The pace with which new sites appear rapidly increases year by year. If 10 years ago generally companies were not that much interested in their online presence, now this is one of the crucial components of success. Many businesses have already created their official pages or online stores, yet web development in 2018 will continue its growth.
Demand always creates supply. Today, the lion’s share of demand is represented on the Internet in a form of search queries. Hence, a better place to offer supply is where your target audience stays and searches information. Meanwhile, the size of a company doesn’t matter at all, as the most important is to be the first in your niche, and in 2018, also have a user-friendly, useful, and optimized site.
We have decided to ask the representatives of TOP Kyiv, Dnipro, and Kherson agencies that make really cool websites about the trends in web development in 2018. If you are only planning to launch a website, this article will help you to understand what to start from and take into account. If you have been promoting your resource for a long time, this material will be useful to understand what to expect from your future competitors.
Here is our list of questions to the market leaders:
- List the main trends in web development in 2018.
- Can you define functionality trends in web development?
- What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
- What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
- What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
- What technologies will be in trend in web development?
- Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
- Do websites really need mobile apps?
Igor, CEO of Impulse Design web studio (Kyiv)
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
Web development needs minimalism and a lot of space. Focus on UX and microinteractions.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
Videos, backgrounds, and dynamics of photos are the main trends in the development of functionality.
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
MODX offers maximum flexibility in everything. It’s ideal for SEO.
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
It’s still unreliable. There are many questions. It’s rather suitable for news resources and blogs.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
From learning terms.
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
Haptic feedback.
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
There are many of them. Each is good in its own right. Each has its pros and cons.
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
It depends on the specifics of a website. Some websites just don’t need apps. Yet app development will definitely grow.
Maksym Kachan, Linecore CEO (Kyiv)
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
We are sure that 2018 with be a year of creativity and bold decisions in web development. Mobile web will get even more attention. Due to increasing productivity of mobile devices and the fast mobile Internet (keeping fingers crossed for 4G in Ukraine), mobile sites will no longer be cut copies of their desktop versions. Google pays closer and closer attention to the mobile Internet. Also, the optimization of technologies, which will make mobile sites simpler and more functional, will continue.
As to the design in web development, after the refusal from Flash online, we saw some decline in animation and unusual solutions in design. But in recent years, frontend has been developing extremely fast, thus, there are fewer and fewer restrictions online. In 2018, we expect a boom in animation, 3D, unusual placement of blocks, extensive video usage, and motion design.
And don’t forget about VR and AR. These technologies will definitely get in with web design.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
In web development, VR & AR, Progressive Web Apps (PWA), AMP, voice interface, smart chatbots will be popular. An HTTPS protocol will become even more widespread. It will be used not only for online stores but also for ordinary websites.
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
For simple sites with typical functionality, I would recommend WordPress. Unless you use third party vulnerable plugins and templates, it’s an absolutely convenient and reliable system. You just have to know how to use it.
For websites with more complex functionality – ModX. This system has a good multifunctional framework which allows to complete quite big and difficult projects.
Also, we can recommend taking a closer look at October CMS. This is a system based on the popular and modern Laravel framework. It suits well for developing projects of above average complexity.
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
For information sites – definitely yes. If possible, we are planning to use AMP for e-commerce projects, as the volume of online purchases on mobile devices increases.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
We recommend web design newbies to imitate the best world studios and gradually develop their own style.
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
Everything related to frontend: Angular, ReactJS, and other modern JS frameworks. As to graphics, WebGL, Canvas, and a more extensive usage of SVG. From new products – VR, AR, PWA.
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
It’s hard to choose one site, as the notion of “best” is very subjective and depends on a specific question: “Based on what parameters and for what goals is it the best?”
I will probably indicate this one: https://www.awwwards.com/
It’s a good site to find inspiration and track trends.
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
It depends on the development of a project. Often, there is no need to design a separate mobile app, which copies the functionality of a website. All sites developed in our studio in 2017 were responsive. Tendencies gradually turn a site itself into a mobile app, which will be especially true if a PWA technology gains popularity.
However, mobile apps will be necessary when website functionality is insufficient for some specific needs. For example, to increase conversion or improve customer loyalty.
