The web has come a long way since that annoying dial-up Internet sound. Users have exponentially grown since the 1990s and show no signs of slowing down. Table layouts for designing and developing websites used to be a hot commodity in the past because they were exclusively tailored to desktop computers. Today, however, almost every electronic device is equipped with at least one way to browse the internet. What can you expect to find in the future from the always changing World Wide Web? Check out these five trends that will soon become the norm.
- Mobile-first, responsive design
Responsive mobile design became big in 2014 when the number of mobile users surpassed desktop users on a global scale. Mobile users are still on the incline, which is why we’re seeing the web become tailored to a mobile-first approach. While desktop users aren’t increasing as rapidly as mobile users, it’s still important to have a responsive design in place no matter who comes across your site on any device.
- Age-responsive design
We’ve seen responsive design, defined as a web page that adapts to a specific device, grow in the last few years thanks to smartphones and tablets. In the future, look for sites geared toward a specific age group to implement age-responsive design. A 10-year-old and a 60-year-old don’t read the same books, so why should their online experience be the same? Age-responsive designs feature characteristics such as bigger navigation menus, font-sizes and color schemes to tailor a website to a specific age group.
- Increase in animations
Animations are a great way to engage your users. Animations span a variety of different things, from loading screens to getting attention for a call-to-action. With more browsers/email clients becoming compatible with CSS3 animations, we should expect to see a wider variety of animations in the future. While animations are great, having too many in a single page can throw users off from the point you’re trying to get across. So remember to keep it simple and don’t overdo it.
- Rise of cards
Cards are a flexible and extensible content container, like images, videos and text. They help you seek out information rapidly which is what many users are constantly looking for. These cards have become popular thanks to social sites such as Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter because they are compatible with responsive frameworks. Twitter’s Bootstrap, one of the most popular, replaced old panels, wells and thumbnails.
- Micro-mini interactions
Micro-mini interactions are another trend that saw a lot of popularity when smartphones and tablets went on the rise. They are the multiple, microscopic interactions nested within a micro-interactions. Micro-mini interactions include setting an alarm, pressing a button or clicking “Like.” These interactions help users achieve more without having to do more. For example, clicking and holding the “Like” on Facebook now gives you more options than just the standard like. Instagram also uses micro mini interactions to like a photo with a simple double tap. This will greatly change how we use and interact with our mobile phones going forward. We see these interactions already on a number of popular sites, but look for this trend to continue to grow in the future.
