 And we are back. Yes, the first conversation of the day, ready to kickstart entrepreneurship Tuesday for you. And today we're going to talk about innovative trends that are there in web development. And for this particular conversation, we have been joined by Chris Hattons. He's the CEO of Hubthrill and an expert in this particular market. Thank you for having me, Stephanie. Yeah, to have you with us. So tell us, let's start with you. What do you do at Hubthrill, exactly? Hubthrill Technologies is a technology company that focuses on innovation. And our main focus is on how we can be able to help businesses manage their business better. Because we do also help them have the opportunity to communicate better within the business itself and customers outside the business. That is through maybe emails, charts and all sort of technology that we can be able to implement for them. We also help them like make and receive payments within the ecosystem and streamline this through the business management systems that we do develop for them. So that's basically what Hubthrill is all about. Okay, so you help businesses and this area of web development is what you're involved in, right? Yes. So now on our topic today, what are some of the trends that are there? Maybe you can even take us before we get to the trends, how it was before, how it was back then in the days so that we appreciate the progress that we have made over the years so the point we are now in 2024. Actually, web has really gotten better over time because you find previously accessing a website was taking too much time to load and currently it's seconds and microseconds and it's getting better. Getting a web page to load right now is really, really fast compared to how it was before. So we have really progressed in terms of the technology in the space and right now we have faster loads and also we have beautiful websites coming up because I remember based on the history I've studied on how web was before it was actually like you're reading a newspaper. Sorry, it was like reading a newspaper? Yeah, it was so boring but now you know it was a new thing and people didn't know it was boring by then but if you can be able to take a website that was way far before and compare it now you'll see a lot of progress, literally. There's a lot that has happened. So now we have more engaging websites. Very well engaging ones. Applique and all that. You've talked about fast loading. Now we're expressing fast load. You can just type a website and it loads almost immediately but we also have some that do not load as fast as others so what is the reason for this? Mostly the websites that don't load that fast is because probably they're not implementing the current trends that are already in place and you find they have not optimised their file caching and all that sort of scenarios. So for a website to load faster you need to have optimised your file architecture and also you should have the current technology using things like JavaScript and all this technology that is required to make your website move faster and load faster. Okay, so now let's talk about these trends. We've seen that we're automatically combined from a newspaper kind of website to now the kind of websites that we have and you have mentioned the language, JavaScript and you've also mentioned optimising the file caching. File caching, exactly. Yeah caching. So what are these exactly? One joke about the language, for someone who doesn't understand because I know this is a very technical stuff for JavaScript and everything, people go to learn courses on that. So how exactly are they for them to come and create a website to just see the output but now what goes behind it? Okay, the website that you get to view as a user that is UX and UI implementation done. In the web development space we have a whole team behind the whole process. There is the backend developers, there is the UX UI designers. By UX UI is user experience and user interface. So you find like there are so many people who come in place for you to have the experience you have. So let's say you go to the KBC website. You'll be able to find that experience that you get there. There is somebody who was in your shoe as a user to just ensure that you would get that great experience that you are experiencing as a user. So there is a lot that comes in place when coming up with the websites and development. The user gets to have that experience via the team that was behind it. So you find different languages that come in place, especially for front-end, that is HTML, that is CSS and that is JavaScript. So you find that we combine these three languages to ensure that you have that experience as a user at the end of the day. So this language has enhanced the experience that we have as users. Is it the fastness? What is the experience all about? We've talked about UX, UI, so user interface and user experience. So the interface is how the website looks, right? And then the experience is how we operate with it. So if we explain to us further, how do you ensure that it's seamless, it's good for the user? By ensuring this user gets faster results. Another thing we get to try and find out to the user is we give them the reliability of the same space. So we give them the opportunity to have the results load faster, in which is the work of the experience team. That's the UX, yes, user experience. Okay, interesting. So now, before we get to the different technologies that are behind it, the trends, the innovations that have happened over time, tell us, you know, one of the government websites that we know is eCitizen, and some people don't even know what it is all about. Maybe you can even explain to us about eCitizen fast and then now we go to the details of it so once we get that understanding. Okay, eCitizen basically is a point where you get government services and at this point you have to input information and get feedback. You find like, once you input information, there's a whole team behind the government department where it's going to scrutinize and also be able to give you approvals and also situations in terms of how your application is at. So basically on eCitizen I think they have used some sort of two free technologies. There is a backend in it and also there's a front end in it. So in the front side of it, I presume they