Trends in 2021 That Umbraco Web Developers Should Know About
In some ways, it is getting harder and harder to be a web developer every year as the world wide web exponentially evolves in complexity and user expectations. If you want to stand out as one of the elite Umbraco web developers then you need to be able to offer up fresh new features and functionality to keep your clients keen on your services and keep those Umbraco jobs coming in with a portfolio that stands out.
With that said, here are some things you may want to look into if you want to keep your coding skills in high demand amongst the growing pool of Umbraco web developers.
Included dark mode in your Umbraco developer projects
Once upon a time, hackers were the only people considered cool enough with computers to rock the white on black look with their monitor, but these days, with all the latest scares of screens messing up your eyes and circadian rhythm, dark mode is everywhere.
From phone screens that grow redder in tint as the night progresses to browser add-ons that try to invert web page colours in a way that works, it is undeniably a trend that, as an Umbraco web developer, you can not ignore.
People are starting to expect it so as an Umbraco web developer you should learn how to implement it in your Umbraco CMS development projects as of yesterday. A simple toggle will generally suffice but make sure that you keep that user decision persistent where possible, whether they are logged in or not. I think it’s fair to say that you can’t call yourself an Umbraco expert without the ability to make this happen.
Upgrade your Umbraco CMS development skill set to include Progressive web applications
Gone are the days when you needed to build an app as well as having a mobile friendly website for your patrons and prospectives to interact with a business. Umbraco web developers who can build websites with PWA functionality are going to be in high demand very soon in the Umbraco website development space because this slowly growing trend is starting to pick up some serious momentum and people want it.
Progressive web apps allow your website to effectively become an app that works on all devices and OSs, avoiding the app stores and all the limitations, regulations and fees that they enforce. Your website can now also be an app with a bit of expert Umbraco work. Clients want that, even the ones that don’t know they do.
Real Umbraco developers Implement chatbots
If you are keeping up with the times as an Umbraco web developer then you have no doubt implemented chat widgets on a website already. The buttons and/or boxes that generally hang out in the bottom right of a website and give the visitor the ability to speak to support without having to place a call, send an email or leave the site in general. They have been an absolute game changer in terms of customer and pre-sales support and if you are not using them as an Umbraco developer then you are letting your clients down, your Umbraco web agency down and even worse, you are letting yourself down as an Umbraco web developer.
One downside, they require an expensive human who demands time off to sleep and have a life outside of work, either meaning you have to hire more than one of them to keep the service running 24 hours per day or have periods where it simply becomes a glorified contact form. And of course, if it gets too busy you need to stack them up to run in parallel which gets real costly, real fast.
Chatbots are the answer to this, either implementing artificial intelligence or predefined logic to deliver answers and solutions to your visitors without having to invest loads in wetware that is susceptible to fatigue and medical failure. These highly diligent and scalable solutions for offering solutions have been proven to be cost effective for businesses and time effective for users.
Of course, they are not infallible and do require a meaty machine to have their backs when they can’t help, but overall they are extremely effective, cost and job wise. So get up to speed with them if you want to offer up the full Umbraco web developer package!
I'm an entrepreneur and web developer with a passion for coding. I absolutely love working with Umbraco CMS and appreciate the Umbraco community even more.
I've got 10 years+ .Net experience and 7 years+ experience working in the recruitment industry, both coding and marketing job websites. I wanted to use my skills to help give something back to this awesome community and so I decided to build UmbraJobs.com.
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I want this website to be a place where Umbraco Professionals and Umbraco Partners can advertise their services but at the same time I want to filter out all the under-qualified freelancers & agencies that take up the biggest part of other job & freelancer websites. We've all worked hard to gain our Umbraco certifications, partnership status, and help build the Umbraco community to what it is today. I want to see everyone get rewarded for their efforts.
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