Web design – the latest trends

Web design – the latest trends

It’s the Web – there’s always something new and different going on. What started out as an information-sharing tool in academia shifted to graphic-heavy sites (more pretty than anything else) to gimmicky sites with tons going on – Flash, videos, scrolling info, music and so much more. (Remember last month’s newsletter where I said, “Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you should.” This trend is exactly what I was talking about.)

The Web will continue to evolve and, hopefully, improve. The trend now is a good mix of good presentation, interactivity and organization. The best sites look good, can respond to requests by users and are easy to navigate. Focus is now more than ever on the visitor (as it should be!!!) and making it easy for him/her to find the site amongst the many, many, many sites out there and making it painless for the user to find the information he/she visited the site for in the first place.

Two trends include text only Web design and graphics only Web design. Text only sites have very few graphics, black text on light backgrounds (example: sites like Craigslist.com). The advantages are many including readability, ease of navigation, quick loading times, just to name a few. The disadvantage of the text only site is, obviously, a bit boring. Graphics only sites look great but take a long time to load, don’t often do as well in search engine rankings and are not as easily searchable or easy to navigate by the user.

A good Wed designer can design a site that takes advantage of both - the simplicity of a text-only site and the attractiveness of a graphics-heavy site. We can use both to ensure your message is getting out to your customers and prospects and ensure your message is being conveyed quickly and effectively – SO important when you’re trying to fight for brain space.

If you’re thinking of a new or revised Web site, be sure to talk to potential designers and make sure they are not only up on the latest trends, but can show you examples of their work. And – if you want to avoid some serious headaches – get a referral!