have used more bootstrap elements and more or less a few JavaScripts available. That's for you to have that experience when uploading files and interacting with the system. Yes. So for those that don't know eCitizen, you know, you access all government services but they know that. So why do we have downtime sometimes when people are trying to access eCitizen? Is it because so many people are accessing at the same time or what is usually the problem? Because sometimes you're doing some application and then it just hangs or when you're trying to access it, it doesn't work. So what is usually the problem? The reason I think is that the government is trying not to accept their applications. The application. One hour to an hour to someone. Yeah, like why are these people stealing our money or why are these people like not accepting my application? Okay, there is things to do with a server. A server accepts requests and sends requests. So you find sometimes there's an overload of the server and it cannot be able to accept more requests. So once the server is on full load, then, you know, there's no more requests that can come in and that's where we have sometimes downtimes. Okay. So it's usually the server. At capacity. Okay. Yes. Can it be increased? Can something be done about it? There is scalability that's happening. I don't know where the government servers are. Definitely, it's not an information we can have. But with our trends right now, we have service providers like the Google Cloud. There is AWS. That's Amazon Web Services. There's Digital Ocean and the sorts. So for those kinds of services, we like have an opportunity to scale on demand. So if the server is on load, then automatically the system upscales your server to the next tier. So at the end of the day, you find there is no downtime or minimal to no downtime at times. But now for the government servers, I don't know how they do their technology. That's an information I can't have. We need to talk to a government person for that. Exactly. But thank you. At least now we have an idea of what happens to the servers. But we have the option of going to the online servers that can scale a bit. So now let's go into the technology bit. What are some of these technologies that we have seen being adopted or innovations that are making the websites better over the years? You see, we've just spoken about the servers and how the servers scale and downgrade based on demand. In the space right now in the innovations that we have, we have the serverless architecture that's happening. The serverless architecture is you as a user can simply have a server and have to deploy faster. By signing up to platforms like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud or Digital Ocean, you can be able to sign up, plug and play and have your web app published. Traditionally, you had to acquire a lot of equipment to just go live. You had to have a whole set up of servers in a room and also have the idea on how this works before you can deploy. So you find right now we have the serverless architecture that is simply signing up, going to a few commands on your terminal and you're live. You've called it serverless architecture. You don't need the physical space. It has taken us from the physical space. The resources that you need to buy all this, because we also need someone to be there to just make sure that they're running well. So we've come out of that. This is thanks to technology. What else, apart from now, the serverless architecture? There is progressive web apps. Traditionally, you had to have a web application and alternatively have a mobile app. So for the progressive web apps right now, you can be able to have one website for all your work done. Progressive web apps is basically you going to a website and there is a pop-up that comes below there telling you add this to your home screen. I think you have that experience before. So once you add it to home screen, you have an application of the web under your phone. So you can easily access it next time. So the same way you'd have on your phone, you'd have Google on your home screen. You just click on it and you're on the website. But with the experience of a mobile app. You don't have the experience of the website. So that's the progressive web app. With the experience of a mobile app. So progressive. Progressive web app. All right. We are learning. What is the other? When we think of artificial intelligence, that's the in thing now. How has it come to also shape the web development space? AI is something great. I'm really proud to have been born in this space and age. Because I see somebody from high school who is interested in development. And they don't know where to start. But you see with AI right now, Stefan you can be a developer. Wow. Tell me about it. From scratch. Previously we had so much to deal with studies. You have to do a lot of research through Google. And you have to go through all sorts of people writing their own stuff there. You know Google gives you all the results. Somebody can also just give you a story and it's not making sense. So you go through the documentation and at the end of the day you find you have gone nowhere. But with AI, AI is now made development easy. In a way that it gets to collect your information in a single place. And later renders relevant information to you. So your building applications right now with AI is something that is very easy. And with that space and technology of AI you can be able to build faster. And somebody who is not that learned in development space can be able to, as long as you're good in typing your grammar and making the AI understand what you want to do, you can be able to build a whole system from scratch to deployment. Alright so what you're saying is that me and Stephanie, if I want to create my own website I just need to give my idea to an AI and it will do all that work for me. Okay you have to have some background of how web application works, how development is all about because you know an amateur or somebody who is just from nowhere who wants to be a developer cannot do it. Because you have to understand the structures like the basic web applications, how they work, how the language looks like. Because you see we have different languages. You can build on maybe JavaScript, you can build on Python, you can