A successful website must keep up with the latest web design trends. The problem is that most people tend to confuse trends with fads. While a trend is something that evolves over a period of time, a fad becomes popular very quickly and then fades away even quicker (diet coke for example).
Below are the list of 7 Web design trends that are here to stay in the future:
1) Mobile Friendly Sites
There are new technologies that are creeping in, particularly the mobile web technology. As per recent market reports, 20% of the total web searches in 2012 was done using mobile devices. This would mean that designers are ensuring that their web designs are mobile friendly as well. In other words, these mobile friendly interfaces can be seen without any hiccups on the iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Evidently, the mobile-based site design is one of the popular web design trends and if designers don’t learn to adapt they will surely find themselves phased out.
2) Social Media Integration
Integration of social media apps is a must want feature nowadays. Without this feature or trend, a website ceases to be mobile friendly. It is evident that mobile devices would be the more preferred source for browsing in the future. Hence, mobile friendly sites must come with integrated social media apps so that users can access, share and view posts on the social media when they are on the move.
3) HTML5, JQuery and CSS3 for Animation
The new web designs are also relying more heavily on HTML5, JQuery and CSS3 for providing animated effects to websites, instead of Flash. Unfortunately, Flash, which was once the most popular tool for animation and multimedia, is fast becoming outdated, as it has no other alternative, particularly in terms of interactiveness. Similarly, Adobe does not support mobile devices. Sites, which have been designed using these new markup languages, speak for themselves.
4) Banner and Ribbon designs
Banner and ribbon designs are also becoming more popular than before. There are banner and ribbon design tutorials that are available online. Although this trend was popular before, it has only recently become a rage with young designers.
5) Online Magazine designs
Online magazines have become very popular in the recent times. They have a unique, attractive design with an interactive layout that catches the attention of the reader. To top it, the mobile versions of these online magazines are a rage with the new generation.
6) Single-page Layout designs
The single-page layout is a very popular design trend. It is popular mainly because anything that is unwanted or unnecessary can easily be deleted. It also serves as business cards that provide precise information on the business.
7) Modal windows
This is a pop-up window but a bit more sophisticated and is a bit like a video gallery. The visitors to the site do not have to leave their main page while viewing the modal window. These windows generally seek inputs from the visitor or provide information.
Finishing Note
In short, select trends that are unlikely to become outdated overnight. Then design your site using these popular trends with staying power, to make great looking websites.
Guest Post by Jem
This is a guest post by Jem Larson of buyVerizon.com, a site that offers savings and current information onVerizon Fios availability, as well as Verizon.com services.
Great post. I agree these trends in website design are here to stay. Thanks for sharing.