Latest Web Development Trends That Will Dominate In 2021
Tags: webdev, pwa, php, iot
Published: 2020-12-11 13:32:04

PHP is considered to be one of the most popular programming languages for web development. According to the [statistics] (https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/pl-php), PHP is used by 79% of the websites due to its simplicity, logic, and clarity. 

As technology is constantly evolving businesses are looking for the latest trends in [web development] (https://scand.com/services/web-application-development/) to build robust websites and applications with increased customer engagement. Here are some web development trends for 2021.

##Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

PWAs are becoming a web development trend due to some of the attractive features they provide:

1. **High customer engagement**. According to [Breezer] (https://www.beezer.com/blog/important-pwa-statistics/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20PWAs%20cost%203,15%20times%20in%20some%20cases), PWAs ensure 50% higher customer engagement in comparison with native apps due to the support of push-notifications. 

2. **Speed**. Web apps must provide fast page loading as [53%] (https://medium.com/the-vue-storefront-journal/cro-by-pwa-optimizing-mobile-ecommerce-9fc7586ee537#:~:text=From%20all%20the%20case%20studies,bring%20additional%201.8M%20annually.) of users won’t wait for more than 3 seconds. Progressive web apps manage to cut the page loading time up to 10 times.

3. **Reduced costs**. Native apps are not only complicated to be developed and maintained but also quite expensive. In contrast, [PWA development] (https://scand.com/services/web-application-development/progressive-web-app-development/) requires less time and effort as well as financial resources while offering high performance.

4. **Responsiveness**. PWAs can adapt to any screen size: desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.

5. **Small-scale apps**. Progressive web apps can be up to 90% lighter than native apps. The majority of them are no more than 1MB.

6. **Enhanced security**. Such apps are secured by HTTPS protocol that ensures not only personal data protection but also secure browser history.

7. **Offline**. In contrast to websites, PWAs can work offline due to their Service Worker scenario and cash strategy.

8. **Search engine recognition**. Since PWAs are identified as applications, they can be assorted by search engines.

![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/lnd27mp2hq0zoen7nzia.jpg)

These are only some of the [PWA advantages] (https://scand.com/company/blog/an-extensive-guide-to-progressive-web-apps/), however, there are some disadvantages as well. Unfortunately, not all the systems support the full functionalities of PWAs. Progressive apps are more battery draining, their offline functions are limited, and their operation is difficult to be controlled and estimated as there is no store approval for them.

##Single Page Applications (SPA)

Another trend in [PHP software development] (https://scand.com/technologies/php/) is Single Page Applications (SPA) and Single Page Websites. As the name suggests, SPA is a type of app that works on one web page in the browser and doesn’t require reloading as all other content is added using JavaScript. SPAs and Single Page Websites save much time by not loading the whole amount of information at once but dynamically adding it. Here are some reasons why it is worth choosing a SPA solution:

1. **Speed**. SPAs don’t access the server many times. All necessary data is loaded at the very beginning and, ensuring high load speed and efficiency.

2. **Better user experience**. SPAs have an excellent UX, which imitates a usual browser environment. Users don’t have to click and load many links, the only action they do is scrolling down.
3. **Easy debugging**. Chrome makes it simpler to identify and remove existing or potential errors.

Although SPA also has some drawbacks such as the difficult process of SEO optimization, slow download, or not perfect security, the future is in [SPA development] (https://scand.com/services/web-application-development/single-page-web-app-development/) as its pros definitely outweigh the cons.

##Chatbots, AI, and Machine Learning

AI and Machine Learning (ML) are global trends. Both of them open new opportunities in a variety of technological spheres letting developers concentrate on the creative side of their job. Chatbot technology is one of the most popular examples of AI and ML cooperation. 

![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/tgbsdeztibxxrfd4y5gc.jpg)

Due to the technological advancement of AI, the number of chatbots has significantly increased. According to the [statistics] (https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/chatbot-statistics/#gref), 80% of the companies will use chatbots by the end of 2020. Chatbots offload human CSRs answering basic queries. Moreover, they help businesses to cut expenses on customer services.

PHP is tailor-made for developing chatbots as it is an open-source programming language. One of the most popular PHP frameworks used for that reason is botman.io. It asks you to form questions that may be asked by customers and then gives predetermined answers.
Although some users are still prejudiced against chatbots, with the development of AI those interactive agents are becoming “smarter” and learning to deliver personalized customer experience.

##Cloud Integration

According to [Canalys] (https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/global-cloud-market-Q3-2019), the global cloud infrastructure market has grown 37% to reach $27,5 billion. What is more surprising, around 70% of companies use cloud services due to their high security and improved flexibility. According to the recent data, 78,9% of websites use PHP and Cloud to get all the benefits from working with both of them. Cloud integration is going to gain even more popularity in PHP creating secure, highly-scalable, and cost-cutting solutions for web development.

##User Interface

User Interface (UI) deserves special attention in web development as it is a key element to the company’s success. Poor and inefficient UI leads to the loss of customers and project failure.
PHP programming language provides developers with a wide range of frameworks, which, in turn, offer a big choice of solutions and tools to build responsive and user-friendly interfaces thus improving customer experience and providing better user engagement.

##IoT

![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/fp0dncdmzuzkg5y9ge6b.jpg)

IoT is a rapidly developing technology. According to [statistics] (https://www.loriot.io/blog/IoT-trends-2020.html#:~:text=10%20relevant%20IoT%20trends%20in%202020.&text=In%20fact%2C%20according%20to%20IoT,as%20its%20penetration%20within%20companies), IoT devices reached 9,5 billion in 2019. PHP as a dynamic language is well-suited for supporting IoT. Moreover, PHP frameworks provide [IoT] (https://scand.com/industries/iot/) with exceptional tools for highly-effective solutions.

##Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity improvement is an important trend nowadays as many people store their information on the web. Thus, it is crucial to add robust security features to websites and web applications. 
PHP tools offer strong cybersecurity mechanisms that can protect a website or an app from hacker attacks. There are different PHP frameworks focusing on security issues such as Phalcon or Codelgniter.

##Conclusion

It is important to be aware of the latest innovations in order to provide users with advanced technologies and to stay on the top of the market competition.

PHP attracts many developers as an open-source programming language. With the help of new technologies, PHP is achieving new market standards and offers developers cutting-edge solutions for highly-efficient work.