8 web app trends that you can’t miss in 2023

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2. Motion UI

Motion UI makes the app content look more dynamic and the interactions with the apps’ elements become way smoother.

Example: The Homey app by tubik for smart home configuration is an excellent example of a great motion user interface that guarantees a seamless experience and actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks to animations, app creators could visualize the changes users make in their smart homes configurations.

How to use motion UI?
I’ll share a secret with you: at Apptension, we use the combination of two tools to create animated UI: Bodymovin to export After Effects animations, and Lottie, an open-source library, to place them in the app. That’s a very convenient solution to enhance the look and feel of your app with animations.

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3. Augmented reality

AR and VR technologies have been here for a while already, but they are still not widely adopted due to the high cost, among others. However, the AR market grows year-to-year, and so does the number of potential users of these technologies that you can target with your app: in 2020, this number will reach 1.73 billion people. Thus, it is not an exaggeration to predict that more businesses will try to include AR functionalities in their web apps this year.

Example: Recently, we’ve discovered that AR and Healthtech are a match made in heaven! Long story short: we wanted to support hand surgeons with a convenient learning resource: an AR hand anatomy app. Learn more about the project here.

How to use augmented reality on the web?
Google offers a solution for creating immersive experiences on the web. Learn more and see a cool demo of what can be achieved when implementing AR on the web.

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4. Voice search

There is no doubt that voice assistants such as Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri are on the rise now, and this is just the beginning. It is projected that in 2020 there will be 4.08 billion devices with the voice assistant feature, and this number will almost double in 2023.

Due to the increasing number of smartphones, together with a rising accuracy of voice assistants, commands and web searches made by voice are becoming natural and prevalent. Businesses need to adapt to this significant shift to be able to respond to the new manner of interacting with content on the web.

Example:
See how companies such as Nespresso and Ford marked up their website content with structured data. This move allowed them to make their content eligible for the so-called rich results, and therefore, increased their presence on Google Search and enabled user interactions with their publications such as recipes, how-to-guides, and FAQs via voice search.

How to use voice search?
You can easily extend the functionality of your web application thanks to Actions, a development platform for Google Assistant, and provide your users with the unique experience of interacting with artificial intelligence. And if this seems a too big step for you, optimizing your website for voice search is always a good idea.

This way, you can outrun the competition in the searches made by voice. There are a billion of them every month—so you can see that the answer to the “it is worth it?” question is pretty clear.

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5. Accelerated mobile pages (AMP)

AMP pages load in about 2 seconds, in contrast with the non-AMP pages which load in 22 seconds.

In the current digital landscape where the speed of information exchange has become a crucial aspect for technological advancement, having your web pages snail around would cost you a lot more than just time. AMP has become one of the most important optimization factors for web apps and pages since its initial announcement in 2015.

Example: Thrillist, an online media brand covering food, drink and entertainment has seen a 70% increase in traffic, with 50% of that lift happening because of AMP. Needless to say, it's a great factor for improving your RoI with minimum investment. A detailed case study of the Thrillist experience with AMP can be found here.

How can you make accelerated mobile pages?

The first thing you should do after developing a web app is run it through a loading speed test. Things you can do to make it faster are, using compressed files to upload, getting rid of unnecessary codes and plug-in, dealing with 404 codes and using private servers.

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6. API-driven development

The recent trends with PWA development points toward web solutions being well connected to other applications. API development is mostly ignored when you're trying to get done making a web or mobile app. 

An API-first approach means putting design and development of an application programming interface before implementation. Customized apps should be built with an API-first approach to maximize the potential of your developers and make it easier for them to interact with the website.

Example: Some organizations launched as API-only businesses, like Twilio or Algolia, who are known for offering their services mostly as API. Twilio virtualized traditional telecom infrastructure allowing developers to remake any communications experience using APIs.

How can you use an API-first approach?

In an API-driven development you start with design, development, tests and mock-runs before getting started with the coding. Some commonly used softwares include API Blueprint and Swagger to get you started.

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7. Dark mode standardization 

The dark aesthetic trend continues to take over the world since last year and we expect it to grow through more platforms implementing its use. 

Visual designing makes it easy for users to browse the web app in dark themed mode, regardless of device. It will become the standard during 2023 as more and more web developers offer similar functionality to switch between light and dark modes.

Example: The hundreds of web apps already contain this feature because of its popularity and demand by the users themselve. All major online platforms have already made it the norm. You'll find more people using dark themes on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Google than using the default light ones. Even the recently released mobile phones have a built-in feature for switching all of its user interface to dark mode.

How can you integrate dark mode in your web?

There's a long list of guides to explain the process of implementing dark themes on your web apps. But here's a guide for geeks from geeks, just in case 

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8. Cybersecurity 

Cybersecurity - in simpler terms, protecting networks from information disclosure, theft, corruption, or disruption. It has become essential now more than ever, as more processes are automated and the risk of data theft increases. 

A more recent release in this field is the development of algorithms that protect users from phishing attacks. Another PWA trend in 2023 is IoT interaction protection and mobile security.

Example: Data protection regulations such as the European GDPR is yet another newfound development in cybersecurity. These new cybersecurity innovations make data sharing and management safer for everyone. 

How can you develop flawless cybersecurity?

Django and Ruby on Rails are softwares you can use to overcome major threats. Using strong encryption codes and technology to protect sensitive data as well as monitoring and analyzing suspicious activity will help you keep your web app safe.

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Have you found a trend that could benefit your web app? Looking for a technological partner that could help you with the implementation? Check out our web development expertise and get in touch if you feel like updating your web application!

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