Top trends in web technology for 2023

Some web development trends have been here for some time, while others started gaining popularity at the end of 2022 and will definitely continue to develop further. Here we have listed trends that are going to stay or become essential for the web technology industry, from the most popular-growing to, so to say, traditionally trendy.

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Web 3.0: AI everywhere

We cannot but start the list with the technology that has captivated our attention since the end of the last year. Although an artificial intelligence chatbot is not a new technology, it received a new round of popularity in the face of ChatGPT and other OpenAI products. Basically, AI chat is a software app that’s trained to maintain the conversation. However, the latest AI inventions are not only a way to handle intelligible communication but universal tools that help a user in numerous tasks from generating a pic to writing a piece of code.

Types of business

With AI, it is hard to limit it to a certain field, as it offers many opportunities that may have not even been integrated into any web products yet. With the launch of AI API, it is possible to utilize the technology for building a new product or integrate it into an existing one. AI can help arrange the info logically, and actually, be helpful in any sort of content creation for the website. Speaking of a type of business that it can be utilized for — it’s any.

Benefits

• You’re going to keep up with the times and even be ahead of them.
• Technology can be a handy tool in any task and significantly speed up any kind of process on a website.
• AI can be used for personalized customer recommendations.
• AI chat can handle some user queries and reduce unnecessary human interaction. It can build a conversation with customers in an automated yet close-to-natural way.

Web 3.0: blockchain technologies

How does this apply to web development? Firstly, blockchain technology provides a website with security and privacy. Decentralized apps and services are resistant to cyberattacks. It is likely that soon all online services will support blockchain-based smart contracts which allow participants to provide services, make transactions without any third parties, and legitimize their actions.

Types of business

This web technology trend can be used in any type of business requiring security and automatization. It can potentially be used in very different spheres of business that can be sped up by digitalization: logistics, healthcare, banking, media, the internet of things, renting, and others. Based on Crunchbase stats of 2023 startups funding, traditionally trending industries using blockchain, for now, are NFT marketplaces and online games.

Benefits

• Obviously, the advantage is blockchain’s security — being distributed across a network of computers, the data and payments are stored and held safely.
• Another benefit of the trend is faster transactions due to distributed ledger storage being updated in real time.
• It adds transparency. In such businesses as supply chains, sometimes it’s hard to track the authenticity of a product. Blockchain technology can track and automate every action in supply and make it visible to the participants.

No-code development

Not every business starts with a customized website in its early stages. No-code development platforms are helpful in this case, as they allow both programmers and non-programmers to come up with typical yet fast solutions for a website or a mobile web app. You can compare the pros and cons of such a decision in our article dedicated to the cost of building a website. No-code can actually help to speed up custom development. For example, the number of no-code solutions for Flutter user interfaces has increased significantly in the last period. There are no-code and low-code tools for pipelines and routines automatization as well.

Types of business

The target audience of the no-code development platforms is businesses looking for non-customized, simple, and cost-effective solutions. They can be used by industries with a small number of necessary features, such as restaurants with pages for making a reservation, downloading a menu, and reading about a venue. Of course, using only no-code tools is helpful till a company needs customization or the business is ready to upscale.

Benefits

• It is a cost-effective decision as you don’t need to hire a web developer and can do most of the work on your own. For sure, the site you make will have limited functions, but it’s still a better choice than not having it at all in our digital era.
• And it’s an opportunity to create a website faster. With pre-made tools, you can compose a website with desired features as if you were building a LEGO set.

Server-side rendering

Earlier, we could expect single-page applications (SPAs) to take this place. However, these are not trendy anymore. From our experience, we’ve noticed that more and more companies prefer server-side rendering (SSR).

Types of business

SPAs are aiming to provide users with interactive and dynamic experiences and can be used by services that don’t rely on SEO and fast loading that much. Hence, websites that prioritize performance and winning a competition in the search rankings go for the SSR. These are e-commerce websites that normally have a lot of competitors to beat. Websites that require fast rendering are likely to choose this web technology trend, too. Among those are news sites and blogs.

