Web Design trends come and go every year. But it becomes imperative for designers to keep abreast with the transcending trends in the web designing world.
2013 has seen a range of web trends….some are here to stay and extend to 2014 while some trends have irked the hell out of the user and therefore, need to be done away with. Some of these features on a website can certainly be termed as ‘redundant’ and will contribute to nothing more than the client pulling at his hair for reasons similar to waste of time or mere stalling of the entire user experience.
Some of the trends that can completely be done away with are listed as below:
- Stock PhotosUnrealistic stock photos that don’t reflect the original business ethos is a big “No No” this season. Allow your user to be able to emote and relate to the images you use on the website. This assuredly will evoke their trust in your brand.
- An excessively ornate web siteOver-crowding the website with elements was never a charm. Often we notice that websites are home to elements that add no real value to the website. On the contrary certain elements land up hindering the user experience, or even worse, antagonizing him. Invest time into thinking if that search bar is needed? Wonder if that tag cloud in your blog side bar does add any virtue to the site? Think. Think hard. What are the 20% of elements that bring 80% of the results you’re after? Start there. Find a reason behind everything you add on your website. Essentially, ‘LESS IS MORE’ is the new mantra on the block.
- Vague content hierarchyThe tile-style really picked marks after the popularity of Pinterest. This often makes a website look messy as opposed to easily maneuverable and simple. One must contemplate how ambiguous is the content while planning a website. Certain order is certainly required.
- Flash IntrosOh there was a time!! These were popular and could be spotted on every website in town and around. However, it seems that they have passed their prime. These aren’t that impressive anymore owing to the fact that they don’t work on apple devices and Google doesn’t recognize them. Besides the often take long to load and can be a rather cumbersome wait. It’s best to do away with these.
- Auto play VideosImagine this. You are dedicatedly going through the content on a web site and suddenly….boom…a sound and video combination breaks through the moment. That can be super annoying. Such unwarranted video pop ups can therefore be quite a hindrance to user content interaction. Such videos may be perceived as lack of valuable content for the website and can often cause a user to abandon the website thereby costing you a valuable customer.
- Dropping the side-barFor greater visual satisfaction and more interaction with the content, most designers are now contemplating dropping the idea of a side bar. Things flashing around, crowding or distracting you don’t really add much flavor to a website design or its functionality anymore. Furthermore, these don’t often convert well on mobiles and thus a lot of designers are working on re-vamping this for a better user experience.
- Photo CarouselThough this feature is used on a lot of websites, the time it takes for the user to go through all the photos one realizes that the highly variable auto scroll make this option a much more inferior concept as opposed to a nice introduction video.
- M.dot SitesThe concept of m.dot sites is an outdated concept. Its case of an m.dot version of a website, the viewer is redirected to a different mobile version identified by a sub domain m.yourwebsite.com. The major hurdle here being that one needs to therefore maintain a separate website that is mobile specific. Latest trend brought in is the need to have websites that are more devise friendly and can adapt their resolution and layout to any display and device. In a nut shell, one need to think and adapt and change the layout real-time to readjust it in such a manner that page enhances the user experience across various platforms and devices.