I keep seeing all these articles stating “_ is the best!” “Start making _, it will be all there is in a year!” and so on and so forth.
The particular one that triggered me to write this is a particular article going on about why cards are the “future of the web”. The actual article is quite well written — what bugs me is the phrase “future of the web.” You could point out that I’m arguing semantics, and that’s certainly true.
But the point remains:
The only certain thing about the future is that it will be a time of more uncertainty than ever before, whether economically, culturally, politically, or especially technologically.
No one could’ve accurately predicted the shift to flat design and minimalism, or the obsession with parallax scrolling. Web or technological trends are just that, trends. Trends come and go, rise in popularity and fall in popularity, and in the upcoming years the rapidity with which they will evolve will only continue to accelerate.
If you see or predict a trend, that’s fine! You might be right on! But don’t say it’s “the future” if it’s something as temporary and short-termed as cards. The future of the web might be VR websites, or direct neural connectivity. It might be some bizarre form of physical manifestation or integrated reality. But cards are no more the future of the web than the design patterns of Web 2.0 were. They’ll be here for a year and gone the next.