Do you often feel like you are struggling to keep up with the ever-evolving web design industry? Like you have barely learned the previous technology and the new one is already here?
Sometimes I do. But do not despair because I have enumerated the most significant game-changing trends in web design over the past five years. These are the technologies that made waves and revolutionized web design, making it what we know today.
Web design is an ever-evolving industry that will keep spitting out new technologies daily.
2018 Is Year Of Controversies
Growl Boyz – Project Closed
This year seem to be an interesting one, but not only because of design trends. Let’s leave it aside for a moment. Content is the king as saying goes. Why would you build a website if you have nothing to show to your visitors. The thing is, people are fed up with watching same thing, doing same thing and listening to same things. 2018 is making a great turn in these terms, a lot of controversial topics are rising, lots of social issues rise to enormous levels. One example of that we would like to show you is the growl boyz project. Sounds strange? Well, it sure is. First of, this is adults-only website. Second, it’s in gay niche and it touches a very interesting subject of historical cult that gathered homosexuals in order to do some funny stuff. Taking huge parts of mythological gossips and displaying them in today’s fashion – this is what these boyz are all about.
It’s Been Year of Missionaries
Missionary Boys Series
Yup, you are reading it right. While Growl Boyz project above didn’t actually launch and you can say it was one big fiasco in several aspect, we still have much to see. Have you heard about Missionary Boys? The name might be new to you, but you probably heard and/or saw Mormon Boyz series, right? Where Mormon guys are actually having sex in front of cameras. Missionary Boys is a re-branded version of the series and it continues its journey of exploring the lines that upcoming missionaries are ready to cross in order to join the Order.
Node.js Is Hot, PHP Is Not
This is a declaration that might get me into trouble, but it would be remiss not to mention the game changer that is Node.js.
Back in the day, JavaScript and PHP coexisted peacefully, with PHP handling majority of server-side tasks and JavaScript helping here and there. However, around 2009, someone figured out that it was possible to shove aside PHP and use JavaScript on the server side. And an epic battle ensued.
Designers of the old generation insisted that PHP was more stable, but the new generation designers emphasized that PHP was outdated and that Node.js was not only a fast server-side solution it was more dynamic.
The battle continues with both environments improving their products day in day out. But one thing is for sure, in the past five years, Node.js has become the standard that most designers are using to develop websites.
CMS And CMS Powered Websites Reign
As investigated by Live Internet Stats and confirmed by Netcraft, there are more than 1.5 billion websites today.
One would tend to wonder; does that mean there are equally as many programmers designing these websites? Of course not, the answer lies in the rise and establishment of Content Management Systems (CMS) in the past five years.
A CMS permits anyone, as long as they have a computer and internet access to build a website. No prior programming knowledge is required. Favorite Content Management Systems include Word press, Joomla, and Drupal. These three changed the industry in a big way and allowed a lot of people to embrace websites.
Mobile Responsive Sites Have Become The Standard
A typical user spends less than a minute on a web page. But an even more important statistic is that users are viewing these web pages on their mobile devices.
As a result, the last five years has seen designers, publishers, and developers work at ensuring that their sites are mobile responsive.
Basically a mobile responsive design will adapt to the size of the screen. Additionally, in the case of a smaller screen, the content is rearranged to ensure essential content appears first. A perfect example of a well-designed mobile responsive site is the CNN site.
Mobile responsive sites are now the standard in the industry.
Minimalized Design Aesthetic
Every single choice in the design of a website today emphasizes minimalism. The trend has taken root over the past five years.
Gone are the days of complicated color palettes, bold footers, and sidebars. There is a widespread trope that says “content is king.” Websites have eschewed all else in favor of content. Designers work at cleaning up the sites by reducing all the clutter around the content.
Dynamic Hero Images
A hero image in layman’s terms is a large attractive header on a web page. Hero images in web design are the prominent images usually placed at front and center of a web page. A hero image is the first visual a visitor sees, and it gives an overview of what the site is about.
The past five years have seen the hero image evolve from just an annoying static model to dynamic photos, texts, and animations in a bid to ensure visitors to the website stick around.
Final Word
Exhausting emerging trends in web design is impossible. Web design is an ever-evolving industry that will keep spitting out new technologies daily. The above patterns, however, dominated the past five years and will probably be the foundation upon which modern trends will spring from in the next five years.
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