It’s not a secret that in the web development industry everything is changing rapidly. If you follow the new trends, then you’ve most likely witnessed the growth and fall of numerous technologies. However, the custom web development services trends in 2018 are those platforms, tools, and elements that have the greatest potential, popularity, and growth prospects.

Custom Web Development

Today we will talk about leading trends in website development services in 2018. Most of them have already gained recognition and have the greatest potential for growth. Include some of them on your site and your visitors will definitely appreciate it.

Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web App is a web-based application that works like a native mobile application. They collect the latest web technologies in a user-friendly form, which users can access at any time with the help of bookmarks or the browser extensions panel. Their main benefits are:

  • They do not require installation. Users can open the Progressive Web App in a browser by simply typing in the URL.
  • They support the latest standards and work in all modern browsers.
  • They do not depend on the network status. With pre-caching, Progressive Web App is available to users even in stand-alone mode.
  • It works like a native app, so users will spend much more time on your site.
  • They support HTTPS protocol, providing secure data transfer.

Thus, Progressive Web Apps are the golden middle between sites and mobile applications. They have collected all the best and bring you double benefits.

Motion UI — Animation and Transitions

This library allows you to instantly animate the user interface of your site using motion design. Working with Motion UI is not difficult. The library package includes a CSS file with ready-made effects, as well as files that allow you to create your own animations. The library allows users to move site elements (overlays, menus, etc.). In addition, you can use transition effects to create single CSS animations and even rows and groups of animations.

The features of Motion UI are its simplicity, flexibility and universal character.

  • First of all, Motion UI coding is easy to understand if you have a basic knowledge of CSS and JavaScript.
  • Secondly, Motion UI provides users with the ability to specify many parameters by which they can make animations work exactly as they want.
  • In addition, you, as users, can apply Motion transitions and animations to almost any element of your site, which ensures the superiority of this technology over other libraries.

Explore the possibilities of Motion UI to learn more about the abundance of transition effects that this library provides. Download the library and raise the user interface on your site to a new level.

SSL Protocol and HTTPS

Next year, we will see more green locks next to URLs, as the adoption of an SSL certificate will become the trend for any Web Development Company in 2018. Let’s find out what benefits they bring to you, the site owners.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is a technological know-how that gives an encrypted connection between the browser and the web server. This certificate ensures data integrity, encryption, and authentication. When your site uses SSL technology, you will see the “S” link added to http:// in the address bar, as well as the lock. Some SSL certificates also display your company name in green for better recognition.

Switching to an SSL certificate brings the following benefits:

  • it protects the users’ confidential information and allows them to make transactions without the risk of data loss
  • it allows you to exclude browser warnings that tell users that their data is not protected on your site
  • SSL increases the reputation of your business for search engines
  • Google gives priority to sites with HTTPS
  • SSL reduces the risk of phishing and other cyber attacks

In 2018 it makes sense to upgrade to an SSL certificate, even if your site does not handle confidential customer data. With HTTPS, you will at least be ranked higher for key queries than HTTP sites. Moreover, if you want to speed up mobile pages using Google AMP (see the following trend), you must first apply for an SSL certificate.

Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Currently, creating an AMP version of your site is a way to provide lightning fast performance on mobile devices. Accelerated mobile pages simplify coding and speed up downloading on smartphones by 10 times. Thus, the use of AMP allows you to reduce the time your page loads on mobile devices to less than 1 second.

The benefits are numerous.

  • Such an impressive page loading speed with AMP significantly reduces the denial rate.
  • Pages with optimized AMP pages look more natural on smaller screens, creating an attractive user interface.
  • AMP positively affects the ranking in Google search results. Currently, AMP is an indirect ranking factor that increases your results, improving the performance of mobile users and reducing the denial rate.
  • Google, Bing, and other search engines, as well as social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and others already present content with the help of AMP.

If Web Development Companies follow the modern trends, they will consider using the Google AMP project and create versions of AMP on the pages of their site. To do this, 3 major steps are needed:

  1. convert HTML to AMP HTML (simplified HTML), which recognizes AMP commands
  2. add JavaScript to the AMP, which simultaneously loads external resources
  3. run the AMP CDN, which provides next-generation caching for instant file delivery

It can be argued that accelerated mobile pages are not just a fashionable technology that needs to be followed. This is an opportunity for sites with high mobile traffic to attract more users. If you want to greet customers with lightning speed, the transition to AMP should be on your task list for 2018.

Now you know the main custom website development services trends for 2018. Which of them have the highest potential for promoting your business? Think carefully. Then, contact us, and we will provide custom web development services according to your business needs.