7 Top Web Design and Development Trends for 2018

Trends don’t wait for the beginning or end of a year to start. But the beginning of a new year is a great time to reflect on the budding trends that may take flight in the coming 12 months.

Web development and design trends are no different. Now is the perfect time to reflect on the newest functionality, layouts, and looks for the web as organizations consider updating their sites as part of their 2018 initiatives.

What follows are a few of the trends we expect to see in the coming year.

Interactivity and Personalization

Over the years, web development has increased and improved personalized experiences for visitors. But creating a highly personalized or interactive experience was a technical challenge.

All that changes in 2018. Visitors have always desired a more interactive experience with websites and brands. Content like games, quizzes, and polls give customers both an entertaining experience and one that satisfies the desire for an individualized experience.

There is also value to brands in creating these interactive experiences. As visitors answer questions and seek out personalization, brands are able to gather deeper insights into their customers and potential customers.

This year, expect to see interactivity drive customers to relevant experiences on websites, offering up content that matches the insights uncovered through their answers and interaction.

Broken Grid Layouts and Organic Shapes

Since the early days of the web, layouts have been based on a grid. Even as good web development stopped the use of tables for layout, and CSS enabled better placement of page elements, sites continued to create pages that followed a very conventional grid model.

Website design is freeing itself from these constraints. Designers will begin to push the limits of layouts, moving away from ordered presentation and more toward broken grids. Part of this is driven by a trend known as brutalism.

The End of Popups

Companies have used popups and interstitials to ensure that visitors see messaging and information that the brand feels is important. But popups have always been seen as a nuisance to users, breaking up the flow and diverting users from the information important to them.

Popups have been on a decline for some time, but 2018 will be the year where popups all but disappear. Much of this is driven by Google. The search giant announced in 2016 that they would begin to punish sites that used the invasive messaging strategy, but its take some time for companies to start to feel the pain. As search rankings suffer, you can expect brands to drop popups as a means of communication with visitors.

Improved Online Support

The early days of the web gave us static sites that provide information to customers and potential customers. But if your question wasn’t answered by an FAQ, or you needed more help, you still needed to place a phone call to get your problem resolved.

As the web evolved, so did customer service available online. Customers could talk directly with representatives from a brand to help with issues and questions. The problem remained, however, availability of customer service agents to assist with issues.

Chatbots have changed that and will continue to make headway in the new year. With chatbots and AI, companies can help customers faster than before, even when customer service resources aren’t immediately available.

Intentional Animation

CSS3 brought breakthroughs in motion and animation without the use of Flash. Like a kid with a new toy, web developers and designers used these code-based animations as frequently as possible, adding movement to their sites but sometimes overwhelming or distracting users from the real message.

In 2018, CSS-driven animation will mature. Instead of elements moving just to look cool, pages will contain animation to help users find what they are looking for, or intentionally draw attention to specific page elements. This purposeful use of movement will result in better user experience.

Progressive Web Applications

Mobile has replaced the desktop in the race to the top of web usage. More users turn to their phones and tablets for search today than to their desktops. Mobile applications have matured and well designed, but it’s difficult to get customers to give up precious system memory for your mobile app.

Enter progressive web applications. Progressive web applications are websites that look and act like mobile applications, with nuanced user interfaces and sophisticated functionality that customers have come to expect from mobile applications.

Big, Bold Designs and Less Stock Photography

Like fashion, web design goes through evolutions. Recently was the flat movement, where layout and design used little layering and blocks of color.

This year’s evolution will include big, bold designs combined with minimalism. Sites set for redesign (or initial design) in 2018 will use bright colors and high saturation, taking advantage of all that modern monitors have to offer. Well designed sites will be clean and easy to use, focusing on vibrancy and user experience.

Also expected for sites redesigned in 2018 will be the decline of stock photography and an increase in unique photo content. Photos will move from muted and boring to colorful and interesting in their own right. You can also expect to see more variation in the people depicted in site photos, including greater inclusion of people of color and women.

The post 7 Top Web Design and Development Trends for 2018 originally appeared on the Curotec Blog

The Cost of a Data Breach

145.5 million.

