The field of web design is fluid and fast moving. New innovations are constantly reshaping the way that web designers approach their jobs. As certain trends emerge as popular choices amongst consumers, we get a glimpse of what web design might look like, at least in the near future.
Understanding current web design trends is essential for understanding how customers prefer to interact with the sites they visit. With this understanding, it is possible to devise more efficient and effective ways of monetizing the traffic that you are able to generate.
The speed with which things can change in the field of web design can make keeping up to date with all the relevant developments difficult or impractical for many people.
Mobile is Essential
A few years ago, mobile browsing overtook the more conventional types. Now, more people use a mobile device to access the internet than a full sized one. For this reason, websites have been paying increasing attention to mobile devices since 2007, when the launch of the iPhone set the bar for the standard of browsing experience that mobile users should expect. Prior to this, mobile users had to put up with WAP, a vastly inferior (yet massively more expensive) version of mobile internet. Having access to the full thing was a game changer.
Websites now will be dynamic and able to rearrange themselves to display most appropriately on the device they are being browsed on. Such an approach has become more common over the years.
Online Games Making a Comeback
Do you remember the days before the internet became a central feature of our everyday lives? The days where you actually had to be at a computer to get online? Back then, the internet was, to many of us, first and foremost a tool with which we could waste time, and online games were a big part of that.
They have declined in popularity over the years, but with the internet collectively moving from Flash to HTML 5 we can expect more sites like arcadelots.com to start appearing once again.
Minimalist Approach
Because so much browsing is now done on mobile devices, and more importantly over mobile data networks, web browsers want the sites that they visit to be as efficient as possible. The less data that a site requires in order to serve up content to visitors, the more efficient it is considered to be. Users are more likely to spend time on websites that aren’t going to eat in significantly to their monthly data allowances.
Adopting a minimalist style encourages an efficient design and is an easy way to encourage yourself to work in a more considered and reserved manner.
Customization
Consumers are increasingly demanding the ability to customize and personalize experiences to their own tastes and websites are no exception to this. The more options a user has for altering the look and feel of a website, the longer they will hang around.
Understanding where the field of web design is headed allows web designers to get ahead of the curve and to produce websites which feel fresh, bold, and exciting.