As front-end development continues to change and improve, developers and businesses must be aware of the latest trends to remain relevant in their industry. In this guide, we’ll we’ll explore the top front-end development trends for 2024. We hope that you will find these insights helpful to make the right decisions about introducing new tools and techniques to improve your next project.
Frameworks and Libraries
Continued Dominance of React and Vue.js
As we enter 2024, React and Vue.js will remain the go-to frameworks for front-end development. The flexibility, mature ecosystems, and vibrant community backing of both React and Vue.js have made them the staple tools for developers building modern, dynamic user experiences. React’s component-based architecture and virtual DOM will still be the framework of choice for large-scale applications, providing just the right balance of performance and scalability that modern web development needs. Meanwhile, Vue.js will continue to be revered for its simplicity and easy-to-use nature, making it a good choice for both smaller projects and large-scale enterprise applications.
In 2024, we find both frameworks growing to meet new challenges as well. React’s asynchronous rendering features (a part of React 18), which allow for non-blocking rendering in more complex applications, are being embraced by developers in practice, improving performance by making the UI run smoother. Vue 3, with its Composition API plus bolstered TypeScript support, is also being adopted, lending itself more readily to greater flexibility and a more modular approach to application building. This reflects a general trend towards making developers’ lives easier and improving the performance of applications. This means React and Vue.js are only becoming more integral to the front-end toolkit.
The Rise of Svelte and Solid.js
While React and Vue.js still dominate, 2024 is also seeing the rise of newer frameworks: Svelte and Solid.js. Svelte compiles components into super-fast vanilla JavaScript at build time and eliminates the virtual DOM, leading to faster runtime performance and smaller bundle sizes, which are key considerations for performance-critical applications. Svelte’s simplicity and ease of use also contributed to its popularity, especially among developers who want to keep their applications as light as possible.
Another hot contender, Solid.js, promises ‘fine-grained reactivity frameworks; Solid.js tracks dependencies at the level of individual reactive expressions rather than whole components. This enables it to update them more efficiently and re-render components less often. You can build interfaces that are highly interactive and fast. Solid.js is attractive when performance is a key requirement for a project and its ecosystem is growing. It could be a serious contender in the front-end space.
Both Svelte and Solid.js have advantages that make them attractive contenders in the ever-evolving landscape of progressive frameworks. As developers strive to get more out of their apps, expect these newcomers to become more prevalent, especially in projects that value high performance and faster development workflows.
Tailwind CSS and Utility-First Design
A utility-first design approach, exemplified by the rapidly growing popularity of frameworks such as Tailwind CSS, will soon permeate the front-end development landscape. Tailwind CSS is a low-level utility framework that offers a high degree of customisation. Developers build complex designs directly in their HTML, all while avoiding the need to write bespoke CSS. What’s more, the utility-first approach speeds up development and maintains consistency and manageability across large projects.
Tailwind CSS gives us that advantage by getting rid of the headaches that come with working with large, bloated CSS files. Instead of writing CSS that applies to specific elements, we can now use utility classes to apply styles to elements, thus reducing the amount of custom CSS and style conflicts that we have to deal with. It’s also easier to refactor and maintain code because styles are defined in a way that allows us to know exactly where to look to reuse them.
By 2024, Tailwind CSS will see broader adoption from large teams of developers, in addition to individual developers, as its ecosystem of pre-built components and plugins continues to grow. With more developers adopting utility-first design, Tailwind CSS will become a standard tool in the front-end development toolkit, enabling a modern way of building responsive user interfaces quickly and effectively.
Web Performance Optimisation
Core Web Vitals and Page Speed
Core Web Vitals will still be one of the biggest challenges for front-end developers in 2024. This is because these are the metrics that matter most for user experience and also for search engine rankings. Google is very concerned about Core Web Vitals (Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay and Cumulative Layout Shift) as these are essential for any website that wants to compete in today’s digital environment. Fast and enjoyable sites rank better, but they also keep users on the website for longer, leading to lower bounce rates and higher engagement.
There are various strategies that developers are implementing to enhance Core Web Vitals: reducing server response times, optimising images, minimising JavaScript execution with regards to LCP and FID, and reducing layout shifts during page load, which are typically caused by unsized images, or by dynamically injected content with regards to CLS.
