2015 has witnessed new changes and improvements in web design and development. The design trends which were prevalent during last 2-3 years have changed a lot. The professional website design is more interactive and responsive today. Today, Web design and development is not simply a task to be completed formally, instead it involves much creativity, technical expertise and a very sound technical knowledge on latest tools and techniques used in web designing.
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Some of the latest web design trends that were most popular in 2015 and expected to dominate in 2016 are listed out here.
1. APPEARANCE
The first look of the website defines it.
It is really important to impress the viewers at the first glance itself. It includes everything that we see at the front end. Proper image placing, text alignment, arrangement of icons and all other clickable links has its role. Display and animation styles have changed a lot now. The flash type animations which were very popular once have already been outdated.
Front end design and development has undergone a drastic change. Now programming tools like JavaScript, Jquery, CSS3 and HTML5 have taken the role of front end design. Using these latest tools results in more interactive and responsive webpages and provides best user interface. Updated versions of these web designing tools could offer more advanced features in 2016. Another functionality that improves the appearance of webpages is plugins. It is the software that acts as an add-on to web browsers. Adding plugins and other extensions allows customization for your website. Apart from the built-in developer tools, these plugins adds additional features to enhance the user experience of the website.
2. LAYOUT
2015 has simply accepted the concept of single page layout. The parallax scrolling display has featured excellent and interactive scrolling websites. The scrolling effects have brought about high quality responsive designs. UI Patterns and Typography using single page design and parallax website design is the new trend.
In 2016, we can expect more different patterns of scrolling type screens.
The next latest trend which attained popularity was layered display. Such displays divide the single UI page layout into numerous image files for better user experience. In various fields like software development, web & mobile applications and game development, such layout is becoming common. Motion animations have find applications in banners and website backgrounds. Even videos are used in big slides as background animation in front view. Galleries and slideshows have become an effective way to showcase multiple images.
3. FRONT-END FRAMEWORK
A front end framework is typically a set of standardized code written in various languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScriptetc… It has a package describing the structure of files and folders defined in it and can be used in the development of websites. The main objective of front end frameworks is to make a common structure for the front end display so that the code can be reused for the same purpose later.
The most used frameworks in 2015 were bootstrap and foundation.
Bootstrap is the most popular front end framework available today. The current version of bootstrap used is v4.0.0-alpha.2. Bootstrap 4 is expected to be launched soon in 2016. The first alpha version was deployed on August 19, 2015.
Foundation is the next popular front end framework in the list. It is considered to be the most advanced responsive front-end framework of 2015. The latest version foundation 6 was launched recently and provides more advanced features. In 2016, various unexplored opportunities provided by Foundation tool are expected to be unveiled.
4. DESIGN
The design trend which was most used in 2015 was flat design.
Long scrollable design having conceptual presentation gained more popularity. Solid color patterns with suitable themes were more prominent. Big banners and conceptual iconic representation in web designing achieved user acceptance. This trend is more expected to continue in 2016 too. Latest technique used like interactive infographics have attracted more visitors to the websites. Navigation and menu icons tend to have a non-scrolling pattern these days.
Material Design was a better alternative to Flat design for many users in 2015. It uses shadow effects and the concepts of movement and depth in order to create designs that appear more realistic to the user. But, flat type designs are more simple and practical. They typically load fast and are best suited for simple websites. They are mainly targeted for audiences at all levels of technical experience and for users who browse in various devices like mobile, tablets and desktop computers.
If you aim at providing more animations, graphics and other attractive features to enhance user experience, material design is the best choice to try for in 2016.
5. TYPOGRAPHY
Full width page with large fonts is going to be the trend in typography this year.
Typography is basically the technique used to make the written text legible and easily readable while displaying on the webpage. This includes selecting proper font style, sizing, letter spacing and space between words. Selecting proper typeface is really necessary to give the website a dynamic look. Typeface is the font family, which consists of a set of many font styles that have similar design features.
Google provides a feature called Google Fonts where you could choose from the hundreds of fonts available for free. More than just legibility and readability, typography is used to bring a more classic look for your website. It allows you to convey the status of your website, whether it may be for a fashion magazine, professional business or an e-commerce website design. Dramatic typography is a latest approach that stands out.
The most loved typefaces in 2015 were serif or sans serif, with sans serif being the favorite because of its simplicity to use. Mix and match typography which includes mixing and using several font styles and using 3D style typography was also a common trend this year. Typography is encountering a constantly changing scenario and in 2016 more vigorous, dynamic typefaces will certainly take on the control. Typography is the most influenced part of the design as well as challenging too, so the expected trends in typography in 2016 is still a mystery.
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