Andriy, My Master Technical Director (Kyiv)
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
Simplicity, a lot of “air”, minimalism, and ease of use.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
There are no trends in the development of functionality, as it is created for a certain task that has to be solved. Moreover, for almost any functionality, there are ready-made solutions or adjustable templates which can be used and easily adapted to your needs.
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
It’s impossible to choose one CMS. You always have to take into account the task a site has to solve (functionality, traffic load, speed, an opportunity for future development, simplicity, cost of implementation, support, etc).
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
I don’t think this technology is really promising. In the post-Soviet countries, it’s still unpopular. Its implementation leads to many complexities. Some functions of a site may stop working and copyright issues arise (Google shows content from its caсhe instead of directing to your website). Usually, the optimization of a website is a much simpler way to improve its sensitivity.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
Start from choosing what you like and engage in it.
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
If to look 3 years ahead, the web development industry will have a great demand for templates, website builders, and SaaS solutions. There will be a closer integration of social networks and sites. Personal content marketing will also develop. A classic SEO will no longer exist, as a behavioral indicator will be the most critical for ranking. Systems of end-to-end analytics will be developed and widely used, allowing to make advertising more precise and measure its effectiveness more easily. They are also used now but will become more accessible.
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
There is no best website and it cannot exist. Every site is created based on one’s needs and tasks. What is good for one site can be harmful to another. For example, wow animation works well for sites focused on brand-building but it has worse results for news sites, blogs, and online stores. Speed and great load capacity are important only for sites with high traffic. Simplicity and minimalism are also crucial only when they are applicable and relevant.
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
99% of websites don’t. What for? If a web resource is popular, for example, a news site or a service to pay bills, book tables etc, then, of course, it needs an app.
Denys Griga, Delfin Studio CMO, (Kharkiv-Kyiv)
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
In the development of websites, it’s definitely minimalism, the dominance of graphic content over textual, infographics.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
Development depends on the type of a web resource we’re talking about. If it’s a corporate site, then simplicity, a retreat from the abundance of text, lead forms, and optimization of the lead generation process are trendy. As to online stores, there will be an accent on UX.
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
About a CMS for development. OpenCart has one foot in the grave thanks to the kicks from Woocommerce and Magento. Firstly, they are easier to administer. Secondly, it is more convenient to use them for promotion. WordPress is still on top.
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
Definitely, yes. Not many use this technology, including us. But it’s temporarily. It is sure to win in the future.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
Start with yourself. And don’t go into design – the market is oversaturated.
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
The question is incorrect. If to talk about a CMS, then yes, WP and Magento will be dominating on the market. As to more complex development, new frameworks appear almost every day, so it’s difficult to predict trends.
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
Recently, I came across uglerod.ru and was very surprised that it’s the website of a plant (a plant! Can you believe?). Everything is trendy: canvas animation, parallaxes, an interesting menu. The only problem is that it’s not really user-friendly. Actually, it’s not user-friendly at all.
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
Absolutely no, unless it’s a big service for basic needs. Responsive design is developing, but AMP will soon supersede it, and apps will no longer be used as a standard web solution.
Vladyslav, Paradigma Account Manager (Kyiv-Kherson)
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
Today in web development, a flat minimalist design is in trend. However, in last few years a small volume (thanks to object shadows) was also very popular. In 2017, bright colors, shadow gradients, background video, and small animation of objects were trendy.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
Simplicity and ease of use.
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
WordPress is the most popular and convenient. It has a lot of chargeable and free plugins. A lot of documentation. It is constantly improved.
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
It’s a trend of Google. You need to use it. It is oriented towards mobile devices the number of which increases year by year.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
Learn the basics. Then go to modern tendencies. You need to know the fundamentals of sitebuilding but keep up with the times.
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
Here it’s better to ask Google developers. They are basically the ones who dictate terms and define the direction))
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
There are a lot of good websites, moreover, of different types and directions. It’s difficult to choose one from thousands. There are many examples on https://www.awwwards.com. You can find real masterpieces here)
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
It depends on a project. Simple, small projects don’t need apps. App development makes sense when the project is large, with a lot of information (for example, a portal or a store).
Ilya Bakhvalov, VIS-A-VIS Commercial Director (Kyiv)
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
Web design becomes more user-friendly. Yet at the same time, a website must be not only appealing but has to provoke users to do certain actions. Hence, designers start using the following techniques more often.
