Users and potential customers expect a decent standard from a website: it should be easy to use, the UX/UI design should look tidy, and finding exactly what a person came for should take as little time as possible. These criteria are critically important — they largely determine how large the site's audience will be. And to meet today's expectations, a site has to run on modern technology.
Modern technology is a requirement, not a bonus
Keeping up with current trends is impossible without updating the technical foundation. If a site is built on an outdated stack, every effort in design and marketing runs into a technical ceiling: pages are slow, the mobile experience is worse than the desktop one, and some modern browser capabilities are simply unavailable.
What best practices cover
The set of best practices for the modern web describes several areas worth checking a project against:
- use of modern offline capabilities;
- use of modern protocols;
- use of modern CSS;
- use of modern JavaScript features;
- avoiding APIs that harm the user experience;
- accessibility.
Technology stack: the MEAN example
All of this can be achieved with modern, progressive technologies. It is convenient to combine technologies into stacks — one of the most popular today is MEAN.
MongoDB
Database.
Express.js
Web framework.
Angular
Front end.
Node.js
Back end.
This stack works within a single JavaScript ecosystem, which makes it easier to maintain. As a result, assembling a development team (or finding a single full-stack JavaScript developer) and running and supporting the project should not become a problem.
Of course, the stack can be combined with other technologies: the back end can be replaced with Laravel, for example, and the database with MySQL.
Progressive Web Apps
Mobile users do not want to spend device storage on apps they do not open several times a day. That called for a solution that would deliver the convenience of a native app right inside the browser.
This is exactly what Progressive Web Apps (PWA) offer users — and exactly what pleases many business owners. There is no need to spend money on developing and maintaining a native app, while most of its advantages remain.
Mobile devices are ahead of desktop
According to research, by 2021 mobile e-commerce will account for $2.32 trillion — or around 67.2% of all e-commerce sales. Websites therefore have to be built with mobile users in mind.
Such widespread use of mobile technology, the growing number of mobile frameworks and the arrival of solutions created or adapted specifically for mobile are a clear signal: a developer should give this area maximum attention both now and in the future.
Single-page applications (SPA)
Using an SPA mimics a more natural and convenient way of presenting page content. Content loads dynamically, without a full page reload.
- An SPA is fast: most resources — HTML, CSS and scripts — are loaded only once for the entire time the application runs;
- after that, only data travels between the client and the server.
What this gives e-commerce
Setting up optimal solutions for users helps raise metrics such as conversion rate, average revenue per user and session duration, and lower the bounce rate. For Intertop.ua, for example, applying the best practices of other e-commerce platforms produced the following figures.
On top of that, session duration grew by one minute and the bounce rate fell by 25.4%.
Conclusion
By following the latest trends in web development, you can give users a world-class experience, improve your web application's standing and open new markets for your services.
Modern solutions are worth implementing in web projects so that you keep pace with your customers and improve key marketing metrics.
