Kleinburg Brewery
- design
- / web
Certain web design trends become popular because they are able to solve actual problems and boost user experience. But that’s not necessarily the case for all. Many web design trends catch on for unknown reasons, even though they end up causing more issues than they actually resolve.
Here are some common web design trends that you can probably shuffle to the wayside.
1. Overdoing it on the Parallax
Web designers who have been making use of this trend are trying to go for something glamorous and impressive. However, too much parallax can kill user experience. While subtle use of it can be great, overdoing it on parallax will only make it cumbersome for users.
It’s not really good for a mobile-friendly web design, so it should really be reserved for desktop web versions. Even then, it should only be used in a simple fashion with light code, or else the site will be overloaded.
2. Loading Screens
The amount of time that web pages take to load is crucial. No one wants to sit around waiting for a page to load. If it takes too long to come up, users will likely just hit the back button and try something else. Page speed also has direct effect on ranking with Google. So, if the homepage of your website must have a loading screen, it will likely already be too slow to start with.
3. Autoplay Audio
Autoplay video has already been a topic of discussion and debate among web designers, but autoplay audio should be straightforward. Users are always perusing the internet when watching TV, listening to music on the same device, and going about their day. Having audio play out while users are doing a few different things at the same time is a sure-fire way to entice them to hit the back button and go elsewhere.
4. Popups on Mobile Devices
Some internet marketers swear by popups, while others feel they’re intrusive. Whatever your stance is on desktop versions, it’s important to be careful with mobile devices and popups.
In addition to taking up the entire screen, popups typically wait until everything else has been loaded on the page. That means users will be interrupted by popups when they’re only half-way through reading the content, and then must tap the minuscule ’X’ before they’re able to continue reading. This is not only a pain to users, it also interrupts the marketing message that enticed them to visit your site in the first place.
5. Hidden Desktop Navigation Buttons
Sure, mobile displays have small screens to work with, but that doesn’t mean navigation buttons should be hidden as a means of making more room for content and graphics. For whatever reason, this bizarre trend even made its way onto desktops as well. Hiding navigation is never a good idea, unless it’s absolutely necessary. That’s because adding another click to each page view is not the wisest decision. This is not only bad for user experience, it’s also completely unnecessary for desktop displays.
Identifying these web design trends will hopefully be helpful for you when making sound decisions about the websites you build. Each design choice you make needs to be carefully thought out in order to properly assess their effect on the user.