Web 3.0 offers many new developments and exciting possibilities. This next big step in Web design incorporates some truly revolutionary technologies. Just as Web 2.0 represented a quantum leap forward from Web 1.0, the changes that Web 3.0 is delivering will transform the Web and blow people’s minds.
In this article, I’ll discuss what’s new about Web 3.0, what new features Web 3.0 delivers, and what you need to know about them. But before we look at what all of this means for Web-site design, let’s first pause and consider what Web 3.0 is.
What Is Web 3.0?
Web 3.0 is the next step in the evolution of the Internet. What is Web 3.0 going to deliver to us? The big concept to grasp here is decentralization—relative to the original aims of the worldwide Web’s pioneers. For the present, the Internet is somewhat centralized. It’s powered by huge centralized servers and owned by large central monoliths. But change is coming.
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How Designing for Web 3.0 Differs from Web 1.0 and 2.0
Web 1.0 was a downright clunky experience in comparison to today’s Web. It was great for information dissemination, but not much interaction. Web 2.0 changed all of that, establishing a back-and-forth dialogue. Interactive design became the thing. All this interactivity led to the social Web. Social networks sprang up, content creation took off, and the world never looked back.
However, these aren’t the only ways in which Web 2.0 changed the world. Online commerce became possible and, with it, whole new avenues of commercial possibility opened up.
Briefly, Web 3.0 design differs from 1.0 and 2.0 as follows:
Artificial intelligence and machine learning put power into the hands of the user. Searches and interactions will no longer be one size fits all, but much more personalized to the needs of the individual user.
Processes such as blockchain will spread the authorizing process way beyond today’s privileged power holders, as Figure 1 depicts.
The Internet of things (IoT) will connect a universe of consumer goods to the net, which, we hope, will democratize and decentralize the Web even further.
So what does this new world of super high-tech and community-based power mean for Web-site design? Let’s look at some of the most salient consequences of Web 3.0.
1. The Semantic Web: Enhanced Web Technologies and Content Sharing
Web 3.0, also known as the semantic Web, enables users to perform searches for exact strings of words, which are based on the user’s intent. A host of inputs could inform these searches, including the user’s previous searches, geography, demographics, and buying behaviors. This, in turn, means that Web-site design will focus on user intent, and site’s will share content accordingly.
2. Artificial Intelligence–Driven Design
As artificial intelligence has more and more impact on Web-site design, Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) will have significant impact on the user experience. AI will make Web sites easier to use and more engaging to the user. As we’ll see next, this trend will exploit people’s preference for pictures over pure text in the form of great 3D graphic design.
3. 3D Graphics in Web Design
Advances in graphics technology have delivered enormous strides forward in terms of what’s possible pictorially. This design style will continue to develop in Web 3.0, especially in the realm of 3D graphic design. This will inform everything from image choices to the color schemes of Web sites.
Users of Web 3.0 are going to have to get their heads around some new concepts such as the aforementioned blockchain technology. Plus, it’s usually the case that pictures do the explaining better than words do. Consider the illustration in Figure 2, which shows very quickly and directly how much people tend to prefer Web sites with images. The potential that 3D graphic design offers will cater to this preference.
However, where sites must use text, they should put an emphasis on language that immediately resonates well with their brand. Just as with a business vanity number, in which a telephone number incorporates something that is key to the brand, this use of language works by being both eye-catching and memorable.
Of course, as Web 3.0 takes root, it won’t be so imperative to teach people about new ideas such as the importance of adopting blockchain. Most people will already have learned about them.
4. Content Accessibility on Any Device
The ubiquity of access that the IoT delivers has some consequences for Web site–design choices. Many of the devices that people use to connect to the net will have relatively little processing power. This is likely to be the case for some time to come, so for sites to be as open to access by a smartwatch as by a desktop PC, we much optimize their user interfaces and site performance to perfection.