That’s the number of Americans whose data was exposed as a result of the Equifax announced in September of 2017. The number is staggering, and the company is facing intense scrutiny from the federal government and has opened itself up to state and local lawsuits.

While the Equifax breach caught all of our attention due to its size – and the likelihood that we were one of those with exposed information – it isn’t the scariest statistic regarding breaches. These large breaches receive extensive exposure in the media, but the truth is that many more breaches occur with fewer records compromised. Those incidents don’t make it to the nightly news or the headlines. But they occur far more frequently than the catastrophic breaches like Equifax, and no company is immune, regardless of size.

In a recent report by the Ponemon Institute, it was found that the global average for a breach was $141 per record. While there are a number of factors that go into that number, and the amount varies by region, one thing is clear – security breaches are an expensive issue that all companies must be ready for.

What’s Considered a Breach

For the 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study, Ponemon Institute interviewed 419 companies that had experienced breaches in the previous year. These incidents ranged from as few as 2,600 records to as many as 10,000 compromised records.

The study focused on incidents where one of the following was exposed – either an individual’s name, debit card, financial record, or medical record. This kind of information, known as Personally Identifiable Information (PII), gives hackers enough information to create system accounts, credit records, or worse in the case of medical records.

The study also identifies three main reasons these incidents occur. Human error and system glitches are two of the reason, with the third – criminal or malicious attack – being the most prevalent and costly.

What is the Cost for an Enterprise

As noted, the study found that the cost, per record, of an enterprise data breach is $141. That number reflects the average cost across global companies. But for American companies, the cost is greater.

The average cost for the U.S. was $225 per record, $84 more than the global average. In addition to the cost of detection, remediation, and escalation costs, the United States companies must follow strict notification policies based on regulations. Because of this, notification of a breach to those potentially affected made America’s costs the highest in this category.

The cost of a breach also depends on the industry of the organization. Public sector and research companies saw the lowest costs associated with an incident, with the associated costs being $71 and $101 per record, respectively. Healthcare and financial services, however, experienced costs almost double to triple that amount. The per-record amount for financial services averaged $245, while healthcare saw an average of $380.

All of this resulted in the estimated average of $3.6 million per incident.

Small Companies are Not Immune

To say that small businesses are not immune is an understatement. In fact, the damage done to a small business by a security breach can be devastating, even though the overall cost may seem smaller.

According to Security Magazine, the average cost of a data breach for a small business is $36,000 to $50,000. Compared to several million, this may seem trivial, but it has a far greater impact on a business that is less likely to be able to absorb these costs.

Recent years have seen an increase in attacks on smaller companies. These attacks increased to 31% last year, up significantly from 18% only two years before. That’s because more than 70% of attacks specifically target small businesses.

While it may seem like enterprises are a better mark for attacks, small businesses present an attractive, almost irresistible target, for two reasons. First, these businesses are generally unaware of security threats. Second, these businesses have a greater exposure to threats, exactly because they are less aware. It creates a vicious cycle that is difficult to escape without help and training. Only 15% of small business owners say that they are “very knowledgeable” regarding persistent threats.

Costs are More Than Financial

The financial impacts of a breach are only part of the equation, for both enterprises and smaller companies.

Losing customers is the biggest concern for companies that have experienced a breach, and this loss of customers leads to an increase in the financial impact. The Ponemon 2017 study found that global companies that lost 4% of their customers from a breach could see the overall average cost of the incident increase to $5.1 million. American companies experienced the greatest blow from lost customers, as well.

For small companies, the effect of a breach can be disastrous. Recovery from an incident may be impossible. In fact, it’s estimated that 60% of small to medium businesses that are hacked go out of businesses within 6 months of the breach.

The costs of a security breach are enormous, regardless of organization size, and its effects can be devastating. Yet many companies, particularly small and medium businesses, don’t make security a priority, even with the devastating effect it can have. Understanding potential holes, addressing concerns, and proactively managing risks can mean the difference between a prosperous organization and one that is out of business.

The post The Cost of a Data Breach originally appeared on the Curotec Blog