And just like that, we’ve entered the year 2023! Do you know what that means? It’s time to brush up on your web development best practices.
The web development industry is constantly evolving, and keeping up with the streaming, social media trends, and online shopping behavior of users all over the globe means your website needs to keep up. In Spain alone, online users could never go a month without ordering something online.
In this post, we’ve compiled this list of 8 web development best practices to help you stay ahead of the game in 2023!
1. Dark Mode Becomes a Standard Feature
From reducing eye strain and saving battery life to preferences around aesthetics, having a dark theme option on your website’s user interface is now expected in 2023.
To optimize user experience, major social websites like Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube have all integrated dark mode. This is used in web development to allow users to customize their personal settings depending on preference or device capabilities.
So when you upgrade your website, especially business websites, this year, remind your web developer that every customer desires a completely tailored online journey. By mastering website customization, your visitors will be sure to get the best out of their experience with you!
How to do it?
Here’s an overview of one common method to integrate dark mode:
1. Create a new CSS file specifically for dark mode, or add the dark mode styles to your existing CSS file as a separate section.
2. Add a button or toggle to your website’s interface that allows users to switch between light and dark modes. This can be as simple as a button that toggles a class on the <body> element of your HTML document.
3. Use JavaScript to toggle the class on the <body> element when the button is clicked and update the prefers-color-scheme media query depending on the selection of the user.
4. Use CSS media queries to apply the appropriate CSS styles depending on the user’s preference, and you can use @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {} to apply the styles for dark mode when the user has set their device to use a dark color scheme
2. Mobile-First Development Practice Remains Unbeatable
Practicing a mobile-first development approach is a must in 2023. It’s all about putting mobile users first when building a website or web app. So, instead of starting with a desktop version and then shrinking it down for a mobile app, you create a mobile device version first.
These days, a large portion of internet traffic comes from devices such as smartphones and tablets. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that your website or web app is mobile-friendly.
How to do it?
To effectively practice a mobile app development approach, web developers need to think about the user experience on mobile devices. Here are a few tips to help you get started:
- Design your website for mobile users early in the planning stages. Keeping your web pages simple and free of superfluous elements is essential to ensuring a smooth, speedy user experience.
- Optimize your website for page speed. This can be done by using compression, condensing the writing code, and optimizing images.
- Test your website or web app on multiple devices to ensure there are no bugs. Make sure it works as intended, and all elements look good on different screen sizes.
3. Page Speed is King
In the age of faster bandwidth and powerful hardware, page speed remains one of the most important factors for a successful website or web app.
In 2023, users are pressed for time and expect web pages to load near-instantaneously. As previous research from Portent concluded, the first five seconds of page-load time have an immense influence on whether or not a user will convert. If it doesn’t meet those standards, they’ll move on to another site without hesitation!
How to do it?
The web development practices for optimized page speed are:
- Compress any images and videos to reduce their size.
- Minify your code, scripts, and style sheets to make them as small as possible.
- Enable caching so that resources are not requested multiple times during a single page load.
- Use content delivery networks (CDN) to serve content from servers closer to your users.
- Monitor page speed and performance regularly to identify any potential issues.
4. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) Are Steadily Gaining Popularity
PWAs are not new in the game, and any professional web developer knows this. However, they are gaining more attention in website development due to their advantages over traditional websites and native apps.
These web apps combine the best of both worlds by providing a website-like experience that can be accessed in a browser but with offline capabilities and faster loading times than a typical website.
Search engines are also providing incentives for website pages that are optimized for short loading times. So, if you want to improve your web development game this 2023, it’s worth exploring PWAs as a solution for your web projects.
How to do it?
To create a PWA:
- Develop a web page using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that provides the desired functionality.
- Create a web app manifest to configure the app icon, start URL, display mode, and other settings
- Implement service workers to handle offline functionality, push notifications, and other features that are typical to native apps.
- Register the service worker.
- Ensure your PWA is served over HTTPS.
- Use browser’s API like ‘Fetch,’ ‘Cache,’ and ‘Notification’ for offline support and poor network
- Test on multiple devices and browsers and check for compliance with PWA guidelines.
- Use tooling like Lighthouse to check PWA standards.
