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Keeping up to date with current internets trends requires a concentrated effort nowadays, when the web looks much different now than it did just five years ago. However, staying on top of current trends will not only help you get the most out of the internet, it will significantly help your chances of making your website or business succeed in such an ever-changing landscape. To get started, here are some of the top five trends that are expected to make a big scene in 2015.
Mobile internet usage has experienced an enormous surge in the past year, and caused a small stir when it surpassed PC internet usage in early 2014. This focus on developing mobile websites has no doubt had an impact on the recent surge in minimalism.
Because of the smaller screen size, websites developed for mobile use must not only have smaller text and pictures, but also navigation menus. