Whether or not you believe Google Glass is truly dead, augmented reality (AR) will also be a major player in the next decade. Whether it’s through a phone screen or with a wearable, users will soon view their environment through a screen that overlays relevant information (weather, traffic) or something specific they’re searching. In the latter case, this could mean that people are viewing websites on Glass-like devices which will require a transparent background with which to navigate their environment. This offers similar considerations to smart watch browsers: how much space will there be for branding and styling, and how much will users have to click around to get what they want? And more than simply resizing for a smaller screen as with smart watches, websites for augmented devices will need to be designed specifically to take advantage of quick glances and the edges of a user’s field of vision, instead of blocking it. But new devices will also bring about new opportunities. Technology research firm Gartner predicts that "By 2020, 30% of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen" (Levy, 2016), through voice commands and read-aloud content. This takes into account not just wearables, but also smart home devices like Amazon's Alexa and Google Home. Currently these devices can answer simple questions, perform web searches, and read the news, but more complex intelligence and more intuitive web interfaces could allow for full site browsing though voice, including content reading and navigational commands. This will require a close look at current web technologies and how the web can become even more semantic, with items like navigation, headers and footers, and branding clearly defined so it can be treated as such by a smart device. Websites can even take it a step further and read the content aloud themselves. This will allow for a more brand-centered experience (the celebrity voice-over from the TV commercial could also narrate the website) and ensure that the content being delivered is what the brand wants to convey with that page.
AR and virtual reality (VR) will go much deeper than just viewing the web on a different device. Already, manufacturers of virtual reality devices tout the 3D capabilities, like Microsoft’s Hololens event that featured a virtual dining chair:
This demo showed the possibility of a flat website, where customers could then drag objects into the “real world” to try them out. While it’s unclear the exact web tech required to achieve this, developers will be quick to jump on it, especially in home and other retail categories. The next step will making the web presence itself more immersive, allowing visitors to navigate and swipe though pages with a swipe of their real hand on a virtual image. This will lead at least somewhat to a move back to skeumorphic designs that mimic the objects they are meant to represent; it will be a necessity of adding 3D design to make sure that it looks natural in its environment. Flat design won’t work when you’re trying to create an authentic VR or AR experience.
Similarly, whether they are in VR, AR, or a regular old browser, websites will have to be more movement friendly. In the last few years Javascript and other dynamic code functions have been developed to allow for drag-and-drop, swiping between pages as you would an e-book, or using multi-finger gestures. The original iPad contacts app mimicked a book with paper pages, and people expected them to turn like the real books they were used to using. The next iteration of this expectation will be people expecting the web on both flat devices and using AR to act like the apps they are used to, with swipes, taps, pinches, and zooms acting as they do in other areas of their mobile devices.
The web will continue to grow and shift, but for it to be successful designer and developers have to have faith in its longevity. While much of the available code base and technologies are determined by the World Wide Web Consortium, still directed by Tim Berners-Lee, user-created tools, libraries, and languages are published every day as people push the limits of design and interaction online. Creators of web content, design, and systems need to create grounded designs for today, but boldly consider tomorrow with every decision they make. The web is estimated to contain 4.76 billion pages and over 9,700 petabytes (9,700,000,000 terabytes or 97,000,000,000,000,000 megabytes) of information. It can only get bigger from here.