Website Trends 2016: 7 Crucial Items That You Should Implement

Website Trends 2016: 7 Crucial Items That You Should Implement
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Each New Year comes with new and upgraded trends that always make a big fuss, which mostly happens because some of them are contradictory to older, well-established trends. Some have very strong pros or cons that make it difficult to decide what to go for. It can be quite a challenging problem for struggling web designers, but also for those who are more experienced, because it can be very easy to make a mistake here.

The following seven trends seem quite logic and thus promise to dominate this year. Each of them has been carefully selected based on popularity and the benefits that it has to offer, so you should definitely take a look if you want to work on your web design skills.

Spice Things Up with Cinemagraphs

Playing with visual aids on websites has finally come to a sort of evolution, in the form of cinemagraphs. Instead of implementing photos or simple animations to your website in order to attract the visitor's and a potential customer's attention, you can now replace that with this smart little trend.

The only thing wrong with this trend so far is related to the lack of appropriateness - it's necessary to find the right cinemagraph that will tell your story, and enable you to stand out of the crowd of similar businesses.

Be Guided by Material Design

You've probably been bombarded with this fact all over the internet, but smartphones are still big and statistics show that they are the number one device used across the planet to access the web.
That is why you need to be very aware of your overall design and make sure that it's responsive to all types of screens - tablets and smartphones both. This way, you'll be allowing potential customers to access your page easily.

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Keep It Bold but Simple

Websites are saturated with different pictures that have all started to look alike and you can be sure that visitors don't find them entertaining any more. Cinemagraphs are one solution, but that's far from all.
This year will be marked by illustrations. More and more designers and business find this solution combined with bold fonts a lot more effective, because it represents a whole new approach.

Select the Right Navigation Menu

This is a tough one. More and more designers are using hamburger menus as a clear and effective solution, but research has shown that the general audience isn't very responsive to it because of one simple reason - somehow, they tend to miss it, which results in them not finding the info they needed or having to find it the hard way.

Others found carousels as an effective solution, which they can be if a visitor plans on staying on your website for a while. The third dominant trend here are websites created based on card layouts, which is interesting enough, but it still needs to rise up to its full potential.

Use a Sitemap Generator

Deciding what type of navigation menu you should go with can be quite challenging, but this can make it easier for you - you should make your decision based on the type of content you're trying to implement. No matter what type of business you're trying to launch or rebrand, the secret to winning over your target audience is originality.

It's very important for your website to be properly structured around unique content, so you'll want to use a smart sitemap generator to ensure that it's easy for your visitors to navigate and find exactly what they are looking for within one or two clicks. Otherwise, you may end up with a mapped structure that's completely wrong for you, and that will result in a very poor user experience.

Just the Right Amount of Scroll

There's a small battle going on between those who advocate long scrolls and those who are trying to find appropriate means to replace them. The thing that makes scrolling so effective is quite obvious - it's easy. Websites that have recently implemented long scrolls report that new visitors stay on them longer.

However, there's a one problem with it - scrolling makes scanning harder. If you structure your website around long scroll, it can make your visitors and potential customers wander endlessly trying to find a piece of information they actually need. Having just the right amount of scroll on your landing page, combined with a navigation menu that's appropriate to your type of content should be the winning combination here.

Fill It with Relevant Content

If the secret to beating your competition lies in being original, then you need to spend some time finding a new way of telling your story that your target audience will find entertaining, but useful.
It doesn't really matter if you're rebranding or you're trying to establish a new brand, being unique is a necessity here. People have already seen and heard it all before from your competition, so you need something that makes you special.

First of all, you need to focus on relevance, because that way, you'll avoid a mistake that's quite common - filling a website with unnecessary, extensive amounts of text. My suggestion for the next step is to consult an experienced professional in this area or hire them if you have no experience with writing, or the time to do it yourself.

It's all about presenting your business in the right light - each detail you plan on implementing in your website needs to be relevant to your business. Websites today are just another advertising tool, but far more important than others. You can't change it every couple of months, because you'll make it harder for your target audience to remember you and it would get quite expensive, so you just have to get it right.

It's up to you to make a proper selection based on facts about your business, so I'm sure you'll do well. Make sure that you keep up with the latest news, because a better option for your business may be just around the corner.

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