Web design news roundup in 2019 ~ TECH DSV

To say 2019 was exciting for web design may seem like an understatement, with things moving forwards so constantly and quickly. While it seems incredible that another 12 months has flown by, it’s a perfect chance to take stock and reflect on the year on the website. But an opportunity to highlight some may be less obvious stories that point to where we’re going next.

In no particular order, here are eight of the biggest web design updates, movements and announcements worth repeating.

1. GSAP 3 arrived

If your favorite dynamic websites of 2019 did some fancy SVG-based motion work with speed and grace, its highly likely GSAP was behind it. For those who don’t already know, the Greensock Animation API is rapidly becoming a standard for scripted web animations. The library boasts faster execution than jQuery and CSS3 transitions with 60fps performance, so little wonder it’s becoming an ever-present.

Other highlights to watch for include a simplified API, backward syntax compatibility and parent/child inheritance for shortening repetitive calls. In addition, a new MotionPathPlugin allows any element to be animated along editable SVG motion paths.

2. Dart took flight

As part of its annual State of the October report, GitHub crowned Dart as the year’s fastest-growing language within its repository, showing a 532 percent increase. The platform also released its version 2.6 in November with the news that dart2native would join Dart’s existing set of compilers.

Created for cross-platform app building and able to be compiled as JavaScript, the language seemingly enjoyed a notable adoption boom in 2019.

With Flutter, Google’s popular UI toolkit, also based on Dart, there has never been a better moment to discover what all the fuss is about. This allows developers to compile Dart code to self-contained executable programs, irrespective of whether the target system has the Dart SDK installed.

3. CSS Grid Layout came of age

Considered the most powerful layout system CSS has to offer, its two-dimensional definition of columns and rows provides a palpable edge over Flexbox. If you did much peeking under the bonnet of web layouts in 2019, you would know that Grid is the word.

CSS Grid Layout, to be precise, really came into its own this year, with more designers adopting it as a standard since popular browser support materialized back in 2017.

Starting from a container or 'parent' element, set using the display: grid attribute, the comprising columns, and rows are then sized before 'child' elements are added. Given the importance of layout flexibility across devices, it’s unsurprising this elegance and reusability of responsive templates are finding favor.

4. We got experimental with navigation

The whole process of reaching your desired destination only becomes an issue when it's bad or it loses you. However, 2019 saw a new school of thought takes hold and a concerted effort to make navigation the focal point in itself.

There was always a purist way of thinking that said good web navigation should largely go unnoticed. Suddenly there were large menus and big compass-like splash screens, with Your Majesty’s effort for FILA Explore being a case in point.

5. Typography got BIG

Fonts were huge online this year, with oversized text and integral use of typography as an aesthetic device becoming increasingly evident. Lauded websites such as Symbols of the Thaw and Rogue Studio are recent examples, with others reveling in a greater variety of styles.

“Oversized fonts, calligraphic and humanist fonts have become popular, making an interesting shift from geometric fonts.”

In October too, it was announced that HGCC had successfully acquired MonoType after an $825m buyout, which might have a further market impact.

“For me, there has been quite a big shift in how fonts are used this year, as font licensing has become more universally available, and affordable,” says Steve Scott, Creative Director & Founder, Another Colour.

6. Adobe Dreamweaver 2020 arrived

In November we welcomed the latest 2020 release, and these days the app comes packaged into Adobe’s online Creative Cloud experience. Not so long ago you only had one viable choice, with Adobe’s Dreamweaver being an essential tool for web designers and developers alike. While now it may seem like a new markup editor releases every hour, this wasn’t always the case.

Code hinting gets enhancements with better filtering logic for PHP and more hints made available for not just PHP but JavaScript also. Dreamweaver 2020 can be purchased as a single app. The new features are far from revolutionary, but significantly live editing has been made more seamless. Users here are able to edit semantic tags such as <aside> and <section> and so on, while 'auto-sync' technology keeps live and code view changes synchronized.