5 Trends of 2022 in Web App Development

Not so long ago we talked about the trends of 2022 in UI/IX design. To continue the topic of 2022 trends, SOLVVE decided to take a closer look at web development – what trends have been gaining popularity recently, what is on right now, and what will continue to drive the industry in the nearest future. Below you will find an overview of 5 trends of 2022 in web app development carefully selected by SOLVVE experts to help you keep up with the times.

Trends of 2022 in web app development

Progressive Web Apps or PWAs

In brief,  this technology allows for transforming regular web apps into mobile versions while preserving their initial functionality and granting extras like push notifications and offline access to cached content. Users do not even need to download special programs or apps to benefit from this technology. 

Why would your business need it? Because PWAs greatly improve page load speed, which is extremely important today as the proportion of mobile internet users is about to overthrow the desktop internet users in many areas, while globally it has already taken over.

Using an app on a mobile device can lead to longer loading times compared to the desktop. That, in turn, leads to higher bounce rates as shown in the graph below.  And as Google research reveals – mobile internet users have a lower tolerance for slow apps and tend to abandon apps that cannot be loaded within 3 seconds. So, PWA is definitely a “must-try” thing for those companies that rely on web apps.

To add more, loading time is one of many parameters that affect page ranking in Google search results. And while Google keeps the full list of influencing factors secret, loading time is an obvious one. PWAs are helping to drastically improve the mobile user experience for businesses with web presence across the world, like e-commerce or information distributors. 

Leveling up UI/UX design

If you have not yet familiarized yourself with our recent discussion of UI/UX trends, we strongly recommend you do so, because these trends are crucial to how your application will be perceived. Visual storytelling on a full screen, microinteractions, and the clever use of layouts – all of them add to the general level of user satisfaction.

Why would your business need it? Because it drives engagement, smoothens operations, and delivers better impressions of your company. At the same time, a development team can work simultaneously on several autonomous bits to decrease time-to-market span and increase management efficiency.

There are also more and more UI libraries available for developers to integrate new and highly engaging elements like motion, animation, microservices, etc. into the app. Developers are switching from heavy multi-layered monolithic apps to a modular approach in architecture and design that allows for leaner code bases.

AI-powered solutions

SOLVVE has already discussed multiple potential applications of AI in different industries, including business forecasting, enhancement of social platforms, and medical services. However, in terms of web development, the primary area of application is automation. 

Why would your business need it? Because automation helps to create more complex and more robust applications. The list of things that AI offers is impressive. And it goes for both the development process and for the whole business: data collection, customer behavior analysis, custom search results and recommendations, streamlining communications through chatbots, and running marketing campaigns are just the tip of the iceberg. 

While the development of such solutions might take longer and requires highly-skilled specialists and engineers, the time you save in the future thanks to automated processes is worth it.

Single-page apps

Let us go back to the issue of performance for one more moment. Fast-loading apps are great, but easy navigation is important as well. If you have hundreds of pages that load really fast, this is still a chore for a user to go back and forth through your complex app. In this case, single-page apps may come to the rescue.

Why would your business need it? A single-page app improves performance by eliminating the need to load and reload pages that is so frustrating to the end-users. Instead, the contents of the page are constantly and dynamically refreshed throughout the session so that a user doesn’t notice this (no need to manually update the page).

If it sounds too complicated, think of your email inbox, e.g. Gmail, which looks like a single page that you don’t need to leave to see new messages or reorganize them in several different tabs and categories.

WebAssembly

When it comes to a complex application, users typically miss out on all the awesome features it has when the app freezes during use. Such hiccups are costing businesses their customer base. WebAssembly, or WASM, is a technology that beats this problem.

Why would your business need it? Because it greatly improves responsiveness and prevents freezes. Once again, there is nothing that the user must do or additionally install to benefit from this technology. It works completely unnoticeable even on performance-demanding apps like video editors or games.

Conclusion

By summing up these five trends of 2022, it is easy to see that what web development is currently working towards is fast, engaging, and seamless experience for the end-users. Thus, technologies that improve performance and usability are going to stay in the trend this year and probably even longer. If you have any questions or ideas related to web development for your business, do not hesitate to contact us. Let us make this happen!