Web design trends come and go from year to year. What’s “hot” one year may be gone the next. That’s why today we’re going to reveal some of the top Denver web design trends to watch.
Flat Web Design
Another Denver web design trend that’s gaining momentum is the use of a flat web design. Flat web designs are characterized by symmetrical layouts, basic colors, straight lines, and no drop-shadows. Of course, this in stark contrast to web designs that were trending just a couple of years ago, many of which included shadowing and other three-dimensional effects. Flat web designs offer a delicate balance between simplicity and style, enhancing the aesthetics of all types of websites. Microsoft.com is an excellent example of a flat web design, as it features colored boxes with no drop-shadows or similar three-dimensional effects.
Jump Links
What in the world is a jump link and why should you use them? Normally, when click a link it redirects you to different page (internally or externally). Jump links, however, differ in the sense that they redirect users to a specific section on the existing page. If you want to see examples of jump links in action, head over to Wikipedia. Nearly every content-filled page on Wikipedia includes jump links at the top under “Contents.” When you click on one of these jump links, it will take you to the respective area of the page. Jump links promote a more positive browsing experience for the end user by allowing users to quickly navigate — or jump — to content.
Goodbye Flash
Adobe Flash elements are slowly being weeded out in web design, and for good reason: they consume significant amount of computing resources, and many browsers no longer support them. In fact, Google recently pushed out a new version of its Chrome web browser. Among the changes Google made to Chrome 42 includes the disabling of Flash and Java plugins by default. Granted, users may still enable these plugins from within the browser’s settings, but all new installs of Chrome 42 will not run Flash or Java by default.
Less Text
Have you noticed website articles and blog posts containing less text than usual? This is yet another web design trend that’s gaining momentum. Rather than using pure text, many webmasters are choosing video, images, infographics, or a combination thereof. This doesn’t mean text is going away anytime soon, but rather new forms of content are being introduced.
Mobile Compatibility
We can’t talk about Denver web design trends without mentioning mobile compatibility. Recent reports indicate that more people now access the Internet from their smartphones and tablets than desktops. If your website loads fine for desktop users but fails to function for mobile users, you could be losing 50% or more of your traffic right off the bat. This is why it’s critical that webmasters optimize their websites for mobile compatibility.
