The number of websites online, right now, is a staggering 1.75 billion. Many of these are web apps, and web apps have incredible scope. The web is a hotbed of innovation as developers constantly come up with novel approaches. No wonder the web has become the most popular way to deliver both consumer and business apps . But what does 2020 hold for ground-breaking web apps? Here are the top 10 web application development trends 2020.

Changes in the architecture of websites and new ways of delivering web apps

The 1990’s web simply didn’t have the tech brawns to deliver the complex applications large enterprises depend on. Consumer apps were frustrating and simplistic. However, web technologies have proven to be fluid – web tech is under constant flux. Some common building blocks remain, but as the web evolves developers are adopting new tools year in, year out.

This immense fluidity of the web’s tech stack has led to the ability of the web to deliver increasingly powerful, advanced applications. Today, web applications underpin so much of our everyday technology use. 2020 will see further, empowering changes in the web tech stack.

1. WebAsssembly

Web applications can be sluggish and unresponsive due to the many layers involved in making a web app work. As apps get more complex developers increasingly struggle with responsiveness. WebAssembly, or WASM for short, is a client-side binary format that delivers near-native performance for web apps.

WebAssembly works alongside existing tech stacks, using assembly-like language inside the browser to boost performance and to deliver real-time responsiveness. WASM is at the cutting edge of the web technology stack and we expect developers to adopt this format for performance-intensive web apps such as games and video editing.

2. Modular approach, microservices and micro frontend

In 2020 we are expecting developers to increasingly switch to an approach that includes modular design and microservices – in contrast to monolithic web applications. By splitting web apps into discrete chunks developers can deliver a much leaner and more flexible code base.

A microservices approach also implies that multiple teams can work autonomously to maximise core functionality, building an app faster by concentrating on individual components. In turn, these components effortlessly connect, rendering comprehensive application functionality.

Introduced in 2019 as "an approach where independently deliverable frontend applications are composed into a greater whole", micro frontends continue gaining in popularity. This method is based on the microservices architectural style. Web development teams can especially benefit from adopting some form of this architecture when there's a need for decomposing UI development among several developers.

3. Ongoing changes in the web tech stack

The quick evolutionary pace of the web tech stack is its biggest advantage. Web tech continuously grows new features and benefits that developers can use to give users a fresh experience. 2020 will see the evolution continuing at pace.

The latest version of Angular, 9.1.1 released in March 2020, builds on the popular Angular stack that's delivered so much progress for the web. However, we expect web developers to turn to other frameworks as well, including React and Vue.js. Another bright light is Flutter, an easy way to build user interfaces that fit any screen – and every experience.