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Sometimes being a pioneer in your sphere of activity is a key to success. On the other hand, your strategy could be based on a clear and profound understanding of previous experience and strict adherence to the current trends and tendencies. Sounds reasonable, too.

Despite the chosen recipe, it’s always helpful to summarize what trends were on the rise during the year. Such knowledge can help you predict tomorrow’s fashion in the world of web development and be on the crest of the wave. That’s why we collect some of the most significant trends that you should keep in mind if you plan to build web applications in 2016. It’s not a “Web Development 101” article. More like a list of things that we noticed during the year as web developers. We hope it will be helpful to you.

Being the developers of Suite UI library, our team always follows latest news and trends to be aware of our users’ needs.

UI and UX

It seems like a course to minimalism that we can observe in web design nowadays is a serious thing. Leave nothing but the essential elements on your page is how this rule looks like in a nutshell. Such approach reduces the loading time that is great in case of mobile applications. Since user interface doesn’t overload with tons of elements it’s easier to develop clean and responsive application that is, once again, a plus in case of mobile users.

We could say that flat design is an embodiment of the minimalist approach. And even if there were any doubts about the fact that flat design is on the rise, after the release of the latest versions of iOS and Android, it received the attention it deserved. It looks fresh and clean both on mobile devices and big screens. Based on this we also think about new skin for dhtmlxSuite to provide the library fresh and modern look.

Since minimalist and neat looking web applications hold more and more prominence, it’s natural that bright colors become the primary means of expression. It’s a good decision to personalize your app through the combination of bright colors. Look around you and you’ll see this is not just a web thing. For example, fashion and interior design follow the same trend. So, if people want to see rainbows of bright colors, why not to use the same approach in the web? But you should always keep in mind that knowing of limits is the must. There’s no need turn your web page into the palette of acid colors.

Single page apps are the kings of the web. “Less click. More scroll” This is how one of the most important rules of web design looks like. Probably the main reason behind the fact that single page solutions are so popular is a sustainable reluctance of a mobile user to click again and again to get deeper into a site. As well as the fact that the parallax scrolling looks just awesome.

Animation can draw the eye or engage a user during the loading process. The animated menu that appears on the screen confirms the action’s success. Moreover, it shows the user where on the menu they can view the window later.

Mobile Web

It’s not a secret that the overall number of mobile devices in web grows from year to year. You can check this article on Mobile Marketing Statistics 2015 to get some info about the current state of things. And here are some tips that could help you be at ease in case you decide to build a mobile version of your app.

Think about the advanced responsiveness. There is a large amount of mobile devices of different shapes and sizes. Your job is to be completely sure that your application will look as it was initially designed on every single one of them. Buttons should be big enough to tap them comfortably, navigation should be easy to access, and information should be presented in accessible and easy-to-digest format. We start working hard on responsiveness of DHTMLX library and will continue improving it.

Reduce the size of your CSS and JavaScript files. If you use CSS frameworks like Bootstrap, you should remember that they can be pretty large and contain unused code that increases the loading time. To avoid this problem you can uses special tools that remove the code you don’t use. Take a look at uncss for example. But remember that uncss can’t pick up dynamic styles. We can say the same thing about your JavaScript code. It’s a good practice to use variable names that make sense to a human. Such approach simplifies the code maintenance. But variable names don’t affect the way your application works. So, why don’t use short equivalents instead of full-length variable names? You can use uglify, the tool that makes your JavaScript code unreasonable for a human mind, but usually much smaller.

When using dhtmlxSuite, we advice you to use libCompiler to reduce the size of you .js/.css files. It will be helpful in case if you don’t use all the components of the library but only some of them.

Other Useful Tips

Let’s continue with some general advice you should keep in mind during the development process.

Let’s start with the security. When a user signs up, send him an e-mail with a link that can be used to confirm its e-mail address. In case the user changes the e-mail address, repeat this operation. When you work with passwords, you should salt and hash them first. Despite the known problems with certificates, there’s nothing better than good old SSL. You should use it along with HSTS. Don’t check server credentials (e.g., database passwords, API keys, etc.) into source control.

NoSQL databases are something you should pay attention to. It’s a technology that developers use more widely during the last couple of years. It was developed to match the scale at which data is being produced and accessed. New storage and processing methods require a faster response and better performance and power. Probably, we won’t see the full switch to noSQL databases the next year, but you definitely should learn more about this technology.

Don’t forget about the Internet of Things. Designers and developers need to take the challenge of designing and developing for cars, robots and LCD’s.

That’s all for today. We hope that this article provides you with some useful info. One more thing before saying good bye. You should always remember that your primary intention is to create something that based primarily on the upon the needs of your users. There’s no need to stay trendy despite the end-user opinion.