77 Things That Made 2016 an Amazing Year for Web Professionals

The cool     is ready to jump away, and it means that 2016 is almost over. We hope that it was a productive and profitable year for you and your business!

The Monkey of 2016 shared with us different events all over the world: Summer Olympic Games in Rio, a vaccine against Ebola virus, desired Oscar for Leonardo DiCaprio for "The Relevant" movie, the Presidential Election in the United States,  and more!

What did he do for web design and web development world? Have a look at events and releases that were really important for the web.

Things that Made Web Developers Drool in 2016

Events

• International PHP Conference 2016 in Berlin. That was the world's first PHP conference, created for all PHP users and small/large company developers.
• ConFoo Vancouver & Montreal was a multi-technology conference aimed to discover the latest practices and expand your knowledge.
• NDC Oslo was a 5-day event for people, who adore agile, C++, cloud, database, front-end framework, functional programming, gadgets, JavaScript,  diverse languages, mobile, programming languages, security, testing, tools, UX, Microsoft, the web and more (Oslo, Norway).
• Joy of Coding 2016 created for programmers with love.
• NODE PDX 2016 is a Portland event, where you can discover everything from art to JavaScript micro-libraries (Portland, OR, USA).
• The Lead Developer 2016  is a fantastic event, created for developing yourself as a cool tech leader(London, UK).
• Euro Python 2016  is a cool event for meeting all European programmers and students, who are interested in Python (Bilbao, Spain).
• Northeast JAVASCRIPT Conference 2016  is an event for JavaScript lovers. (Stamford, CT, USA). Our goal is to bring together the absolute best framework contributors, scale implementation examples, and developers. We’ll include high-level talks about frameworks, data handling, animations and other key topics.
• JSConf Colombia 2016 (Medellin, Colombia). An event, where members from around the world gathered to learn and share info about the latest trends and technologies in JavaScript development.
• HTML 5 DAYS  (Berlin, Germany). That was an event that provided devs and software architects with in-depth knowledge of HTML5.
• DotJS  (Paris, France) The mission was to gather the best hackers from around the world and let them share their unique insights with everyone.
• IT-Tage 2016 is a cool event, where you can meet worldwide industry leaders, discuss IT news, and participate in cool workshops. (Frankfurt, Germany).

Be up-to-date with more past web development events, who knows, probably you are going to join them in upcoming 2017!

Programming Languages

• TypeScript 2.1 a statically typed language that was released in 2016. It helps to manage and maintain huge codebases by OOP model and static typing. Try it yourself.
• PHP 7.1 was released in December 2016 for language improvement. A new version feels like an updated platform for creating apps.
• Python 3.6 a language that perfectly fits web development and machine learning and was released in December 2016.
• Swift 3 an open source language for developing apps and backends on iOS that was released in September 2016.

Frameworks

• Angular.js2 is a Google JavaScript-based, front-end framework that was released in 2016  that is very popular among large corporations.
• Bootstrap is a  front-end framework, which includes CSS, HTML, and JavaScript components. The version 3.3.7. was released in 2016. This framework was created for developing responsive websites of different sizes. Don’t miss Bootstrap 4 in a new year.
• Foundation is a front-end framework, produced for developing flexible websites. The framework has GPU support for sleek animation and  Fastclick.js for a fast load on mobile gadgets. 6.3.0-rc3 version was released in December 2016.
• Backbone.js is a RESTful JSON interface and model–view–presenter based framework that was released in April 2016 and is very popular among JavaScript developers. All server-side functions should run through API for great productivity with minimum code use.
• Symphony is an open source framework. The release of  Symfony 3.2.0 was in December. 2016 is also a year of 5 years anniversary of Symfony 2 framework.
• Zend Framework 3 was released this year after four years of tight and hard work. Try  Zend Expressive for creating apps on  PSR-7 middleware.
• Laravel 5.3  is an open-source framework that was released in August 2016. This framework follows the model–view–controller (MVC)  for web apps development.

Tools

• The latest 1.8 version of Visual Studio Code was released in November 2016. An open source code editor with multiple plugins for syntax checking.
• Git an open source version control system produced for taking over all kinds of projects. The latest version 2.11.0 of Git was released in November 2016.
• Novi Builder is a brilliant tool that helps you to build any HTML website you need. By the way, our bestselling and 2016 released HTML theme Starbis was created with the use of Novi Builder.

