The Top Front End Development Trends For Web Developers

By Author: olivia cuthbert
Total Articles: 12
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In recent years, front-end development has been booming as more and more web developers decide to make this area of expertise their specialty. This trend doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, which means it’s even more important for other web developers to be aware of the latest front-end development trends so they can better accommodate their clients’ needs and contribute their share to the future developments in this field. In this article, we’ll look at the top front-end development trends that have been making headlines over the past year, as well as what you can expect from them and beyond.

1| GraphQL

A top front-end development trend in 2018 is GraphQL. This open-source query language was developed by Facebook and has quickly become a staple tool in most web developers' toolboxes. On an API level, GraphQL offers a way to request data without having to know exactly what that data looks like beforehand. This allows you to modify your app or service at any time and avoid breaking older, outdated code that relies on older data models. Many major companies including Twitter, Yelp, ...
... Pinterest, and Intuit have implemented GraphQL with great success and it's likely we'll continue to see more sites and apps implement it over time.

2| Progressive Web Apps

Progressive web apps are applications that use modern browser features to provide an app-like experience on mobile devices. By building progressive web apps, developers can deliver more interactive and engaging content, while providing more value to users. Most importantly, developing PWAs will help grow your user base by making your website easier to access across multiple devices. Progressive web apps are expected to be a huge trend in 2018 so if you haven’t started planning for them yet, now is a good time to get started!

3| Mobile Sites

When it comes to web development, you simply can’t ignore mobile anymore. With nearly two billion smartphone users worldwide, now is the time to consider how your company will adapt its strategy and approach in order to reach customers where they are. You could start by developing a mobile-friendly version of your website so visitors don’t have to pinch and zoom their way around your desktop site on their smartphones. If you decide not to invest in a separate mobile site, at least make sure that you’re using proper responsive design techniques—and avoid hogging all of a visitor’s screen real estate with oversized menus or images.

4| CSS Grid

CSS Grid Layout is a way to define webpage layouts in CSS instead of in HTML. It's an incredibly powerful tool that allows us to create responsive layouts in a modular, organized way—and it’s supported by all major browsers except IE11. So what can you do with CSS Grid Layout? The short answer is that anything you can do with flexbox, you can also do with CSS Grid Layout. Since both properties are so similar, many people don't see why they need both. But because of how flexible the CSS grid is, it'll likely become an essential part of every web developer's toolkit. Let's take a closer look at why!

5| Facilitate Headless Architecture

Search engines crawlers don’t need a visual interface, so taking away a site’s interface will make it crawlable to search engines. With a few small changes, you can make sure search engine crawlers know what your content is about. In fact, it might be easier to design websites that are search-friendly from day one by building them from frontend development—which may be easier said than done. If you’re going to keep up with users and meet their needs in 2018 and beyond, now is as good of a time as any to examine all aspects of your website and update as needed. By focusing on a more front-end development strategy, you could build better experiences for users and strengthen your business at once!

6| Material Design

You’ve no doubt heard that responsive design is on its way out. There are just too many mobile devices in circulation—and by 2019, it’s estimated that nearly 80% of consumers will have access to mobile devices. From smartphones to tablets to smartwatches, there are more ways than ever before to connect with your audience. For developers, one of their biggest challenges is creating sites and apps that work properly across all these different viewing platforms. Overwhelming, right? Don’t worry; here are some best practices for working with multiple screen sizes

7| Use Micro Frontend Architecture

The idea of a micro frontend is to break down your application into two different repositories: one that holds all of your CSS and JavaScript libraries, and another that holds all of your HTML templates. The benefit here is that you can upgrade or switch out parts of your frontend more easily. For example, if React ever breaks in a major way, you can keep using (and upgrading) its JS library in one repository while updating all of your HTML templates in another. Plus, when you’re ready to launch your product, you’ll only need to ship one codebase rather than dealing with dozens (or hundreds!) like most apps do today.

8| Opting for Static Web Portals

Static web portals like Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly are rising in popularity with developers because they create simple solutions. If you're working on a project where you simply need to build a website, having an expert create one for you is an attractive option. Because these websites are so simple to use, front-end development is very basic—but that doesn't mean these platforms aren't valuable assets. The number of available templates on some platforms is staggering and can be used by developers to learn more about dynamic website creation techniques without having to invest time in learning how to code them from scratch.

| Conclusion

In conclusion, frontend development is becoming more and more popular. It’s a great way to do business with users on mobile devices, while also making sure that sites function correctly on desktop machines. Not all browsers support each of these tools, so it’s a good idea to include a skip ad button so people can skip content if they can’t see it properly. The best thing about frontend development is how accessible everything has become. These days you don’t need any fancy equipment or deep technical know-how to learn how to build a site or add new features; anyone can get started learning right now. If you are looking for a frontend developer there are many frontend development companies that can help in developing frontend applications.