Technologies and principles of web development do not stand still and are constantly changing. To make your sites look stylish and appeal to users, you need to understand the main industry trends and keep up with the latest. What is relevant today in web development? Find it out with Boosty Labs, a company that specializes in P2P software and app development.
How did web development begin and how is it built today?
In the early days of the Internet, websites were very simple and almost entirely text-based. To structure the content, the developers used tables. This method of building websites remained popular until the 2000s, but with the advent of the mobile Internet era, it lost its relevance.
The task of web developers has been greatly simplified by the advent of CSS standards. The specialists had a single standard system of rules that described the elements of HTML and XML.
As CSS specifications improved, table sites evolved into block sites. Managing the structure and appearance of web resources has become much easier, and caching of individual blocks has accelerated the loading of web pages.
Modern web development is divided into 2 main parts:
- Frontend – creating a visible part of the resource, interface programming.
- Backend – building the internal (server) part of the product functionality.
Let’s take a closer look at the current trends in web development this year.
Current web development trends in 2022
We will not once again talk about the importance of cross-browser, cross-platform and code validity. These are the default prerequisites for success. Let’s touch on not so obvious, but important principles of creating websites this year. Among them:
Minimum JavaScript for animation
Everything that can be implemented in the design of the site through CSS style sheets, do just that, using JavaScript scripts to a minimum. This is due to the fact that CSS loads the resource much less when animating.
All for speed
The goal of a web developer is to assemble a site in such a way that there is no hindrance to fast loading. This means excluding unoptimized graphics, providing for caching, not using heavyweight scripts, etc. And it’s not just the reluctance of users to wait for the page to load. Loading speed is an important factor for SEO promotion.
Access with a “slow” Internet connection
There will always be users with “slow” Internet. Web developers need to build websites in such a way that they are easy and convenient to work with even if there are problems with accessing the network. To do this, you first need:
- Optimize images for size, use lazy loading (lazy loading), prescribe alt attributes.
- Use WOFF 2.0 and WOFF fonts, specify link rel=”preload” and the font-display CSS property to display the text in a standard font during loading. Also don’t forget about the src: local attribute. It will reduce the server load for devices where the font used is already installed.
- Think of the shortest rendering path, leaving aside resources that are not required to display the main content. The point is that the user sees the key information as soon as possible while the rest is loading.
Neat structured code
The machine does not care whether the code is written in one line or divided into semantic blocks with indents, which make it clear the nesting of elements. But other people will be working on the code, so mixing everything together is a sign of unprofessionalism.
Another useful habit is to write important comments in the code. This will help to quickly find the desired fragment and simplify the work of a specialist who will further support and refine the project. It is important to strike a balance here, since too many comments in the code are not a good idea either.
Compact code
The site code should also be compact. To achieve this, avoid redundant identifiers and classes, use inheritance properties, think about ways to reduce the nesting of elements, use shorthand CSS.
Using SEO Tags
Semantic markup helps a web developer explain to crawlers how to crawl a web page. The search algorithm first goes through key meta tags and draws conclusions about the quality and structure of the web page, its content, and relevant queries. Therefore, headings in the text of the page should always be marked with tags (H1-H6), the page should have an external main title (Title) and a short description (Description).
Conclusion
In this article, we have presented only the most basic web development trends that are relevant this year. If you’re in the business of building websites and apps, or want to try your hand at it, be sure to follow these trends to succeed.
2022 may have a surprise in store for web developers, but the key trends in building apps and websites will remain the same.