The world of website design and development rarely stands still, and in its relatively short 30-year history, the internet has been constantly evolving and changing. These days, it’s hard to think of any aspect of life that hasn’t, in some way, be altered or enhanced through our increased use of the web.
The web is changing all aspects of our lives—how we work, shop, communicate, and view media. During the recent emergence of coronavirus the internet stepped up, allowing us to continue as normal a life as possible by aiding us to work remotely, stay in touch with friends and family, and view media when TV show production was all but brought to a standstill.
As we increasingly interact with the internet over mobile devices, our use of tech will only increase. Indeed, the much-heralded Internet of Things (IoT) is already changing the way we rely on the net for information. Here is an overview of the trends we’re likely to see developing in the near future.
More data provided by the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) essentially describes any connected smart device that is capable of gathering, receiving, or processing data. In recent years, there has been an explosion of connected devices—everything from smart camera systems to congestion-monitoring apps.
As we hook up more devices to the internet, our understanding of the world around us will increase. We’re already seeing smart cities being designed around connected technology; for example, traffic lights and systems capable of predicting movement and flow on a city-wide basis and adjusting throughput to maximize efficiency.
The IoT is starting to dominate in manufacturing, farming, and design—in fact in almost all areas of production and business—driving proficiency and minimizing overheads.
Increased integration of artificial Intelligence
Alongside the IoT, the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years has been exponential. AI is coming to dominate all areas of life, everything from self-organizing apps on our cell phones to “intelligent” websites that are able to predict shopping habits and experiences, which are, of course, tailored to our specific desires.
Smart websites are becoming increasingly more common, particularly in e-commerce sites and apps that simplify and automate the entire shopping experience. As the technology improves yet further, we’re likely to see it come to dominate. Indeed, AI computers were recently used in a startling experiment to write original content, proving the capacity of machine learning.
The growing move towards human-centric design
Anyone who remembers the early 2000s will likely also recall the glut of Flash websites produced purely from a designer—rather than a user—perspective. For many years, this bandwidth-hungry tech dominated the web design scene with overly ornate animations and videos, which simply served to slow the user experience.
As internet technologies and languages have improved, there has been an increasing move away from these pointless, for-show additions to websites, with an increasing trend towards focusing on the user experience. HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript have all served to streamline the web experience.
Web production companies such as ALT Agency, a web design business, are leading the charge towards more functional web design—finding ways to equally prioritize the user experience alongside aesthetics.
The unstoppable rise of mobiles
Over 50% of all internet access is gained from mobile devices these days, and the trend will only increase in the coming years as our take-up of wearables and hand-helds increases. Consequently, we will see the ongoing development of responsive sites and apps, capable of operating on all devices—watches, cell phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.