Insights

There have been lots of changes to web applications’ architecture in the last few years and 2021 is going to be a year where many organisations may consider moving from monolithic architectures to microservices. Equally many businesses will opt for a monolithic-first architecture which is best for many use cases. There is no right or wrong approach, it just depends on the complexity and roadmap of your product development.

Ethnographic research has long had a place alongside other traditional UX research practices.

One of the most disruptive trends in technology right now – and one with so much potential – is low-code software. Low-code and no-code tools like Airtable, Pipedrive, AutoPilot enable organisations to build comprehensive workflows without developers. Does that mean fewer developers? No. But it will allow companies to introduce automation, accelerate development and build applications at a scale that previously wasn’t possible. 

Remember 2018? For many of us, the first couple of quarters were a blur as we raced to ensure our digital sites and services were compliant with GDPR.  

There’s not been a lot of noise around GDPR since then, aside from occasional announcements of eye-watering corporate fines. And understandably, over the past year, we’ve been fully focused on navigating our way through the COVID-19 pandemic.  

But GDPR hasn’t stood still since it became law in May 2018, and 2020 has seen some significant updates to the legislation, its implementation and the frameworks that support it.  

So who predicted 2020 would be like this? Nine months working remotely, much of that while homeschooling my kids, ending with a virtual Christmas get-together to celebrate the team’s hard work, instead of the usual in-person party.  

Friday, 4 December was great news for UK accessibility campaigners, as the British government updated its PDF accessibility guidance for GOV.UK content designers. Open standards are firmly in, and PDFs are a no-no, unless they’re designed for printing and have accessible HTML alternatives.

Drupal has remained successful over the last 20 years largely due to their commitment to forward-looking changes. The CMS continues to be relevant and highly popular among new generations of developers and stays highly competitive among modern CMS platforms.

Google's new Core Web Vitals will become a ranking signal in May 2021 along with visual indicators to be rolled out.

In June this year, Siji and I underlined Cyber-Duck’s commitment to diversity. A lot has happened since then, and today I’m delighted to share one initiative in particular that we’re supporting, both with our time and with sponsorship.