field should anticipate such changes and be ready to tackle the new needs of the hour.
Developers and marketing figures need to adapt to this upcoming upheaval by optimizing their sites for voice searches. This requires changing the fundamental structure of the content being utilized on sites to be easily detected by voice search engines.
Content should now be optimized going forward, and keyword structures need to be looked into. Mixing up the use of terminology will help provide a wider set of phrases and keywords, while a natural tone will also help make the content more accessible.
Native vs. Progressive web applications
Progressive web applications are definitely on the rise in the recent past, but they are still some ways behind native web applications in terms of overall worldwide usage. This relationship will begin to change dramatically in 2021, with progressive web applications taking on a greater role going forward.
There are numerous inherent advantages of using progressive web applications over native apps. The user experience, for one, is far better in progressive apps, and the mobile experience is also much better on this platform.
PWAs are also known to have much better loading times, and you can also utilize offline features on this platform. The in-app experience can be beautifully recreated by using a PWA in a browser. This allows users to free up more space on their phones by using web browsers to access their favorite websites instead of downloading an endless line of applications.
Pinterest, in particular, is a great example of this. While the Pinterest app is excellent on its own, users don’t really feel much of a difference when using the Pinterest website. Thus it works well on numerous levels in terms of optimizing user experience.
This would be a great time to optimize your web application and develop your site in the PWA format going forward.