Image Optimisation Techniques
Now, in 2024, image optimisation still plays an important role in WPO, and more advanced techniques are being used to save load time and reduce bandwidth utilisation. Progressive image formats are also becoming more popular. Websites and web applications are starting to adopt next-generation image formats, such as the AVIF and WebP formats. These formats can be further compressed without sacrificing quality, and this helps to reduce the size of the images on websites, which in turn can save a lot of bandwidth and result in faster loading times, especially on mobile devices with slow internet connections.
Another best practice is lazy loading, which is now commonly used to delay the loading of images that are currently out of view until they become visible. This improves the perceived load time of a page and saves data transfers. This is especially helpful in pages with a lot of images, as it means that the user can start interacting with the page as soon as possible, even if not all images have loaded.
Alongside these techniques, developers are making use of responsive images, which deliver different image sizes depending on the user’s device and screen resolution. This way, the most suitable image can be delivered to each user. New techniques for optimising images continue to emerge.
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG)
Server-side rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG) are still the best methods for improving the performance and SEO of modern web applications in 2024.
Overall, although there are some pros and cons of using SSR and SSG, these two methods are the best way to improve the performance and SEO of web applications. This is because SSR can render a page on the server before serving it to the client so that the user can see the content of the page instantly, even if the user has a slow connection. Meanwhile, SSG can improve the performance and SEO of web applications by converting rendered content into static files, which is more user-friendly.
Frameworks such as Next.js and Nuxt.js are becoming increasingly popular for implementing SSR, as they include built-in server-side rendering capabilities along with other performance optimisations. They also include features such as Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR), where developers are able to regenerate static content on a per-page basis rather than rebuilding the site as a whole. This hybrid approach can be seen as a combination of SSR and SSG, enabling the best of both worlds.
However, SSG pre-renders (i.e., statically generates) HTML pages at build time, which can be served directly from a content delivery network (CDN) with zero server-side latency. This is the best way to serve content which users are more likely to read without change (like your typical blog or documentation site) because pre-rendering the pages at build time allows you to deliver the fastest possible load times to your users. As of 2024, SSG still remains one of the most popular choices for blogging, documentation and other content sites due to its simplicity and performance benefits.
In conclusion, SSR and SSG are both essential for optimising page speed and improving user experience, especially on sites with large amounts of content. Furthermore, with the ever-evolving nature of these technologies, developers now have more powerful tools to make web applications faster and more visible via SEO.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
The Growth of PWAs in 2024
In 2024, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have become a clear winner in the effort to deliver fast, resilient and engaging user experiences on the web. They inherit many of the features of native mobile apps, such as offline capabilities, push notifications and installability from the browser. They are thus attractive to businesses looking to reach their users across platforms without the overhead of native app development and maintenance.
At the heart of the growth of PWAs is the idea that they offer the best of two worlds: an app-like experience with the freedom and openness of the web. Users can easily access a PWA via its URL and don’t have to download anything from an app store. As it does away with some of the friction of a traditional app, it makes it easier for people to use it and boosts the chances that they’ll return. Another advantage of PWAs is that they are developed using standard web technologies, are fast to build and are cheap to deploy – often much cheaper than a native app.
By 2024, organisations in all industries, from e-commerce to media, will increasingly use PWAs to improve their online presence. With PWAs offering better performance and engagement metrics compared with traditional websites, they provide an effective way for organisations to provide high-quality experiences for users. These emerging technologies will experience increased support in browsers and development tools, which will further boost the adoption of PWAs.
Best Practices for Building PWAs
Creating a successful PWA entails making technical decisions that are even more important than user-experience considerations. When we say that a PWA is a web app that ‘works offline’, we mean that a user can open and interact with the app even when she is not connected to a network. This is the most important characteristic of a PWA, and it is achieved through the use of service workers. A service worker is a proxy between the web app and the network. The developer can ‘teach’ the service worker what to cache so that the network is not strictly necessary for the app to function. This is how a PWA can ‘work offline’. The importance of implementing service workers accurately so that the app will work in all network conditions cannot be overstated.
Additionally, PWAs must be able to run on all different form factors and screen sizes. Responsive design principles must be followed so that the app performs and looks the same on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. And PWAs must be built to feel as fast as possible, even on slow connections.
To further boost engagement, PWAs can also use elements such as push notifications. They can even be added to the user’s home screen as an app, allowing businesses to remain in contact with their users, send timely updates and reminders, and encourage repeat visits. Here, too, care must be taken to use these features sensibly – notifications can be annoying if they are non-relevant or frequent.
