Let's Take a Look Ahead Toward What We Can Expect in Web Design Trends in 2016
For some of us, the GIFs of the '90s web design or midi background music still haunt our internet user dreams! Nothing like listening to music and the website you just came to starts competing with the music in your headphones!
1. Similar UI Patterns
A big side effect of an increase in mobile devices and Google's emphasis on responsive websites has been many sites looking alike. The shift toward responsive design isn't solely to blame; the booming business of WordPress theme market, and responsive frameworks and UI kits have made responsive websites easier to create than ever.
Gone are the days of letting the sky be the limit in web design. Designers now need to consider how the site is going to look and function on many different devices.
2. More Hamburger Menus
Despite UI legend Jakob Nielsen's dislike of the Hamburger menu, its widespread use makes the function easily recognizable for users. In fact, the hamburger menu is making its jump to prime time and appearing on full-screen browser windows as seen on sites like Forbes and CNN.
3. The Long Scroll
Now that the myth of placing important elements above the fold has gone the way of those hideous '90s GIF sites, we now know users are very accustomed to scrolling thanks to massive growth in mobile browsing.
The long scroll technique works very well for sites that want to engage users through storytelling and splitting what in past years would be a multi-page site by breaking the scroll into distinct sections.
4. More Flat Design
Some people love it, some people hate it; one thing is clear: flat design is not going away anytime soon! Flat design has been around for a few years and tends to pair well with minimalism and responsive web design.
While web design trends tend to come and go, principles are timeless! The idea behind flat design is to make things appear as if they're lying flat on a clean surface. It does tend to keep web designs lean and easy to load, which is always a fundamental principle of good web design.
5. Responsive Design
Responsive web design (RWD) is more popular than ever, especially with mobile internet usage taking up a larger percentage of website traffic. Please do not confuse responsive web design with having a mobile site, which was a trend that thankfully died a few years ago. RWD takes a website and re-arranges and resizes various elements on the web page to work better depending on the size of the screen viewing the content.
Responsive web design has become less of a trend and more of a best practice. There is no reason a business wouldn't want their website to be responsive.
Stick to the basics and ask yourself honest questions about your game plan. What are your goals? Who is your audience? Where do you want this social media to take your business? Don't be fooled by quick fixes and shiny solutions. Take the time to build your social media, or get someone to help. Seriously, we love this junk. It's awesome.