5. User-Driven Blockchain Design
Blockchain seems to be everywhere right now. Without getting too technical, blockchain provides a way of decentralizing the Web by providing community-driven means of authenticating processes. The idea is to take power from the megacorps and distribute it among the users. Any design work on Web sites or applications—or decentralized applications, or dApps, on blockchain—should build on these principles.
6. Intensive Semantic Web Experiences from AI Chatbots
The overwhelming majority of searches will be via voice rather than keyboard. Why is this happening? Because of the rise of AI and the Internet of Things. Plus, as Figure 3 shows, the growth of personal assistants in our everyday lives has been phenomenal.
What Siri, Alexa, and other voice assistants have in common is a sophisticated verbal interface that learns as it goes. This trend will accelerate with Web 3.0.
What this means for Web 3.0 is that we’ll need to design Web sites with voice searches in mind. One characteristic of voice searching is that people tend to use proper sentences, as though they’re talking to another person. Sites that people can find using conversational queries will benefit. There will be an increase in the use of self-service AI, too, with assistive chatbots becoming both more common and more sophisticated.
Web 3.0 will be much more about the context of a search and the user’s intention. Until now, people have found sites based purely on keyword density. This will change by using AI insights. Searches can build on users’ past behaviors and previous searches to form a complex picture of the user. Structured data will bring about this capability by labeling the vital parts of content on Web sites for easier identification.
7. Futuristic Experience Through AR and VR Augmentation
Artificial reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are hugely exciting. The ways in which companies will be able to repurpose content and make it completely compelling will be phenomenal. The commercial and creative possibilities of AR and VR are off the scale. Being able to see a product within the context of your life—whether your home, your car, your office, your garden, or your wherever—before you buy it will be a game changer for many. This is what AR/VR can deliver. Figure 4 shows a VR headset.
Internet users will benefit from having a better foundation for making decisions about whether to buy certain products. Will that sofa fit my lounge decor? Let’s have a look. And businesses will benefit from being able to demonstrate what products can bring to a given environment. Using such techniques can only result in scaling up your business.
8. Data Decentralization
As I mentioned earlier, the use of blockchain will disperse the power that currently resides with small numbers of huge corporate entities among large numbers of smaller entities and individuals. This power will primarily take the shape of data, which, as it becomes more widely available to people, will be a great leveler in terms of ownership of the Web.
Top 3 Web 3.0 Design Builders
What are the top three applications for building Web 3.0 applications?
1. Sketch
A bit like a Web designer’s Photoshop, Sketch is available only for use on Mac OS. This robust and hugely popular application has all the tools a designer could need, whether for Web site or mobile app design, vector graphics work. or prototyping.
2. Lunacy
This free, Windows-driven package has gained a firm foothold in the design world, not least because it can handle Sketch files. It’s a community-driven platform, so users vote on features and design directions.
3. Figma
This is another popular package that is free to use, powerful, and built for browser use, but there is a desktop app, too.
Designing Web 3.0 Sites Now
The world is not slowing down, nor is Web development. Web 3.0 is already here, so Web-site design needs to factor in its arrival. If you’re not yet designing Web sites with Web 3.0 in mind, you’ve already fallen behind. But you’ll have plenty of opportunities to catch up if you start now.
Conclusion
Several key factors are driving Web 3.0 design, chiefly comprehensibility, means of access, community-based efforts, and search sophistication. If you’ve got a great idea along these lines and are just itching to get it in front of a buyer, using this software proposal contract template will make your task a lot easier.
Through the use of AI and other advanced technologies, Web-site design can stay on top of these factors, as well as address some new ones that are as yet impossible to predict. One of the tricky things about any new world is that you never quite know what it’ll look like until you’re in it. Unless you’re using VR, of course.
At Dialpad, a modern business-communications platform that takes every kind of conversation to the next level, Jessica is turning conversations into opportunities through their cloud-collaboration software. Jessica’s expertise is in collaborating with multifunctional teams to execute and optimize marketing efforts, for both company and client campaigns. She has written for domains such as Bizmanualz and Guider.ai. Read More