5. AI-Powered Chatbots are the Future of User Interactions
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the future innovation we will see more of in 2023. AI-powered chatbots are becoming more sophisticated and intelligent. Major companies are using it to provide 24/7 customer service and collect data to understand customer intent.
AI chatbots are capable of understanding natural language processing (NLP) and identifying keywords or phrases to provide users with the information they are looking for. With the help of Machine Learning (ML), these bots can be trained to improve their understanding and accuracy over time.
How to do it?
To integrate an AI chatbot into your website, you can choose from the following methods:
- Use a Chatbot Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provider to train, configure and deploy your chatbot and add their web widget or code snippet to your website.
- Create a custom chatbot using programming languages like Python, JavaScript, or Java, and integrate using a web widget or API.
- Use a no-code chatbot platform that allows you to create and deploy a chatbot without writing any code.
- Use a Chatbot SDK provided by companies like Facebook, Twilio, and Kommunicate to integrate their chatbot with your website.
6. Voice Search Optimization Will Be Crucial
According to Hootsuite’s report, 22.5% of all internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 use a voice assistant. With young Generation Z shoppers using voice search to find products and services, companies will need to optimize their content or retail website for voice search if they want to remain competitive.
Typing in queries will take a backseat as people start talking to their devices more. We won’t be surprised if voice search becomes one of the web standards. But, for now, 2023 is a time for you to get ahead of the game and ensure their content is optimized for voice search.
How to do it?
Integrating voice search optimization in your web page requires creating content that answers users’ questions. For this, you should:
1. Use natural language and target long-tail keywords: Use natural, conversational language in your website’s content, and make sure to include long-tail keywords that match the way people speak when using voice search.
2. Optimize for featured snippets: Featured snippets are the answer boxes that appear at the top of search results, and they are often used to answer voice search queries.
3. Optimize for local search: Optimize your website’s content with location-based keywords and ensure that you have a Google My Business listing.
7. Serverless Architecture Will Dominate
Mention serverless technology to any web developer, and you will get an enthusiastic nod. Serverless architecture is a cloud computing execution model that allows users to write and run code without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure.
In 2023, it is expected that the majority of websites will be built on serverless architecture, allowing web developers to focus more time and resources on building features rather than managing servers.
Check out our blog about it here: How Serverless Hosting Providers Help Scale Your Apps
How to do it?
To leverage serverless architecture, you can do the following:
1. Use a serverless platform: Platforms like AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions allow you to build and run your application’s back-end code in a serverless environment.
2. Use a serverless database: Services like AWS DynamoDB, Azure Cosmos DB, and Google Cloud Firestore allow you to create and operate a NoSQL database without having to provision or manage servers.
3. Use a serverless front-end web framework: Frameworks like AWS Amplify and Firebase can help you develop serverless web applications.
8. The Rise of Parallax Scrolling
Parallax scrolling is a cool web design trick that gives a website a sense of depth and movement. It’s like watching a movie, where the background moves slower than the foreground, creating a 3D-like effect as you scroll down the page.
But it’s not all rainbows and unicorns; too much parallax scrolling can slow down the website and make it less accessible. Plus, it doesn’t work well on all devices and browsers. So, while it’s great to make a website stand out and add some personality, consider using it sparingly to ensure it doesn’t get in the way of a smooth browsing experience.
With evolving web development technologies, however, we expect more websites to start using it in 2023.
How to do it?
To add parallax scrolling to your website, you could:
1. Use JavaScript Libraries: There are several JavaScript libraries, such as Skrollr, Stellar.js, and Jarallax, that can be used to add parallax scrolling to a website.
2. Use CSS: It’s also possible to create parallax scrolling effects using CSS. With CSS, you can create a parallax scrolling effect by using the background-attachment property and the background-position property to specify the different elements on the website and the speeds at which they should move.
Let’s Optimize Your Web Apps this 2023!
We are living in a modern world where web development is constantly evolving. With the rise of new trends and technologies this 2023, we can expect to see some amazing websites and apps.
At StarTechUP, we offer web application development services to help you stay ahead of the curve. We combine the latest technologies and best web development practices
to create robust, secure web applications that will meet your business needs and provide an unmatched user experience.
So, if you’re looking for a partner to help you optimize your web application this 2023, book a FREE consultation with us to get started!
