Web design continues to play an important role in branding a business. If you own a business and are looking for ways to update your company’s website, you’ll want to consider all of the things a successful web designer can do for you. As technology advances, so do web design techniques. Recently, Technology in Business discussed the available free applications that can improve e-commerce sites, similarly, there are innovations in the world of web design that can also improve your website and, in turn, help your business grow and succeed.
As each new year brings new technology advancements, it also brings in new web design trends. Companies, like Cocoonfxmedia, a web design Birmingham company, are able to use innovative web design tools and techniques to create engaging, resourceful and compelling company websites. Some of these techniques are simple, while others can be more advanced, but no matter the difficulty level of the design, the importance lies in its effectiveness.
Scrolling Options
One of the latest web design innovations has to do with the new scrolling options. Parallax scrolling is one of the more popular scrolling innovations thanks to the availability of templates on platforms like WordPress. Parallax scrolling is a technique that allows the background images to move slower than the foreground images. Designers believe that this makes a website more engaging and improves the user experience. This can be done for vertical and horizontal page designs to create a fluid feel.
Another scrolling option is choosing scrolling over clicking in web design. This is a way to convey a lot of information without dragging the user experience. Instead of a visitor having to click on different links or menu buttons for information they can scroll to the information instead. This makes a webpage mobile friendly, too, since it’s easier to scroll than it is to click on a mobile device.
Big Designs
An overlying trend in web design also seems to be creating big designs. This trend can be seen in websites where a design or image takes up a large part of the page with little text or navigation buttons. The trend is known as a cinematic or book cover layout since the layouts were inspired by film and book art techniques. A large image is impactful for the visitor and it’s also easy to code which translates well on multiple platforms. Thanks to speedier web technology these layouts are also performing better in terms of loading.
Similarly, big font sizes are coming into trend. Larger fonts are easier to read on multiple devices, catch a person’s attention, and can highlight certain pieces of information over others. Websites are using large font sizes in article or blog headlines as well as on homepages to draw in a visitor.
Animations
Different examples of animation are also becoming popular in web design. There can be an animation on a page that begins when the site visitor reaches a certain position on the scroll bar or it can just be elements that fade in or out of the page or that slide on and off the screen. It is even possible to make the animation interactive.
Hidden Menus and Ghost Buttons
Another trend in web design is to hide the navigation buttons and menus off screen. These menus are programmed to appear when the user moves their mouse to a certain part of the screen (usually the left side of the screen or the corner). This allows the important elements on the page to stand out instead of the menu bar taking up space.
Ghost buttons are also used in websites for similar reasons. These are transparent button that still have a recognisable shape so the user still knows they are there. They are bordered with a thin line and are made up of light fonts so they’re unobtrusive to the rest of the page. This allows you to still have your necessary navigation buttons while still leaving your page looking uncluttered by buttons.
These are only a few of the popular new trends in web design that your web designer can use in order to help improve the appearance and effectiveness of your business’s website.