The massive popularity of mobile apps has completely changed the way websites are designed and developed. With more and more people accessing websites on their mobile devices, it has become essential for enterprises to adopt responsive web design and optimize their websites for various devices. At the same time, the businesses also need to keep in mind the upcoming web design and development trends to make the website deliver richer user experience and convert the website visitors into customers. I wrote on the same topic last year too, top technology trends for Web Development in 2015 and this year I am back with my predictions too.
8 Web Design and Development Trends for 2016
1) Emergence of Graphic Texts
From the very beginning, typography has been associated with website designing and development. Often designers experiment with a variety of texts to make websites more appealing and engaging. It is also a common practice among web designers to combine images, patterns and texture to make the text look different and attractive. In 2016, designers will integrate text with a variety of graphics to boost the website’s look and feel.
2) Focus on Customer Experience
A number of surveys have highlighted that a large percentage of modern users expect websites to look and function just like mobile apps. So developers have to focus on the website’s user experience throughout the software development lifecycle. At the same time, the businesses have to keep in mind a customer’s journey and experience while planning websites. A gradual increase will be noted in the number of enterprises opting for customer-centric website design in 2016.
3) Split-Screen Layouts
Many studies have highlighted that users hate websites that do deliver information almost instantaneously. Also, they love to stay on the websites that use clear and simple navigation options. So 2016, many businesses will opt for split-screen layouts to redirect each user to the relevant landing page without any delay. The user can simply click on the right option in the split-screen layout and reach the desired page instantaneously.
4) Long Scrolling
Many businesses opt for single-page websites to convey information about their products or services to website visitors without requiring them to open multiple web pages. The absence of navigation options make the websites scroll more. So many businesses will opt for websites with additional and longer scrolling feature to keep the visitors engaged. However, the designers have to break the scrolling creatively to enhance the website’s user experience.
5) Google’s Material Design
The material design recommended by Google for user interface (UI) design and presentation has been there since quite some time. The web design technique emphasizes on the fact that websites will be mostly accessed on smartphones and tablets rather than desktop or laptop computers. The sharp decline in the desktop web usage will encourage many businesses to adopt material design in 2016.
6) Lazy Loading
Most modern websites need to feed content frequently and continuously. So developers have to explore ways to deliver website content to users without any delay. Popular social networking platforms like Facebook and Pinterest have proved that a website can use lazy loading feature to enable users to view content immediately without waiting for full loading of the web page. So many website developers will develop the web apps with lazy loading feature in 2016 to loading small chunk of information to the user at a time, despite content being fed into it continuously.
7) Storytelling
The web designers frequently explore ways to keep the website visitors engaged by delivering content in an interactive way. The mobile games have already shown how storytelling can be used as an efficient tool to convey information to users in a more interesting and engaging way. Many web designers will adopt storytelling form to deliver the website content to visitors more effectively. The form will further help the website to keep the visitors engaged and convert them into customers.
8) Artificial Intelligence
To accomplish higher conversion rate, each business need to ensure that its website delivers personalized experience to individual visitors. The developers nowadays integrate a variety of extensions, APIs and tools into the website to gather user information. In 2016, many web developers will use artificial intelligence used by mobile apps to make the website identify the user and understand his preferences accurately. The artificial intelligence will further make the website function like mobile apps.
Many companies will further switch from waterfall testing to agile and exploratory testing. The programmers and testers have to work concurrently to assess the web application rigorously. At the same time, the businesses will also invest in test automation tools to ensure that the websites meet all business requirements and deliver quality user experience across many devices. These are 10 hot programming trends you should also keep a track of.
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