11 Web Development Trends to Expect in 2023, According to Experts & Data

Harikrishna Kundariya
Harikrishna Kundariya

Published:

In 1983, the  internet was born . Now, there are more than  1.58 billion websites and approximately 5 billion daily users  on the internet. As the internet has evolved, so have web development trends. As a website owner, keep an eye on web development trends so you can enact changes that incorporate new best practices. And the stakes are high — failing to keep up with recent trends can seriously affect your  website performance  and user experience. 

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In this post, we'll take a closer look at the top website development trends you can expect to dominate in 2023. 

You might be surprised to notice that many web development trends already exist. They'll become more prevalent in the coming years, so adapting these best practices is more critical than ever. Let's take a look.

1. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

While  progressive web apps (PWAs)  aren't new, their latest iteration will replace  web apps  for good. PWAs help websites load in no time and work offline in apps like Google Maps. Companies including Starbucks, Uber, Pinterest, and Twitter use PWAs for an improved  user experience  — and in 2023, many more organizations will begin to catch on.

Web Development Trends: Starbucks progressive web app ushered in trend of PWAsImage Source

In the second quarter of 2022,  over 58% of International web traffic was from mobile  — not including tablets. With the increased usage of smartphones and tablets to perform various online tasks, it has never been more essential to revamp web applications into PWAs.

In addition to providing unmatched user experience, PWAs offer additional benefits such as reduced website development costs and seamless maintenance for the provider. Plus, they visually look and act like a regular web page. 

In 2023,  HTML , CSS, JavaScript, React, WebAssembly, or Angular will be used to write PWAs.

2. AI Chatbots

In 2023,  AI chatbots  will become even more sophisticated to meet users' needs. To achieve this, bots will more efficiently match user behavior by leveraging machine learning, natural language processing, and information retrieval techniques.

HubSpot embraces the website development trend AI chatbot

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Besides assisting companies in performing faster operations using voice or text chats, AI-enabled chatbots also help  improve customer experience . You can use an AI chatbot to collect data, answer frequently asked questions, and solve other issues. The result is a seamless digital experience for customers to enjoy. 

Many prominent B2C companies already serve their customers with AI chatbots. According to Forbes,  marketers' use of AI increased by 190% between 2018 and 2020 , with many functioning within Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and Skype, instead of standard chatbots. Expect to see AI chatbots gain even more momentum in 2023. 

3. Accelerated Mobile Pages

Almost 70% of consumers  indicated that page speed impacts their decision to purchase from an online seller, according to Unbounce. In other words, you should not ignore your site's speed. That's where accelerated mobile pages come into the picture.

First launched by Google in 2015, the accelerated mobile page (AMP) provides mobile users with lightning-fast digital experiences. In addition to offering seamless user experiences and decreasing bounce rates,  Google's AMP>  may improve core business metrics. These metrics could even be as important as the  number of conversions on web pages.

Web Development Trends: AMP logo

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While AMP usage has been trending slightly down  since 2020, it remains the  most popular mobile technology used worldwide , used on 35% of websites that implement mobile technologies and over half of the most popular 10,000 websites.

4. Single-Page Applications

Considered one of the most significant recent trends in web development, single-page applications (SPAs) are JavaScript-based web applications that load a single HTML page in a visitor's browser and dynamically update content as needed without refreshing the page.

The development community and Google, Facebook, and Twitter have widely adopted SPAs. Because users can use a website without loading an entirely new page from the server, the overall performance is much better. While more effort is involved in maintaining SPAs, it could be well worth the tradeoff.

Besides being cost-effective and relatively easy to create thanks to the popular  AngularJS framework , SPAs consume less server space and efficiently provide users' information on a single page without needing to navigate around. These benefits make SPAs a win-win for developers and site visitors alike.

As online consumers expect faster and simpler app experiences, we can expect the SPA trend to continue in the coming year. 

5. Optimized Voice Search

First introduced by Google in 2011, voice search is rapidly rising in popularity. Intelligent virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri showed unprecedented market growth in 2019 and are forecasted to continue to grow rapidly, according to  an analysis by Grand View Research

According to Google , 27% of individuals use voice search on mobile devices. A  Microsoft study reveals  that 72% of users have used a digital assistant within the last six months. 

Web Development Trends: Voice search icon on Google homepage

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More tech giants are entering the market or creating new products, like Google Home and Apple HomePod, to meet consumer demand.   More than half of adults in the United States  have a smart home device, too. As a result, voice search is poised to become more relevant than ever. 

Consumers are not only using smart speakers to conduct voice searches; they're also using their smartphones and IoT devices. In other words, voice search results will start ranking higher and more frequently on search engine results pages. So, companies will be working on optimizing their products and their content strategy for voice search in 2023. 

