What to Expect for 2019 Web Development Trends

2019 is here and already feels like it’s flying! Every year there seem to be new trends in the industry and it can be overwhelming to keep up with what’s projected to be the “new thing” this year. I’ve done some research and compiled 3 trends that we expect to see in 2019 from web development.

Responsive Design

This has been part of the web development world for quite some time now. Responsiveness, responsiveness, responsiveness – it’s all you here at industry meetings & conferences but why is it still the #1 thing we hear? Because it’s really important. To give you an idea of how important it truly is, in 2015 35% of web traffic was on a mobile device. In 2018, that number jumped up to 52.2% – that’s a 1.5x increase in just 3 years.

To add a further reason, Google is beginning to roll out mobile-first indexing. Search Engine Watch explains this update very well:

“Currently, Google looks at the desktop version of a site and then bases how it will rank the mobile site according to that information. Once this update rolls out, the opposite of that will happen. Google will begin looking at your mobile site and from that, will rank the desktop site.”

Web Accessibility

WCAG compliant websites are mandatory for many industries such as governmental entities, real estate, & many others but more and more business owners realize that having a compliance website positively affects them in more than one way. Developing with inclusive design in mind also improves overall SEO health & usually improves ranking in search engines. Not to mention, making their sites fully usable for 20% of the American population. In an interview with Laura Kalbag on Medium she sums up web accessibility nicely:

“I think it’s a perception that accessibility is hard to implement. Also not understanding how difficult our sites are to use when we don’t care. There are so many little things that add up that can make so many sites suddenly easier to use.”

Cybersecurity

This has likely been on your radar for a while as well. As phishing, spam-bots, & AI get more sophisticated it’s important to continue upgrading your security standards. Be it by implementing stronger passwords (upper & lower case letters, at least 2 symbols, and 1 number) & requiring two-factor authorization, or storing your most important data locally vs. on the cloud.

At Atilus, we’re always on the lookout for these trends & how to implement them in innovative ways. Are there any other development trends that you’re expecting to see this year? Let me know down in the comments!