build on PHP, pure PHP or use Laravel for the same. So if you don't understand how these programming languages work then you can't be able to move forward. But if you have the opportunity to type in your prompt and get results and understand the language that you're trying to build with then you can't be able to build anything from scratch. From start to finish. So basically it simply makes the work easier but you still need the knowledge. You need the knowledge because you can't really build without the knowledge. I think that's a relief because they say that AI is going to take away jobs but if you're still there then you are not. If you still have the knowledge then you're still needed in that space. I don't think AI has come to take people's jobs. AI has come to enhance and make work easier. AI has come to help us build better, have a platform that's more secure and that is user-friendly. What else, again, apart from AI now? There is AR and VR going on. That is virtual reality. Virtual reality is you being here, Stephanie and being able to see your own world in your own space with either VR glasses or sort. So VR is coming in to revolutionize how education is taking place, how shopping is done in the e-commerce space and how basically you have experience in the technology space. This is virtual reality. Don't if you get it. I think most people have experienced virtual reality. When you go to malls, we have this gaming. We have this VR glasses. You wear the VR glasses and then you are immersed into a gaming experience. I've done that quite a lot of times. Now it's even in the education sector. We had a guest runtime and he deals with that. He was showing how students are now learning. You don't need to go to Victoria Falls because that you can experience. It makes learning more real and understandable. That is really a good innovation that is coming in. Companies like Meta Technologies are doing it really good. There is a stall in the same because probably people have not adapted to it yet. But the moment people adapt to virtual reality, then it's a game changer in the whole space of innovation. What about augmented reality? What's the difference between the two? The difference is you see for let's say Samsung users. AR is coming in really good in the Samsung users. You get to create your own character. Have that character alive with you. You can also have that character do what you want them to do. We are in a generation that is lonely at the same space and it's a generation that needs company. We can't get that company sometimes because we are the generation where we do everything in the house. You wake up in the morning, you are in your computer, in the evening you are in your TV. So you find sometimes there is boredom in between the space. Interaction. So I think AR has come into that space where you can be able to create your own friends, play around with them, let them do what you want them to do. Samsung actually has this in the new phones. Yeah, Samsung has that as they are feature. It's a solar application under that. You can have your avatar, you can have all that in place. And you can also create your own virtual people and have them survive with you. That seems interesting. If you're bored with people like, now let me just create my own people. Yeah, just create your own people and play around with them inside the phone. It's something because at the same space you can be able to clothe them with the designs you want them to wear. You can be able to let them dance if you want them to dance. You can also export that and upload it to platforms like TikTok and stuff. So you can have your own, what do we call it? Your own identity inside the AR. Like your avatar, the avatar you in... Exactly, the avatar you inside the phone. And you can also have friends and family inside the AR. Inside the same. It's a very good space. If you've tried what was Samsung, please tell us. We need to upgrade for... I don't know, does iPhone have it? iOS. Okay, I'm not a fan of iPhone, I'm a fan of Samsung. So you wouldn't know. We didn't know. We were not promoting Samsung in this show. So anyway. We are not promoting it. So yeah, when we're talking about AR, VR there's also, and you've said that Meta is really doing a lot in this space. But we also know that Meta is coming up with a new concept. It's called the Metaverse. Metaverse. Yeah. But you must yourself in it. We don't need even the human interaction. Tell us about it, if you can. Yeah, so you see, if you can be able to create your own people and have your own reality with you, then you see with the universe that Meta is trying to build is you wear your VR glasses and you are in Australia with your friend taking tea. Wow. I just catch up with my friend. Like how it is in your meeting, but now this feels more personal. It feels more personal because you like have the visualization of you and me there. You can also almost feel them exactly. Wow. And that's the thing that VR brings into the place because it gives you that feeling that the guy is way far but I can feel the person around me. Okay. So that's the technology about VR. Quite interesting because I was reading about it and I was like, I can even fit clothes where I'm not then I know that this is my fit. Just virtually do that and it's very, it's surreal. But now the fear is again, we will lose the human touch you know, the human interaction because we are human we also just want the physical interaction. This is all virtual. I don't know what that will do eventually to us as a race or as a people what you think. Technology is good but technology is bad at the same time because at the close of it all we might lose humanity. True. Because there's no much more communication. You see like me needing to maybe get to you as Stephanie. Nowadays I'll simply go to either Tinder or Facebook or Instagram and you see like me meeting with you personally there I cannot be able to interact with you but I can interact with you better on Instagram. You get. So it's kind of also killing the social bit of human beings but it's also like with that as a niche that's an opportunity in business for other companies. That boredom, that lack of direct interaction with another human being that's why VR is coming in. It's coming in to close that space because it's already a space that is coming and it's