6. WordPress Development

The  WordPress CMS powers over 40% of all websites , and a significant presence demands attention. An open-source platform, WordPress continually adds more features to meet users' needs. There are plenty of WordPress-specific web development trends, and it's worth diving into them. 

WordPress is expected to get a facelift in the new year in various ways. For instance, a new navigation structure will enable a more straightforward user experience. This rework aims to bring together the post editor and the template experiences — which are currently siloed. WordPress is also offering new design tools to bring your site to life.

7. Motion UI

Today's consumers don't only expect faster and mobile-friendly digital experiences — they also want richer and more interactive ones.

That's one reason Motion UI has become so popular. Motion UI is a front-end framework that enables developers to build fully responsive websites and mobile applications and to use predefined motions within a native app setting. Using this framework, you can make an element slide, spin, bounce, transition, and more.

Web development trend: Landing page of Motion UI, a website development trend in 2021

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Motion UI also scores points because it's compatible with all web technologies and can be added anywhere on a website. Some popular places to implement Motion UI include the header, footer, and menus. Though this framework gained momentum in 2018, it has become more accessible thanks to the SASS libraries' technology, making it one of the leading web development trends in 2023.

8. Serverless Architecture

There has been an ongoing search for technology that helps to reduce system overloading, data loss, and development costs. Enter: Serverless technology.

Serverless architecture runs on cloud technology which allows users to run code for virtually any type of application or backend service with no administration. No provisioning, managing, or upgrading servers is necessary. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are the leading examples of companies using and providing serverless architecture.

AWS lamda

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As of 2022,  the serverless architecture market is valued at $36.84 billion. That means we can expect more companies to enter this market in 2023 and beyond.

We'll also see more products — including chatbots, IoT apps, and APIs — using  serverless functions  to perform tasks like downloading file backups, delivering notifications, and exporting objects.

9. Responsive Site Design 

Responsive design has never been quite so crucial. As mentioned, mobile devices account for over58%of web traffic worldwide. Plus,  nearly three-quarters of global ecommerce sales are completed on mobile . From these stats, it's clear that taking a mobile-first approach to web development has become essential.

Of course, many developers have taken this approach for years. But what being "mobile-friendly" really means is constantly fluctuating. In 2023 it means using geolocation data to deliver highly personalized experiences to users, offering one-click ordering on ecommerce apps, and incorporating biometric authentication like fingerprint scanning or voice recognition, among other trends. The result of implementing responsive design is multifaceted — your visitors will enjoy a more seamless user experience, plus it will help enhance brand reputation. 

10. Dark Mode Standardization

In recent years, dark and low-light websites have gained popularity. 2023 will continue to see websites and apps offering dark mode  user interfaces (UIs) , as studies have found that  at least 8 in 10 users prefer to use dark mode whenever possible .

Facebook and Twitter have already implemented this feature. These apps provide an easy option to toggle between the two modes, depending on the reader's preference or system settings.  Mastering website personalization  is essential as visitors expect a completely customized experience, so be sure you deliver on that promise. 

Web development trend: Facebook offers toggle button for dark mode, which will be a huge website development trend in 2021

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As more web developers provide a similar built-in feature to switch between light and dark modes, this will become the standard in 2023 and beyond. It may even become the de facto default for applications.

11. Improved Native Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity  — which refers to the practice of securing data, networks, and computers from misuse — is one of the most critical concerns of 2023. Every company, no matter its size, is vulnerable. For example, in June 2021,  hackers scraped the accounts of 700 million LinkedIn users  to acquire personal information, including full names, emails, and phone numbers.

According to CDN provider Cloudflare, the number of  distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks  nearly  doubled each quarter in 2020 . Hours of downtime, significant loss of revenue, and a damaged reputation are just a few effects of this form of attack. 

With such an alarming increase in cybercrimes, website development has adapted to make it easier to safeguard company and customer data. There's already been a shift toward application-based multi-factor authentication like Google Authenticator,  patch management , and Security Operation Centers (SOC).

We'll see a continuing rise in non-traditional methods to improve cybersecurity beyond monitoring tools and analytics checkpoints. Danny Wajcman, Co-Founder and COO of the heat mapping and live chat software company  Lucky Orange , notes the importance of human monitoring in addition to automation: "We firmly believe session recordings can help identify security issues like a DDoS attack or extreme bot traffic…Having a feel for your daily traffic trends and regularly following visitor journeys builds your ability to recognize when something isn't quite right."

Trending in Web Development

Web development is constantly evolving to meet the needs and expectations of online consumers. Many of these trends are focused on optimizing the user experience on mobile — others in the future might be focused on optimizing UX for smart wearables or devices we haven't seen yet. By staying on top of web development trends, you can ensure your website consistently attracts and delights users.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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