Top 5 Web Development Trends In 2022

Web development is the process that lies at the heart of almost everything we see & experience online. The basic techniques concerning web development involve programming the background code and developing the overall architecture necessary to design a network-capable website. Web development challenges vary as per the design, technology, purpose, and features of a website or web application.

Certain technologies are set to become the most significant trends in web development in 2022. However, understanding their effectiveness requires some definite ideas about the basic architecture of a website/application.

A Bit About Web Architecture

So, what is a web application architecture?

Well, it is the basic blueprint that maps out the simultaneous interactions and varied relationships between different components. Components include front end interfaces, back-end systems, middleware, databases, etc. Web architecture is akin to a logical layout that enables a successful, seamless & uninterrupted connection between a client & server.

The importance of decisive web architecture stems from the necessity to make apps and sites flexible, responsive, resilient and ever-evolving. Well-thought-out web architectures can handle varying loads, adapt fast to changing business requirements and offer a perfect user experience. Therefore, solid ideas about the basics of web architecture are essential for developers and an important part of dissertation.

From the developmental perspective, well-designed architecture with full technology stacks allows coders to divide the whole structure into well-connected modules.  Doing so reduces development time and makes the entire system scalable. As a result, integration becomes more manageable, and maintenance becomes swifter & more effective.

Here's a look at the most rudimentary web architecture found across sites & apps all over.

1. Presentation Layer: Built with HTML, CSS & JavaScript & its associated frameworks, this layer is part of the front-end or client-side.  It enables seamless communication between different front-end user interfaces and the browser, facilitating user interaction.

2. Business Layer: It defines the primary business logic and rules. The direct purposes of this layer involve processing browser requests, execution of business logic as per requests and transferring responses to the presentation layer in the front end.

3. Persistence Layer: Also known as the Data Access Layer, this layer is responsible for data persistence. It works closely with the business logic layer and the database server to retrieve data from corresponding servers.

4. Database Layer: Called the Data Service Layer, it holds all the data and is responsible for data security by separating the business logic from the client-side.

Each one of these layers works in isolation and independently from each other. All the components in a particular layer deal with its logic.
Note that the above framework is primarily applicable for a simple website or application. More complex applications generally possess more than five layers. Nevertheless, the most prominent technologies set to become major trends in the field require versatile and highly scalable web architecture for effective implementation.  
And, so now that we have some idea about how web apps work, it is time to take a close look at the top 5 trends in web development technology of 2022.

Top 5 Web Development Trends For 2022
Since its birth in 1983, the Internet has been at the center of many groundbreaking technologies. The speed of technological development, updates, and the exponential rate of acceptance are unlike anything ever witnessed in recent times.

The following five web development trends have already been embraced & implemented across various industrial sectors. These technologies will become more prominent in the coming years and be the frontrunners of web development in the 21st century.

Here they are.

1. Progressive Web Applications
Though not an entirely new trend, PWAs are expected to take the world of web development by storm in 2022.

According to HubSpot, the latest iteration of progressive web applications is all set to replace web applications for good. This is because the highly versatile architecture of PWAs enables them to keep running, even without a working network connection.

Google was the one to introduce progressive web applications way back in 2015. They aimed to produce apps that offer extensive functionalities, enhanced capabilities, improved reliability and smooth installation.

Progressive Web Applications are compatible with all browsers and run on all devices. These apps are easy to discover and shared easily shared via URLs.

Effortless installation and seamless integration make them extremely easy to use. Lower development costs and smooth maintenance are other significant advantages of progressive web applications.

One of the unique aspects of PWAs is that they can work effectively with poor or even zero internet connectivity.

2022 will have developers use HTML/CSS/JavaScript with React & Angular frameworks for developing PWAs. Progressive Web Applications are used by major companies such as Uber, Alibaba, Pinterest, Starbucks. Twitter and more.

2. AI Chatbots
The last ten years saw the phenomenal rise of AI and its major proponents. Data science, data mining, big data, analytics, machine learning, deep learning, NLP, neural networks, etc., have become buzzwords on the Web and implemented by multiple sectors. AI has automated business processes, made large scale data processing easy & swift and allowed the discovery of knowledge from big datasets.

Chatbots are a viral example of an automated system using AI. AI chatbots are already a significant part of numerous websites such as Flipkart, Amazon, Walmart, HubSpot, Facebook, Skype, etc. Moreover, with the amalgamation of data retrieval, machine learning and natural language processing, Ai chatbots may very well replace conventional customer support services in the coming years.