User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Design Trends
Dark Mode and Theming
Dark mode is a feature that has become a standard offering in both web and mobile applications. User research has shown that people prefer a dark mode, especially when they find themselves in a low-light environment. In 2024, we expect that all modern applications will offer a dark mode – and some applications will even take this a step further by offering users a personalised theme. The dark theme not only reduces eye strain but it can also make an application look modern and sleek.
When developers create dark mode, they have to bear in mind how to guarantee the accessibility and usability of the application. Colour contrast is played out as an important factor. According to WCAG (web content accessibility guidelines), users with visual impairment cannot read the text with insufficient contrast. So, developers should pay attention to make sure that the colour contrasts of dark mode are above the threshold. Besides, colour selection matters in dark mode. If developers choose colour incorrectly, they may cause colour blindness and visual fatigue. Users should be offered a toggle function to switch between light and dark modes. Even better, they can also use the time of day as a trigger for automatic theme changes. By sticking to the abovementioned best practices, developers can reasonably create a dark mode that is both beautiful and accessible to users.
Microinteractions and Animations
With micro-interactions and small bits of animation creeping into modern UI/UX, it’s now common to see users receive feedback about their actions from tiny, basically imperceptible pieces of movement. A click on a button could provide a little bounce to let the user know what they’ve just done, or a loading spinner could be tinted to mimic a brand’s colour palate, adding a little more polish to the user experience.
The innovations of 2024 come towards the end of the decade as designers devise more sophisticated uses of micro-interactions. For example, they create hover effects to help a user understand that an element is clickable or progress effects to reassure them about the status of a task, such as a file upload. Animations should be devised with a smooth and subtle appearance so as not to distract from the users’ workflow or slow down their tasks. The design of micro-interactions is yet another way that developers can make their applications feel more responsive and enjoyable to use, which in turn stimulates better engagement and satisfaction.
Voice User Interface (VUI) Integration
As more users get used to using their voice to interact with technology, Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) will be a popular trend for web apps in 2024. With the rise of smart speakers and virtual assistants, voice commands are rapidly becoming commonplace. Voice interaction has several benefits that can make web applications more useful. VUIs can provide a hands-free way for users to complete tasks, which can be more efficient for some people. More generally, VUI can make applications accessible to more individuals, including those with physical disabilities, and can be useful when hands-free operation is needed, such as when cooking or working with machinery.
In the front-end development, the developer can make use of speech recognition and natural language processing libraries and frameworks, such as Web Speech API and voice command frameworks, to bring voice interaction to their project. Designing a VUI is different from a traditional interface – the core principles of designing a VUI are conversational design, planning for the user’s uncertainties and making the user’s next steps clear. In the future, voice technology is going to get smarter and smarter, and this can expand the means of interaction with digital products and enhance the user experience.
Accessibility and Inclusive Design
Prioritising Accessibility in 2024
Accessibility is baked into front-end development by 2024. A combination of more stringent regulations and greater popular awareness of the importance of inclusive design will mean that front-end developers ought to be creating sites and applications that work for as many people as possible, including those with disabilities. This isn’t just a question of compliance but one about making the most of the potential audience for your digital product; getting it right can only improve user experience and engagement.
To make content equitably accessible, developers can do things like
Provide keyboard navigability,
Ensure that all interactive elements are usable by screen readers, utilise
Utilise proper colour contrasts for text and backgrounds.
They can also write a query to Axe, a tool that can be integrated into code, to test the accessibility of a website and quickly locate the broken section. Another accessible testing tool is Lighthouse, which combines Axe with other automated testing tools, including WAVE, Pa11y and Axe-core. Web accessibility goes beyond just providing extra features. For example, have you ever tapped on an image and found text to describe what’s in it? This happens because websites should include alternate text for images to make them accessible to screen readers. When developers build inclusive products, all users benefit.
ARIA and Semantic HTML
ARIA and semantic HTML are particularly important for making web applications more accessible to users with disabilities. ARIA attributes provide additional information to assistive technologies, which help users with disabilities understand and operate web content. For example, ARIA roles, states and properties can describe and instruct how to use complex UI components like modals, accordions and sliders to screen readers.
In contrast, semantic HTML is about the usage of HTML elements (such as <header>, <nav>, <article>, <footer>, etc.) exactly as intended to transmit the structure and semantics of content; this in turn increases the accessibility of an interface, while providing better SEO and wieldier code maintenance. Thus, with a reasonable combination of ARIA and semantic HTML, developers can build web applications that are accessible and semantically rich and, in so doing, provide better experiences for all users, especially those who rely on assistive technologies.
A lot of this is about ARIA and semantic HTML, and these standards are gradually increasing in importance. By 2024, you need to hit certain accessibility targets to pass some standards. If you implement these correctly, there’s a huge difference in the usability of a website or application for everyone.
Modern Development Tools and Workflows
Low-Code and No-Code Platforms
Low-code and no-code platforms are transforming front-end development as they help non-developers build functional and aesthetically pleasing web applications with minimum coding knowledge. These platforms offer a drag-and-drop interface, pre-built templates, and modular components to promote quick prototyping and fast deployment. In 2024, there’ll be a surge in the adoption of low-code and no-code platforms, not just by small businesses and start-ups but by larger organisations as well, in order to accelerate the development process.
Of course, these platforms have many benefits – less time spent in development and lower development costs – but there are also drawbacks, such as a lack of customizability and a feeling of a lack of control, especially for more sophisticated projects. Many low-code platforms now have more advanced features and options, like the ability to inject code, use APIs and deploy to different environments so that they could be useful for a wider range of applications.
Developers may take comfort in the idea that a working knowledge of how to use such a low-code or no-code platform could be a useful skill, especially if one were to find themselves needing to develop in an environment for rapid development or in a context where one would need to collaborate with non-technical team members. As these platforms continue to evolve, we expect them to play a growing role in entering the front end of development.
GitHub Copilot and AI-Assisted Coding
Front-end development workflows are starting to see the impact of artificial intelligence. The application of AI to code completion in tools such as GitHub Copilot is one of the most impactful examples of AI-assisted coding. Currently, GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered code completion tool that saves developers’ time by suggesting code snippets, autocompleting functions, or even creating entire blocks of code based on a text prompt. By 2024, developers’ workflows are being optimised with AI-assisted coding tools.
Copilot and similar tools are particularly useful for accelerating the development process by enabling the developer to pay more attention to how to solve a problem instead of pure boilerplate coding. Furthermore, relying on AI-generated code suggestions to learn new languages and frameworks can save developers time by providing them with suitable code examples and documentation. However, developers need to be more diligent in reviewing the AI-generated code to avoid inserting malicious code, embedding copyrighted material, and, more importantly, perpetuating technical debt by making coding mistakes.
In time, such AI-assisted coding is likely to become a standard part of the development toolkit – an aid to developers in writing code more quickly while maintaining a high standard of quality and security.
DevOps and Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) for Front-End
As 2024 rolls around, DevOps workflows incorporating Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) will become more central to front-end development. CI/CD pipelines automate testing, building and deployment so you can reliably and quickly roll out new features or bug fixes. Suppose you’re a front-end developer embracing DevOps in 2024. In that case, you’ll find yourself working in a culture of constant improvement and collaboration, where an emphasis on code quality and deployment efficiency will be a must.
For front-end projects, that might include tools to automatically run tests, lint code and deploy updates at various stages to whatever environments you have set up in production. Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, and GitHub Actions are popular tools for managing such a CI/CD pipeline, which facilitates the ability to catch bugs as early as possible in the development process and avoid introducing bugs into production environments. Developers also rely on automated testing to ensure that code continues to function as expected. Testing can come in a variety of forms, including unit tests, integration tests and end-to-end tests.
By adopting DevOps methodologies for front-end development, we are able to ship faster, produce higher-quality code and be more efficient overall. As our industry continues to deliver increasingly complex front-end projects, adopting CI/CD workflows will become more and more critical to delivering reliable and scalable web applications.
Conclusion
Other front-end development trends to keep an eye on in 2024 include React and Vue.js, which will continue to be the most popular front-end frameworks. New front-end frameworks such as Svelte and Solid.js will continue to emerge. Web performance, PWAs and accessibility will continue to be important. At this stage, it is absolutely crucial to keep an eye on these trends because the industry is constantly evolving, and maintaining a competitive edge depends on it. By following these trends, you will be able to provide a better user experience, optimise your performance, and increase development efficiency to provide sustained success in front-end development.
