Technology took the leap in the year 2017 and interactive chat bots started appearing on websites. Fueled by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, these chatbots would become more interactive and provide customized support to the users 24*7. The inclination of web developers towards Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and chatbots would continue to rise in 2018, providing better customer service and solving more complex problems. Many social media platforms, e-commerce sites, apps, and other business websites like Facebook, Google, Twitter etc., have already invested in chatbots. These top names would and drive the web developers of the world into using chatbots more efficiently in providing a more personalized experience to the users.
With voice assistants like Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google Now simplifying the customer experience online, the rise of voice user interface on websites is on the cards for 2018. Even the search engine giant, Google, has affirmed to the rising power of voice searches saying that 20% of the total searches have voice intent. A ComScore report even concluded that more than 50% of the total searches would be voice searches by the end of 2020. These statistics are acting as an eye-opener for the web developers. Websites with voice user-interface would be on the rise to cash out the increasing inclination of people towards the technology-driven voice assistants. Not just the interface, the content on the website would also be tweaked to attract the voice searches.
Mobile applications have shown their caliber in the online world and now it is time for web apps to come to the fore. Progressive web apps would be on the rise in 2018, providing better user experience to all the customers. These web apps offer the advantage of both website and application and are in high demand by the users in the present online environment. These web application offer benefits like faster loading time, offline working, push notifications, and reliability. Undoubtedly, PWAs would be on the minds of web developers throughout the year and see a number of tweaks for customization and personalization.
Blockchain is an ingenious development by Satoshi Nakamoto (the unidentified person or group behind the invention of bitcoin), initially developed for the digital currency, Bitcoin. This blockchain technology is now finding various other potential uses in the digital world. This technology enables the users to store their data in thousands of computers spread over different locations across the world. It would reduce the number of third-party intermediaries during transactions and enforce the trust of people by offering higher security and safety. Web developers would leverage the power of this technology and implement it in websites. Various banks and other organizations would be seen implementing blockchain technology in their website development for data storage and safer transactions.
Website development would return back to its roots and static websites would be seen on the rise in 2018. If you remember, static websites were the earlier website types that could not be changed without any professional developer’s aid. Soon technology advanced and website owners started taking website development services to make their websites dynamic. But 2018 would bring everyone back to square one as websites would go static once again. Most developers might be asking, ‘why a step-back in technology?’ and the answer is to simplify the user experience. However, these static sites would now be improved and advanced by static site generators. Static site generators would act like content management system and convert simple text into static websites. These websites generated with site generators offer higher speed and better performance.