Benefits

• SSR websites show better performance as their pages are rendered on the server side; the pre-rendered pages are easily cashed. Therefore, a user can view the whole page when opening a website. Whereas, SPA is re-rendered again and again by JavaScript in a user’s browser.
• Another reason is search engine optimization. If you want a website to be easily found, search engines need to know what its content is. Quite often search engines cannot execute JavaScript code SPAs written with, but it’s unproblematic with HTML as the content is pre-rendered, in this case.
• Moreover, if you prefer SPAs, you still can choose SSR. One technology doesn’t necessarily have to replace another. SSR can generate the HTML for search engines, but as soon as this HTML gets to the user’s browser, JavaScript is executed there, and then the page works like SPA.

Voice search

Voice search is applied in web development by using speech recognition to allow customers to interact with a website by using their voices. It can help to look for specific information on a site, as well as control other functions. The technology can be used in many different ways: to improve the interaction with devices, to advance a user search, to personalize experiences, and make them more intuitive.

Types of business

Mostly, it’s a good tool for navigation on websites requiring a large online presence. For example, e-commerce websites and any kind of online directories.

Benefits

• Firstly, a voice search is just a necessary tool that makes your website accessible to people with special needs.
• Additionally, it helps find information on a website quickly and easily.
• From the business side, a voice search is a great way to collect information on users’ behavior to analyze it for future product improvement.

Motion UI

Motion UI is a library for the quick creation of transitions and animations that enhance a website’s design and its interactivity. There’s no way that interfaces go back to static. Motion UI also saves development time as it contains a bunch of pre-made animations. An aesthetic and sophisticated user experience won’t bring users to the website, but it will definitely make them stay.

Types of business

Actually, motion UI adds a touch of style and engagement to any web product. For example, it can animate the processes of checking out and adding an item to a cart for e-commerce website users. It can create smooth transitions between menu positions and content on streaming services. It can create catchy interactions with visitors in educating website tutorials when the interface responds to the user’s actions.

Benefits

• It provides customers with a better experience. In real life, objects tend to move when touched, fall, rise, and change. Hence, you give a user a life-like habitual experience when adding motion.
• Animation can draw users’ attention to a certain part of a page, for example, a call-to-action button. Thus, you can significantly increase user engagement by adding some creativity.
• It can add value to your brand identity. Netflix logo animation supported by a unique jingle almost certainly gives you chills when you open the app.

Internet of things

The internet of things (IoT) is a name for tangible objects that exchange information via the internet. The technology itself is not the latest trend, but it holds its position in the list of popular technologies, and it will as long as we have smart gadgets. How is it connected to web development? Well, the aim of a good web app is to reach users wherever it’s possible. For example, YouTube adapts to all types of your devices: a smartphone, tablet, TV, laptop, you name it — the more gadgets you cover, the more visits you get.

Types of business

You can tell from the example, the first to provide users with content from various gadgets are streaming services. Any business connected with monitoring processes and things can use IoT for tracking purposes — it can help unite devices and equipment, providing better remote control over production or delivery. And what’s more, as soon as IoT lets devices connect with each other, it means that a company can collect anonymous data to improve its services and monitor data that is broadcast on the internet.

Benefits

• IoT enables businesses to implement automated processes and reduce manual labor.
• It can also be used for data collection. As IoT devices can store a big amount of info, it’s perfect for analyzing customer behavior and gaining valuable insights.
• As we’ve mentioned, the availability of a web product is an undeniable benefit — an opportunity to reach the app from any gadget increases user engagement.

Cybersecurity

Not really a trend in web technology, but something that has always been required and will always be. What are the perspectives on cybersecurity for the nearest year? It still needs to overcome data breach and ransomware issues and develop multithreaded authentication further to protect the data. Another unprotected area that will require safety is IoT, mentioned above. Why? If everything is a computer, from your phone to your washing machine, then any of these can be hacked. And, for sure, AI, as the main trend, is going to play a great role in providing security.

Types of business

Any type of business that deals with user data and online payments needs the best protection that prevents any leaks. Any sensitive and personal data storage websites are under great threat: healthcare organizations, e-commerce websites, and financial institutions. Actually, any digital product needs to be protected.

Benefits

• The dangers of ignoring security are too obvious. As they say, “If you play with fire, you get burned”. So, don’t play with fire.

Summary

Most of the trends that are predicted to be popular in 2023 have already been there. Some of them have been on the surface this whole time but never got so much attention before, like AI or IoT cybersecurity. Hopefully, this year will bring many positive returns in terms of new trendy technologies that may even exceed our expectations.