A Basic AI Chatbot Model

AI-enabled chatbots allow faster operations, enhance customer experience, collect data from leads, answer FAQs & queries, and solve minor issues. Many B2C companies use AI chatbots to provide visitors with a highly-interactive browsing experience.

With the increasing availability of readymade & easily integrable AI bots and accessible developmental resources, 2022 will witness widespread adaptation of AI chatbots.

3. WebAR
The AR/VR/MR market is expected to rise from $30.7 billion to $300 billion by 2024, according to Statista.com.  The industry is expanding rapidly and has been adopted across numerous sectors, such as education, research & development, healthcare, gaming, etc.

While it was a tad challenging for websites & online services to implement, certain companies have begun adopting these virtual visualization technologies rapidly. Companies like Amazon, IKEA, Purina, Jaguar, Sephora, etc., are some popular e-commerce brands that use AR to enhance user experience.

AR experiences available on a website via browser is known as WebAR. When coupled with other up & coming web technologies, WebAR helps online businesses:

Reduce time consumption
Boosts brand reliability by allowing customers to try & test goods before buying
Enhancing user experience
Make online shopping more enjoyable and more tangible
AR technology enables services to create virtual showrooms and develop a real-store experience any time they want. 3D product viewing allows customers to get a virtual in-store experience and even try items out before buying them. Shopify will enable sellers to employ solutions for developing realistic, 3D versions of their goods for an audience.

All in all, we can expect WebAR to gain much more traction in 2022 and beyond.

4. Optimized Intelligent Voice Search
Voice search is one of the most prominent web developmental technologies expected to gain traction in the coming years.

Google was the company to introduce voice search in 2011, and the effectiveness of the technology was instrumental in its rapid rise in popularity.  Today, we have Amazon's Alexa, Apples' Siri and Microsoft's Cortana as prominent examples of AI-enabled optimized voice search technologies.

According to Grand View Research, intelligent voice assistant platforms are experiencing unprecedented market growth.  More and more tech giants are integrating innovative voice assistant functionalities in their products & services, the biggest among them being Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, etc. Optimized and intelligent voice search is limited to a specific class of devices but has now been integrated into smartphones and numerous IoT devices.

Google intends to rank their voice search results higher, so companies need to optimize their web content. As a result, voice search will become more and more prominent in 2022 and the coming years.

5. Serverless Architecture
The name may seem a bit misleading and requires some clarification.

Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon, introduced the serverless model in 2014 with AWS Lambda. Serverless applications do not require any server or any server management provisions. As a result, businesses can focus on presenting the core product & services and business logic instead of worrying about the responsibilities such as operating system compatibility, back-end architecture, access control, OS patching, scaling, provisioning, or availability. The serverless platform takes care of all the above things for the user.

Despite its name, the serverless architecture does not do away with servers outright. Instead, the architecture focuses on using public cloud domains to host & run the software and allow developers to compose code on the cloud. The technology is actively used for chatbots, IoT apps, products with complex back-end requests, and APIs and is expected to become a significant trend in the coming years.

The biggest reasons behind the usefulness of serverless architectures are:

No server management: Users do not need to manage or maintain any servers. There is no need to install any software or administer any resources.

Seamless & Flexible Scaling: One can scale their applications & services without worrying about the capabilities of different servers.  Adjusting the other units of resource consumption, such as memory, throughput, processor cores, etc., is enough to take care of scaling considerations.

Undisrupted Availability: Applications built on a serverless platform have built-in disruption management and fault tolerance. There’s no need to architect these features.

No Idle Capacity: There is no requirement for pre-provisioning or over-provisioning resources for computation and storage. Serverless architectures do not charge when the code of a particular service is not running.

There are inevitable trade-offs, however.
Though serverless applications tend to cost less, higher than usual traffic can shoot up costs unexpectedly. In addition, they have less of a flat rate, so monitoring usage closely is crucial.

Serverless functions can experience the “cold start” problem in certain circumstances. This is an issue generally caused when cloud vendors deallocate resources after a period of inactivity. As a result, infrequently used functions can have longer startup times. Developers should take precautions to ensure that periodically used functions have their resources allocated and implement serverless edge technology, such as Lambda@Edge.

There are limits to memory, CPU, and execution duration for high-performance computing.

Despite such minor limitations, the global demand for serverless architecture is estimated to grow to nearly $19.84 billion by 2025. As a result, more and more companies are adopting serverless architecture in their business operations, and AWS (AWS Lambda), Google Cloud (Google Functions), and Microsoft Azure (Azure Functions) will be the foremost service providers in 2022.

And that rounds up this article on the top 5 trends in web development that are set to take 2022 by storm and some brief ideas about different architectural concepts.