I’ve been working recently on what’s the basic / features used in most websites in 2015. Here is the list:

1. Parallax
2. Carousel
3. Animate
4. Smooth Scrolling
5. Flat UI Design
6. Nice & Clean Icons
7. UI Framework
8. JavaScript Library with their extensions
9. Slider

From all of features above can be achieve by using following plugins/extension/library:

1. Carousel – Owl Carousel
2. Parallax – Parallax.js
3. Animate – Animate.css
4. Smooth Scroll – see my post here
5. Fontello – include Font Awesome, Fontellico, etc.
6. Ui Framework – Bootstrap, Foundation
7. Slider – Light Slider

In 2016, I think most of the above still remain use.

A bit of reading just now – probably my next project will use Angular Material.