There aren’t many fields in the digital world that are as energizing as web development. It always hits the sweetest spots, especially after the advent of the smartphone a few years ago. However, you should know that it is only the starting point of a wonderful adventure.
This year is already reaching its end and the time is perfect to get a sneak peek of the future. After all, the trends of web development keep changing with time. web app development services try to stay abreast of these changes. Here you will go through a list of trending approaches and technologies. Some of these are new while others are old. Nevertheless, they will have a significant impact on web development next year.
The information provided here should be clearly understandable because you will find subsections that divide the web development trends in 2020.
Trends for the Frontend
1.WebAssembly (WASM): JavaScript has its perks, but it doesn’t come without a few drawbacks. One issue with JavaScript that stands out more than others is performance. The case is the same for all interpreted programming languages. WebAssembly is one of the latest web development trends that can stand against it.
WebAssembly isn’t a new language and you can write in it if you prefer and then compile it to a WASM file. Then, you can run on browsers. The languages that WebAssembly supports are Elixir, C/C++, Python, Go, Rust, C#/.Net, and Java.
Against popular belief, WebAssembly didn’t appear in 2019. It has been in the market for some time, and it is developing fast to offer more and more options.
2. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): A progressive web app is a web with functionalities that resemble a native mobile app.
-> You can install it on devices within a few moments. Users can pin the page on a Smartphone’s home screen to gain access at any moment, even when offline.
-> Its responsiveness allows you to adjust the device’s screen size and mode.
-> It is safe because PWAs have to be served via HTTPS.
-> It appears and operates as a native app but doesn’t take as much space.
PWAs still have their limitations and they can’t get rid of native apps completely. Since PWAs are essentially web pages, they can’t use hardware features such as Bluetooth and NFC. However, all apps don’t require this functionality.
Trends for the Backend
- HTTP/3: It is the latest version of the HTTP protocol that everyone knows. The appearance of HTTP/3 explains the significance of the leap that technology took from HTTP/2. It is the future of web development because the designers of HTTP/3 created it using the UDP-based QUIC protocol. On the other hand, HTTP/2 depends on TCP, and it also uses a single connection. It shouldn’t be a problem for you if you don’t have problems with low-quality networks. In such networks, HTTP/2 will perform extremely slowly.
Traditional UDP connections have a problem with data transfer reliability due to the lack of extra error checking systems. When data packets drop, the system won’t retransmit it as it has no overhead to open, close or maintain the connection. QUIC solves this issue with multiplexing or by transmitting several signals simultaneously through a single channel. It is a combination of the speed of UDP and the dependability of TCP.
QUIC is the faster and better protocol besides being simple, light and more efficient.
2. GraphQL: This one is an API query language and is a standard for API development. It is an offspring of Facebook and it isn’t all that young either. Its development took place in 2012 and it became open-source in 2015. However, more and more companies are adopting GraphQL, and you will find it among the web development trends in 2020.
Most companies used to work with REST before they had GraphQL. REST required multiple endpoints and it drew out too much data from them. This data was not at all necessary for the tasks.
GraphQL is different because you will get the data that you ask for specifically, and through a single endpoint. This feature makes GraphQL much faster and more efficient than others. Apart from that, the API code is shorter, and you won’t need a separate endpoint for your requests.
In the end, you should remember that GraphQL is open-source. Therefore, anyone can upgrade it.
3. Nest.js: Nest.js is a Node.js framework. It allows web builders to build scalable server-side apps. It secured its position among the latest web development trends and every CTO should keep this fact in mind in the next year. Of course, its safety and flexibility allowed it to gain its place in the trends of 2020.
The designers of Nest.js created it using TypeScript, a superset of JavaScript. Its creators got the inspiration to design Nest.js from Angular. However, Nest.js is much simpler, flexible and allows lesser downtime than other options. It is perfectly compatible with Node.js, Express servers and with almost all the existing libraries of JavaScript.
Trends in JavaScript
One may say that JavaScript doesn’t have anything new to showcase, and this statement is somewhat true. However, it has a few frontend networks that are new and are going to be a part of the future of web development.
1.Gatsby.js: It is an SSG or a static site generator. Don’t make the mistake of believing that static sites are remnants from the past. In reality, they are among the latest trends in web development technology.
The biggest advantage of Gatsby.js is that it won’t require traditional servers. It works on a BYOC or Brings Your Own Content strategy. With it, you can build websites based on data from CMS, APIs, CSV, and markdown files.
2. SPA frameworks: You probably see that most websites or at least a few pages among them have the same basic interface. Even after that, when you check a different page within the site, the whole page reloads, including the same elements. It is something pretty common with multi-page web apps.
SPAs are single-page applications. These web apps have pages that don’t reload fully when a user shifts from one section to the other. It showcases only the necessary data without requesting a full-fledged update of the HTML. This feature reduces the loading time and lessens the bandwidth.