It's Like Stifler's Mom, but only for Web Designers

Events

• DotYork 2016  is a cool conference in the UK for creative minds, created to inform and inspire (York, UK).
• UXScotland  is a design conference that allows participants to learn and to practice a lot (Edinburgh, UK).
• Collective 2016 is  a 3-day content strategy to learn from worldwide masters (Atlanta, GA, USA).
• Digital Summit Denver is a digital marketing event that allows you to speak with 1400 master marketers, creatives and strategists (Denver, CO, USA).
• UX Lausanne 2016  is a conference event that was created to improve and exchange web design knowledge among local and international masters (Lausanne, Switzerland).
• Web Design Day 2016 created to inspire different nations to do their best on the web (Pittsburgh, PA, USA).
• ICON9   is a national illustration conference created to discuss illustration, publishing, design, advertising and more. Learn more from worldwide industry leaders (Austin, TX, USA).
• Design and Content Conference 2016   is an event for discussing the future of the web, learning from global leaders and participate in workshops (Vancouver, Canada).
• Better by Design 2016  is a conference focused on thoughtful design to develop projects, people and our world (Madison, WI, USA).
• Big Design Conference 2016  (Dallas, TX, USA) This event has become a must-attend event for user experience and usability professionals, digital marketers, designers, and content strategists.
• Pixel Up!  (Johannesburg, South Africa) Three days of inspiration and studies of UX and UI design.
• Design Matters 16  (Copenhagen, Denmark) This event brought together designers from TOP companies from around the world to talk, discuss, and collaborate.
• Affect   (Portland, OR, USA) A two-days conference on design. Was opened with talks regarding the culture of design.
• PRODUCTIZED Lisbon 2016  (Lisbon, Portugal) It is a 2-days event of training on product management and design, meeting thought leaders in all things product, from product thinking and design to product management.
• Smashing Conf Barcelona 2016 (Barcelona, Spain) Valuable and unforgettable one track, two full conference days and four workshops.
• Adobe Max - The Creativity Conference (San Diego, CA, USA) The mashup of 9,000+ world’s top creatives and business experts who have gathered to learn, share, create, and play.

See more 2016 events for web designers to submit for 2017 participating!

Web Design books published in 2016

Do not miss this list and find the perfect book for you to get in upcoming 2017!

• Draplin Design Co.: Pretty Much Everything by Aaron James Draplin. Stories, tutorials, work, almost everything to develop and enjoy the design working process.
• Understanding Industrial Design: Principles for UX and Interaction Design by  Simon King and  Kuen Chang. Combine physical and digital design easily and professionally with this guide.
• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp. Answer all your business questions and become a pro in just five days with this tutorial.
• Design for Real Life by Sara Wachter-Boettcher and Eric Meyer. In this book, Eric Meyer and Sara Wachter-Boettcher suggest how to design for stress cases supporting users in a wider range of contexts.
• Pixels and Place: Connecting Human Experience Across Physical and Digital Spaces by Kate O'Neill. The Author explains how to design to keep the humanity respected. This guide will be also perfect for entrepreneurs, strategists, marketers, and anyone who designs experiences for people.

Chaotic list of Tools, Apps, Fonts and other treats for real Web Designer

• Font Awesome 5. This tool is your easiest way to add logos and vector icons to your website. Get a PRO version of Font Awesome 5 with a 2016-made Early Backer Campaign.
• Gutenberg. A nice flexible kit that makes web typography easy and adorable.
• Min. Cool and smart browser that provides with suggestions before you start typing.
• Runner. A tool that helps you to speed your daily Sketch workflow.
• Email Toolbox. This tool was created to share with you hand-picked resources for marketers and designers.
• Material Color. An instrument that provides you with a color palette, which you can view by code, RGB or hex value.
• Simplified JavaScript Jargon. A cheesy tool that provides you with JavaScript buzzwords guide.
• Create. A major graphic design app that allows you to work with versatile shapes, typography, photos, lines and more.
• LOLColor. This tool is your source of inspiration if you need to play with colors palette.
• ColorDrop. This tool will be very helpful if you are not sure what color to choose.
• Showbox. A very nice modern tool that helps you to make high-quality movies right from your browser.
• Fontea. A plugin that allows you to use  700 Google fonts in your regular Photoshop.
• Logo Foundry. A tool that helps you with beautiful logos right on your phone.
• South Rose. A gorgeous typeface that was created by Notre Dame inspiration.
• Adobe Spark. This tool makes enabling your ideas enjoyable.
• Color Shemr. This tool allows you create a huge variety of palettes and see how they look.
• Nicely Done. Get inspired for your new project with fresh sweets in this tool.
• Discover.Typography. A collection of typography styles from H&Co designers.
• PixelSquid. A vast library that allows you to add some 3D to your design projects.
• Freeter. This app will help you to organize your working process with multiple tasks.
• San Francisco. It is a package of tools that allow you to create better design experiences.
• Idea Buddy. A tool that was created to fill you up with new ideas.
• Casual. It is a free typeface that is perfect for fashion brands because of its elegance.
• Moo.do. This tool is your Gmail task manager. Work with all your email, documents and links easily.
• Adioma. An infographic generator that lets you create organizational charts, timelines and more.
• Apply Pixels. A beautiful collection of standard design tools and UI templates for improving your design workflow.
• Land. Choose this font, if you adore whimsical hand-lettering.
• Luciano. It is a  handwritten font in a fancy style.
• Sadistic This font comes with a set of Greek and Latin characters and is your goal if you’re going to design some horror projects.
• Noelan. It is a calligraphy typeface for beautiful writing.

If you need more tools for quality web design and web development, join our Curated Tools Directory that was also created in productive 2016! As we can see, 2016 was full of events for every sphere. Which event in 2016 was the most important for you? Please, write in comments and do not forget to share this post with your friends!

Our TemplateMonster team wishes you everything best in upcoming 2017! Let 2017 Сock-A-Doodle-Doo make all your desired dreams come true! Create ravishing websites, succeed in business, develop yourself and be happy!