AI (Artificial Intelligence) Will Play a More Significant Role
AI has already penetrated the IT and web arenas. Web designers are already dependent on AI to carry out most of the labor-intensive tasks, while they focus more on fine-tuning, which is still a very human-oriented process. Needless to say, the shift to AI has allowed for a major reduction in costs and an increase in efficiency.
Now, AI is only bound to end up playing a much more prominent role in the near future. Web developers and administrators will be focusing on technological innovation to ramp up their conversion figures and their returns. For instance, we will be seeing an increase in retail sites relying on chatbots to provide improved customer support.
Chatbots, through machine learning technology, will become more efficient and function as true shopping assistants to human buyers. When online shoppers search for products, chatbots will be able to read their searching habits and patterns to recommend ideal or relevant products. In other words, product searches will become more targeted and fine-tuned.
Voice search is another piece of tech that will become significant in 2019.
The Rise of PWAs or Progressive Web Apps
For a very long time, web developers have been trying to develop websites that can work on both, mobile devices and desktop browsers. The AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) project by Google has addressed this problem, which has resulted in significant strides being made.
However, challenges remain, still. You see, smartphones are largely relied upon by today’s tech-savvy customers, which means mobile browsers are the most popular. So, websites are now required to optimize their website apps to replicate mobile apps. Failure to do so results in a significant drop in traffic.
This is where PWA can come in handy.
PWAs meet the requirements of the modern smartphone user. They can be included in the mobile screen home just like any other app and they don’t make use of too much data. PWAs can also send out push notifications. As a result, they boost user engagement by almost 400% and conversion rates by 100%. So, ignoring PWAs in the future will come at a significant cost, which is a failure.
Europe Will be the Hotspot for Web Developers
Web development, like everything else in the tech world, goes through its fair share of changes and will continue to do so. Needless to say, keeping up with these trends is a significant challenge. Fortunately, there are expert web developers that you can always depend on.
Speaking of dependable web developers, you’re likely to find most of them in Europe. According to a study done by Outsource2EU, Europe is currently turning into a major hub for web development. However, that doesn’t mean domestic web developers are off the map. In fact, considering the cost and complexity involved in outsourcing a project, it might just make more sense to look for web developers in your own town.
The Rise of AMPs
AMPs or Accelerated Mobile Pages will become the norm. This is because they offer a ton of benefits. AMPs make it much easier to open websites on mobile devices. They reduce page load time significantly, and the current success rate makes their popularity in 2019 inevitable.
Around 60% of internet users today access the internet via mobile devices, which means the need for AMP is only going to grow. The future is all about providing an excellent user experience for mobile users, and AMPs make that possible.
Extensions Will Boast Universal Compatibility
For the longest time, browser extensions were limited in that they were developed with specific browsers in mind. For example, extensions for Google Chrome were just that – extensions for Chrome. You could never use them on an alternative, such as Opera or Firefox.
However, that is likely to change in 2019. Tech developers are looking to code extensions with universal compatibility. The goal is to provide a seamless user experience across browsers. So, we will be seeing extensions that are common to all the major browsers, such as Firefox, Explorer, and Chrome etc.
Greater Focus on Motion Designing
The modern user isn’t exactly very attentive. Statistics tell us that the concentration span of the average online user today is just a few seconds long. To make things worse, the numbers are dwindling.
This is exactly why businesses need to come up with creative ways to ensure better engagement. Most companies have been doing exactly that with more visual content. However, that’s not going to be enough and the need for something more engaging is obvious.
Well, motion design might be the answer. What motion design does is it incorporates animations, 3D image viewing, and video illustrations to improve engagement. Studies have shown that motion designing makes users spend more time on a website and also, draws their attention to the most critical parts.
IoT Integration
IoT apps are getting more and more popular as time passes. According to tech experts, more than 30 billion devices will become connected in the next couple of years. 2019 will play a vital role in aiding this growth.
What does this have to do with web development?
Well, web developers will not have to integrate IoT requirements into their development process. Customers will soon demand the ability to make the most of IoT.
