Trends in website design are constantly evolving—your bottom line can be affected if you don’t stay ahead of the curve. The days of loading websites with all of the flashy “bells and whistles” are long gone. Web users want sites that give them an engaging experience, while captivating their attention from the very beginning. Don’t deter visitors with an outdated design. Put your site ahead of the competition with our second installment of Web Trends: What’s Hot and What’s Not below!
Hot: Transitions with Animations
Transitioning from one website element to another can feel abrupt when new features, or components, suddenly appear while others disappear. An emerging trend is the use of animated leads to smooth transitions between website sections. It’s a creative way to enhance a basic layout as content gently appears and disappears with soft animation.
Not: Overdoing It with JavaScript
JavaScript isn’t bad. In fact, it can be used to create some excellent load screens. What hurts your website’s performance is too much JavaScript. Excessive use of Java-based plugins and other features slows down load speeds. If it’s not properly implemented, Java can also pose a security risk because it may draw code from other sources to compensate for deficiencies, which means malicious code can get into your site. Lastly, JavaScript isn’t scanned by search engine crawlers, which affects your keyword rankings.
Hot: Creative Typography
The lettering used on websites can be as dramatic and eye-catching as the other elements of the design. For instance, some designers prefer to use contrasting typeface. Some even incorporate images, videos and other animated features specific to individual letters in their typography. However, it’s important to note that there is a fine line between helpful and hurtful with this trend. Too many typefaces create a cluttered look. Find a happy medium by:
- Choosing typography that doesn’t take away from other content
- A/B testing pages with different typefaces to see what visitors like best
- Avoiding any lettering that’s difficult to read, especially on smaller mobile screens
Not: Aggressive Pop-Ups
When used subtly and sparingly, pop-ups aren’t too hurtful. It’s a completely different situation when they take over an entire page, or smack visitors in the face before they can see anything else on the site. Although pop-ups have been typically used to prompt sign-ups for e-books, newsletters and email lists, keep in mind the burden the pop-up places on the visitor. Use pop-ups very sparingly—as aggressiveness will only deter users.
Hot: Blur and Scale Background Images
A clever way to minimize page load times is with a blur and scale technique. This technique works by scaling and blurring images as a page loads, slowly revealing the clear background image once the page is fully loaded. If implemented correctly, blur and scale can improve page load times by up to 30%!
Not: Parallax Scrolling
In the parallax scrolling technique, background images move slower than the foreground images in order to create the illusion of depth. There typically isn’t as much content to utilize in this design concept, which negatively affects SEO rankings. This is especially true when text is embedded in the graphics. Parallax scrolling can also affect the user experience by:
- Reducing page load times due to the heavy use of JavaScript and graphics
- Creating a slow experience for mobile users
- Inducing motion-sickness for the viewer
Avoiding outdated web design techniques is a must to keep your site ahead of the curve, but keep in mind that not all popular trends can be used effectively for your business. Our website design professionals will ensure that your site stays current with trends and—more importantly—focusing on what works best for your brand.