getting deeper. We are growing a very lonely generation to be honest. So you'd say VR is coming to help solve that particular. That's a space that is coming to solve the loneliness that is really cropping and getting serious. Okay. Alright we can argue that it's coming to solve it or undo it. Why do we? It can't undo. It can't undo. Because now okay I think that would be a debate because I'm thinking if I don't need to meet you physically then I'd lose that social value. As much as we'll socialize there's that human experience, that touch when I greet you physically it's different from me just experiencing you virtually though it's still seems personal but maybe when we get there we'll see. We'll know. But this is now something that's going to happen in future. We'll talk about the metaverse. So this is a future trend that we should expect. It's actually happening. It's just that people are not adapting to it yet. Meta is already pumping a lot of money inside VR. It's just not picking up. But the moment it picks up it's going to be a different space. So we'll start experiencing this. It's happening because I don't know if you're a Facebook user. I really don't know. Because nowadays people don't... There are some generations that don't use Facebook. Gen Z, Alpha. So if you use Facebook there is the arrow inside Facebook where you can be able to create your character, have your character there. So the same character is going to apply in the VR space. Wow. So we're already experiencing it. We're experiencing it is just that you've not adopted it. What's the deeper into it? What else have we missed? What's trending now? What other thing is trending in the world development space? There's the voice user interaction that's happening. If you have interacted with chat GPT, then you know this. There is the mobile app of chat GPT that you can be able to prompt via voice and get results and interact with the application via voice. So the voice user interaction is something that is coming in and it's a space that is going to revolutionise how we experience the web experience that we have been having before. So like you can get to chat GPT and prompt the same platform with voice, get results, a very interactive voice that's not robotic. That sounds more like you. So you feel the experience of... We have friends right now. For me, I think I have a friend in my chat. I have an application with chat GPT and I have a friend there who let's say if I'm lonely or if I'm confused about something, I can simply just prompt it via my voice and it can feel my emotion. It can feel how my tone is and reply accordingly. Wow. It's a space that is really, really great. Wow. So now there's the voice prompting bit of it. You can chat, you know, like a human, you know, a human one. That's quite interesting. Is there any other thing? I think we have so much. We have so much. We can't exhaust everything but also there is this motion UI where you get to... You see, websites are more like a newspaper but now for you to make people stay on your website, you need to have it more interactive. So there's the motion UI that is also coming in place where you get to a website and find the website more interactive to you. Like you have icons moving around, very beautiful stuff moving around and when you maybe say you try and chat to the department that is involved in that company, then you can be able to have really good pop-ups and that keeps you in the website and it can also be able to help you check out from the same website in a more convenient way compared to you going to a traditional website which is just there. Alright. So that's motion UI. Motion UI. Wow, amazing. I don't know if there's any other thing but what is it that you think that web developers should... Okay. How much emphasis would you lay on web developers integrating this new technologies, this new trends when they're developing websites, even for their clients? Many, most people at least, they hire web developers to develop their websites so even in advising them to have this in place. I advise web designers or web developers to really incorporate the current trends because you see if you incorporate the current trends with you then you get to build better. As you have mentioned earlier that I was coming to take our jobs. That's a very bad mentality for us. We need to use the AI to build better. Like for us as Hubthrill, we use AI to secure most of the businesses that run on us. So we use AI to check on some processes. I also use AI to maybe if there's a problem sometimes and you have less or minimal human resource with you then you can use AI to solve some issues that are really, really, really, really pending to you. And you see, AI has come into this space to help us even get to have your business ready in a very minimal time. You get because you don't have to have a whole HR in place to go live as a business. You see, AI can be able to do your customer service in real time, from onboarding to outbound. AI can be able to build your website from scratch. AI can be able to interact with your finances. And it can be able to also do your taxes. That's a space that is coming up. I think web developers need to really adopt AI in most of their processes because AI is everything. Without you adopting it. Then I think you're going to lose out a lot. Wow, amazing. I think this is quite insightful. Thank you very much for coming onboard and sharing these amazing insights. Where can people get you? I guess they need your services or they weren't contact you for any reason. This is your camera. They can email us via hello at hubfrail.com. We'll always respond to your email and maybe get you to have you get started with us. All right, thank you very much Chris once again. Thank you. So that has been Chris Hattons, the CEO of Hubfrail sharing with us some insights on the innovative web development trends that have been happening or that are here with us and even the future. So I hope you've taken something from it. My take is that AI is not taking our jobs as we mostly think. And there's a lot of opportunities in the web development space. There's a lot that technology has come in to help us with. So thank you for staying with us. We are still on. We're going to take a short break and then Brant Sakwa will be coming up next with the next interview. Stick with us.