Web development best practices in 2021

Is the 'mobile-first' mantra a myth? New data from 10,000 developers reveals what they actually prioritize when building for the web.

#1about 3 minutes

An overview of the 2021 web developer survey

The talk uses data from a survey of over 10,000 developers to understand current web development trends, while acknowledging a bias towards JAMstack.

#2about 4 minutes

Who web developers are and how they work

Survey data reveals a front-end developer bias, growing geographical diversity among new developers, and a significant shift to permanent remote work.

#3about 3 minutes

Analyzing the types of websites developers are building

Developers work on a mix of personal sites, B2B, B2C, e-commerce, and internal tools, with lead capture being a surprisingly large category.

#4about 4 minutes

Prioritizing target devices and understanding audience scale

Despite the "mobile first" mantra, developers still prioritize desktop, and most websites serve thousands of users rather than millions.

#5about 2 minutes

How to interpret the technology adoption data graphs

The bubble graphs visualize technology adoption by mapping awareness (size), usage (x-axis), and user satisfaction (y-axis).

#6about 4 minutes

A comparison of design tools and CMS platforms

Figma dominates design tools, while the CMS landscape is split between traditional (WordPress), headless (Contentful), and design-led (Webflow) options.

#7about 4 minutes

Trends in programming language popularity and satisfaction

JavaScript remains dominant but is losing satisfaction, while TypeScript is rapidly gaining usage and popularity among web developers.

#8about 1 minute

The surprising rise of serverless backend technology

Nearly half of developers now use serverless functions, making it a mainstream choice alongside containers like Docker and Kubernetes.

#9about 2 minutes

Why web frameworks are essential for scaling teams

The primary benefit of using a popular framework is not technical performance but the ability to scale a team by hiring developers who share a common knowledge base.

#10about 6 minutes

A detailed breakdown of modern web frameworks

React is the dominant component library, Next.js leads the "kitchen sink" frameworks, and newcomers like Vite and SvelteKit show high satisfaction.

#11about 1 minute

Could React become a native part of the web

React's massive adoption parallels jQuery's history, suggesting its core concepts might eventually be integrated directly into web browsers.

#12about 17 minutes

A summary of key web development trends in 2021

The recap highlights the growth of remote work, the importance of internal tools, the rise of TypeScript and Next.js, and the exciting future of the web.