Since I began my career, the work of a web developer has changed… A LOT. From the code we use to the strategies we implement; web development has evolved and improved. Some things have stayed, while others have gone by the wayside, making room for better and more streamlined practices.
Trends come and go, but good development practices are forever.
OK. That may not be entirely true, here are a few trends that I believe will be around for quite some time.
MOBILE FIRST
Web traffic on mobile devices account for just over half of world wide web traffic. Many of those access the internet ONLY from their smartphone. With mobile traffic so prevalent and continuing to grow, it only makes sense that as developers and designers we account for and provide mobile users with the best experience we can.
We do this with mobile-first design. We create our experiences to be consumed first on mobile devices and then progressively enhance the experience as we move upward toward the desktop.
One of the most important things to consider with mobile-first design is simplicity. Reduce the amount of extraneous design elements and focus on why users come to your site, whether it is performing a task or consuming content.
The quicker and more easily your website can meet the goals of the end user, the more satisfied they will be.
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
It wasn’t that long ago that two completely different websites needed to be created in order to accommodate for both a mobile and a desktop experience.
Most of us have had the unfortunate experience of visiting a website from our trusty iPhones (or Androids) only to be presented with a site that was designed for exactly one screen size, desktop. We are forced to scroll left and right, up and down, pinching to zoom to try and read information.
Fortunately, those days are behind us.
Responsive design techniques allow the browser to render well across browser sizes. Content and design can flex and flow and adapt to the needs of our device.
Responsive front-end frameworks like Foundation and Bootstrap provide us with very robust tools for developing websites that perform well across a broad range of devices.
CLEAN MINIMALIST DESIGN
Minimalist designs focus on what is most important. Design is simplified so that unnecessary elements and pieces of content which do not support the task are removed. With the irrelevant items removed relevant items gain prominence.
Minimalist designs are characterized by flat patterns and textures, limited color palettes, simplified navigation, bold headers / typography, higher contrast, and prolific amounts of white space.
Minimalist designs remove any distraction that pulls the user away from the website’s objective.
PERFORMANCE
It’s not enough anymore to have a website that looks nice. Websites need to be able to perform well.
Slow, buggy websites aren’t just annoying, they can cost you money. Users will stop visiting, stop buying, and bounce.
When you optimize your pages you: decrease page load time, decrease bandwidth usage, decrease stress on server hardware and decrease user frustration.
So, what can you do? Optimize your file sizes, combine and minify your JavaScript and CSS, use efficient caching directives, enable server compression, reduce the amount of server requests.
TRENDS THAT MAKE YOU THINK.
While all these trends are exciting and inspiring, they should really be a catalyst for conversations between web developers, creatives, writers and other members of your organization. This allows for functionality and innovation.
Let’s chat about web development! Contact us to learn what amazing website solutions Able&Co. can deliver to your brand.