On the one hand, it’s a minimalist style, the use of negative space. Since a clear white background doesn’t distract and accentuates crucial elements.
On the other hand, a burst of colors, unusual combinations and gradients, bright graphics, and high-quality photos are trendy. Such solutions allow you to focus users’ attention on a site and motivate them to take an action.
In graphics, geometric shapes and patterns are often used. This tendency is gathering pace. 3D graphics are also becoming increasingly popular.
In 2018, full-screen videos, GIF images, cinemagraphs that attract attention and make a page more vivid will be in trend.
Animation and microinteractions in web development are gaining popularity. They help to guide a user, draw one’s attention to a certain section, and – what’s important – take a decision.
In web design, large headlines and colorful, unique, artistic fonts will be trendy. Fonts have a great influence on the perception of information and are increasingly often used as the main graphic element.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
Sites are more often becoming an effective business tool. Almost for every project, it’s necessary to set two-way data integration with external systems (CRM, ERP, 1C etc.), so you have to consider these factors during the development. Also, modern sites are increasingly used as interactive platforms for improving communication with users. Different contact forms, calculators of services, a system of product filtering and sorting are in trend. Customers become more demanding to the implementation of a search module on a site (For example, Elasticsearch).
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
We recommend developing on PHP framework Laravel. Since 2013, Laravel has been recognized as the best and most popular framework in the world.
Its benefits:
- The syntax is easier and more elegant than the competitors’.
- Taylor Otwell (the creator of Laravel) took the best from the existing PHP frameworks as well as Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET MVC, Sinatra, and created the framework that solves developers’ routine tasks with maximum ease.
- Laravel is a full-stack solution for both back-end and front-end developers. For front-end, there are Webpack built box compiling asset Laravel Mix and JS framework Vue.
- Packages (extensions). This option has allowed us to create packages for our needs. Currently, we have around 15 packages that solve typical tasks. Even our CMS is in the form of a package that can be updated by one team in case of new updates. There are also hundreds or perhaps thousands of ready-made packages created by developers from the whole world, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time an unusual task arises. Most likely, someone has already written the needed package.
- The integrated unit testing system PHPUnit, which makes our sites more secure.
- Great documentation and https://laracasts.com/ site. This is a good website for learning, which will be useful for both beginners and advanced developers.
- Security. It’s extremely difficult to get unauthorized access to a database. A high level of security guarantees reliable protection from SQL injection and XSS or CSRF attacks.
- Always in trend. It uses the latest PHP functionality (closures, namespace, etc.), ensuring better efficiency. The 5.5 version already has default PHP7.
- Eloquent ORM. Very simple and functional ORM based on the ActiveRecord pattern.
- Big community. A solution to any problem can be easily found in Google.
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
AMP has been popular in web development for a long time. Thanks to this technology, a mobile user gets a simpler version of a page – only the main content. AMPs are easier and faster to load, hence they have a better Google ranking. These are accelerated mobile pages for quick loading, suitable for news sites, portals, and blogs. And that’s what is important for SEO. This technology is more popular among customer companies in the Western market as it’s quite costly.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
Nothing changes here. Everything the same: take special courses, read more (books, articles, the Internet). Taking into account that technology develops in a geometric progression, this will be always relevant. And, of course, there should be a lot of practice, sometimes even voluntary.
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
PHP7, Laravel, VueJs, SPA.
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
I will use a website we created for our customer as an example – www.mafia.ua. The best site is the one that completes the required business goals and tasks. After we have launched an updated site, desktop and especially mobile conversion has considerably increased. The results were better than KPIs, hence this site can definitely be considered the best example.
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
If an app will use particular features of mobile devices instead of repeating the functionality of a site, then yes. If it’s only a mobile copy of the site, there is no need to have it.
Oleksandr Sudakov, Geniustudio CEO (Kyiv)
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
Minimalism, a web development trend of 2016, still remains popular. And it’s logical, as today not only a nice design is trendy but also a convenient site with appealing content.
As to design specialties of 2018, I think modular layouts, typography, cinemagraphs, geometric shapes will be popular.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
Bots continue to be actively implemented. They greatly facilitate a user-company interaction making it fast and always available.
Gamification of web projects. This attracts users’ interest and improves their loyalty.
