From building software to marketing, technology plays a very important role in the creation of great experiences for users. Creating services and products that remove friction is something companies continue to invest on. But, as you already know the web is pretty cluttered. With over 200 million active websites and 1.8 billion active web-apps, the only way to stand out from the crowd is creativity.

And to be creative, you most definitely need to stay on top of the latest technologies and trends.

1. Online Support/Chatbots

Who does not like instant support? This is why evolving the technology behind chatbots and online assistants is ever so important in the coming year. Chatbots and online assistants are available 24/7 and depending on how advanced they are they can address simple inquiries, point individuals to certain products and pages or even lead them straight to purchase.

As you can imagine, the ease that chatbots offer to site visitors, as well as the great opportunities for sales they bring to company owners, makes their development incremental.

2. Progressive Web Apps

What makes Progressive Web Apps so desirable among companies is the fact that they deliver an almost identical experience to mobile apps, even to users with low-spec smartphones without requiring a download from an app store. Plus they can operate on a low-bandwidth and when installed on the browser they can also be used without an internet connection.

As you can see, the new possibilities they offer are significant. This is why large companies such as Google, have already started employing them to their benefit. Take for example the Google Maps Progressive App for Android Go smartphones, that allows the user to use almost all basic functionalities that appear on the app.

Thus, Progressive Web Apps will be trending in 2020. The great thing is that they are less challenging to produce in terms of development and also they require close moment stacking.

3. Motion User Interface

As discussed above, companies are on the hunt for creative ways to make them stand out from the crowded web. Motion UI, the creation of animated user interfaces, will be a growing trend in the following year as it helps bring digital products to life. By doing so it creates a great user experience.

In terms of web development, motion UI is perceived as a fast-growing library since it allows developers to animate content (fonts, colors, space etc.) with ease even without a solid foundation in JS or jQuery library.

4. Responsive Web Design

It comes as a surprise that responsive design is still a trend and not web design and development fundamental. Nevertheless, in 2020 the responsive-first web development trend will rise as users expect to have a seamless and curated experience from the sites they visit frequently when they are on the go.

This means that now teams that built online products have to prioritize mobile experience over desktop when it comes to UI design, content format and add-ons such as plugins and widgets.

5. Voice Search

This trend does not come as a surprise. Digital voice assistants are becoming very popular and when people start to use them right, they will present countless opportunities. First of all, they are affordable, smartphones are already equipped with them and domestic smart speakers are not very costly. But most importantly they are easy to use which means that seniors will be able to interact with them without having to learn new tricks.

For all the above reasons, voice search has been a major trend in e-commerce web development but it can also be applied to all business websites. This means that companies who want to stay ahead of the game will aim to optimize their company websites for voice search.

Finally, the trends for web development in 2020 are expected to change the way people think about web development and will inspire developers to think outside the box and employ new technologies to build and deliver even better quality products.