PHP 7
PHP is employed by almost 82,4% of all the websites. In 2017, it saw hype around it with the release of PHP 7. Unlike PHP 6, the newest version brought up multiple changes, which make it truly The release of PHP 7 added new features, functions, classes, interfaces and global constants. let’s see what the advantages that PHP 7 offers are:
1) One of the most surprising feature of PHP 7 it’s significantly improved performance. It compiles code into machine language using the lightning-fast Just In Time (JIT) engine. With this engine, it’s 2 times faster than PHP 5.6. At the same time, with PHP 7 your code base uses less memory.
2) The second feature is it embraced new type declarations. Implementation of new declarations makes code easier to read and understand.
3) Third feature is really amezing now PHP 7 doesn’t give your users a white screen if it runs into a fatal error. Instead, it throws up an exception without stopping the whole script. Moreover, PHP 7 offers you the new operators and functions. The takeaway from this is that the hype around PHP 7 has a sound base. So, if you haven’t yet upgraded to it, go for updating your website’s PHP code and embracing faster performance that PHP 7 brings you!
SSL & HTTPS
Next year, we’ll see more padlocks next to URLs as the adoption of SSL certificate becomes one of the web development trends 2018. Let’s figure out what these padlocks actually signify and what benefits they bring you, the website owner. Adopting an SSL certificate for your website brings the following benefits:
- First of all, it protects users’ sensitive information and lets them complete transactions without any risk of data loss. Therefore it increases user’s trust and confidence and helps you generate max revenue.
- Secondly, it lets you eliminate browser warnings and alerts that tell users that their data is not secure on your website.
- Thirdly, SSL increases the reputation of your business over the Internet. Moreover, Google also gives ranking benefits for HTTPS websites. Next, SSL eliminates the risk of phishing and other cyber attacks.
So, in 2018, it makes sense to go for an SSL certificate even if your website doesn’t handle sensitive client data. With HTTPS, you’re more secure and rank higher for target keywords than HTTP websites. What’s more, if you want to accelerate your mobile pages with Google AMP (see the next trend), you have to go for the SSL certificate first.
Google AMP
For a couple of years, every single article on web design development trends is screaming about responsiveness and its importance. It was Google who made responsiveness a must. Google’s next step was the creation of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project. At present, building an AMP version of your website is the way to ensure its lightning-fast performance on mobile devices. Accelerated Mobile Pages have simplified coding and load up to 10 times quicker on smartphones. Thus, the employment of AMP makes cutting down page loading time on mobile to less than 1 second possible. The implications of this are numerous.
- First of all, such an impressive loading speed of AMP-ed pages literally tanks bounce rate.
- Next, AMP-optimized pages and ads look and feel more natural on small screens, creating a smoother and more engaging user experience.
- Thirdly, AMP positively influences you ranking on Google SERPs. Currently, AMP is an indirect ranking factor that boosts your results by improving mobile user experience and decreasing the bounce rate. What’s more, AMP is hardly a fad as Google, Bing and some other search engines, as well as social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. already link to and present AMP content. If you follow web programming trends, take Google AMP Project seriously and create the AMP versions of the pages of your website.