Personalization of content through the identification of users and their location.
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
For those who start projects in our region, we recommend Bitrix. Don’t read Internet reviews, as almost all of them are written by end-customers who expect from Bitrix the functionality of Visual Composer. To work with this system, a developer must be highly qualified. At the same time, the development must adhere only to the methodology of the system.
Briefly about its advantages:
- It is perfectly suitable for high-load systems;
- If properly developed, it offers easy scalability of projects.
- It has extensive functionality. Not only the one needed to manage a site, advertising, and logistics but also advanced system settings for improved productivity, security, personalization of content, and many other cool things.
It is suitable for many types of projects (for example, blogs, online stores, corporate sites, portals).
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
For information sites, it’s a wow. For online stores and projects with pretty dynamic content, time will tell.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
Step-by-step instructions:
- Define what tasks and goals of a company/its owner, a product/a service and an end-user a site must complete;
- Set internal business processes;
- Study your competitors;
- Prepare a description of the project you need to develop but leave the technical part for professionals.
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
We bet a lot on a blockchain technology. I’m not sure when, in 2018 or later, but it will definitely be blockchain. It will enter web development. It’s just a matter of time.
And, of course, PHP 7, which isn’t really new, but many projects still aren’t migrated to it.
Also, a new framework Vue is developed, which has entered the battle with React and is really promising. It allows to create a user interface and gradually implement it. First of all, it is used to solve tasks of a presentation layer (view).
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
I won’t give examples of sites with good design, as there are many of them.
because-recollection.com – It’s a great example of gamification. I think many have seen it at least once.
ozon.ru – Regardless of how much it is criticized, the structure for such a big project is really great.
imperia.rsb.ru – It’s a good example of a premium site.
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
For service-oriented projects, this has long been a must-have. Apps significantly increase customers’ loyalty to a brand.
But it isn’t worth making a mobile app just to have it. First of all, you should define what you need it for and how to convince customers to use it.
Yurii Tokar, Webtris Digital Agency Web Developer
1. List the main trends in web development in 2018.
Motion design becomes increasingly popular in web development. I believe there will be much more animation, as it attracts attention and is really catchy if used properly.
2. Can you define functionality trends in web development?
I think that in 2018, web apps for different tasks will be actively implemented.
3. What CMSs would you recommend for launching a website? Why?
Everything depends on goals and tasks. Some communities treated landing on pure HTML as something excessive or argued against deploying a heavy CMS for one page (it’s 2018 outside!). Any self-respecting web developer deployed a massive environment to create an SPA on React.js or Vue.js regardless of whether it was a landing or a business card website. I think that WordPress will never go out of fashion, as it has gained its foothold worldwide and is great for the majority of simple tasks. As to e-commerce, everything was made up a long ago. And when you develop a customized online store for a customer from scratch, it’s a waste of time and their money. Anyway, you will get something similar to Bitrix or OpenCart. It’s more reasonable to use ready-made solutions and platforms like MODx or least SaaS.
4. What do you think about AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a site?
Definitely yes! And it doesn’t matter whether it is an information or e-commerce site.
5. What will you recommend for newbies? Where to start from?
Don’t get hung up and always try something new!
6. What technologies will be in trend in web development?
As it was already mentioned, React / Angular / Vue are trendy in web development of 2018. The reason is that developers (especially those who want to be well-paid) need to turn their skills and knowledge into completed projects. Moreover, these technologies allow a simpler and faster development of projects.
7. Provide an example of the best site in your opinion. Why?
https://meduza.io — Simple, fast, and easy.
8. Do websites really need mobile apps?
Currently, using React Native (or Ionic) you can easily port a web app (both a landing and a store) to a cross-platform mobile app, and it will work equally on iOS and Android. This is much cheaper and faster than developing a mobile app for a site for each of the platforms.
Conclusion
The development of a site is a necessity of modern business. Moreover, a site is the face of a company and the business card of its manager. The extent to which the site is interesting, convenient, and understandable says a lot about a business approach. Hence, when you decide to create a site, think over all details beforehand, starting from a company that will develop it, up to the functionality and content of the web resource.
Also, you may be eager to know what trends in the development of online stores and web promotion will be leading in 2018. Learn about this from the following publications:
