The Internet world is constantly changing and there is just one rule that you need to abide by – if you stop swimming, you will sink! That’s right, there are so many changes constantly happening around the world that everything you do, the designs you create, the time it takes for your website to load and how it appears to the viewer – all are responsible for keeping your website up to date with the trends that exist in modern times.
To keep up with those trends, you need to know them first and here’s a look at some of those trends and how they affect your website.
- Responsive Interface: Everything on your website must respond quickly to the user’s actions. If they mouse-over on something, the desired result should show; if they click on an image for a bigger image, it should pop up. Basically, there are just too many things that are have the potential of ruining your website and anything that requires the user to interact with them should give an immediate and adequate response.
- Touch screen Devices: Mobile phones are quickly becoming a popular browsing tool and with touch screen phones coming in, there is a lot more scope for interacting through single or multiple touches on the screen. Even though phones may have all the cool gadgetry to make you think that everything is possible, you have to remember that they are still limited in their bandwidth and all your technology and special graphics will have to be toned down on the mobile version.
- Give Free Stuff: Everyone loves a freebie and if you are giving something out for free, then people will flock to your website. There are communities that have formed to simply give out free stuff over the Internet. They give out a lot of cool software, design layouts, web interfaces and more which are completely free. Whether you use what they have or not, you will find these communities perfect to stay abreast with the latest developments in the world of technology!
- Stay Standard: The times HTML, Javascript and Flash are passé because the new things to hit the world are HTML5 and CSS3. These two platforms are fantastically dynamic and easy on the eye, giving you the flexibility to do a host of new things with coding. They are more user friendly, more graphics friendly and a lot more pleasing in terms of the final result that you get out of it.
- Fantastic Typography: Gone are the days when HTML would limit the number of fonts you could use on your website. Today, there are plenty of options for those who are looking to make the best use of typography. There are plenty of tools and websites that automatically/manually allow you to download all the fonts you will ever need to make your projects come alive.
If you are looking to live on the cutting edge of technology, then you need to make some effort on your end. You will need to read a lot about the things you are putting onto your website and, even more so, you will need to make sure that everything you do is scalable to the extent of allowing you to make future changes or alterations. Keep these few pointers in mind and you should have a smoother journey through your website design process.
on
I think it’s a great time to be creating sites both for the traditional and mobile app models. I’ve recently re-entered the world of software development after having taken a break from my 20 years in the field.
I’ve been looking at HTML5 and CSS3 and they are both really exciting tools! I cringe somewhat to think of the tools we were limited to in the past in order to make websites. There are SO many resources on-line for free editors, tools and code examples.
It’s great to see the tools maturing. My only hope is that there continues to be more compatibility between browsers. Behind the scenes browser standards are really a must in order to maintain the sanity of developers!
on
Yes, I felt sorry for the devs I used to work with who were forced to make their sites IE6 compatible. Glad to hear you’re back in the game!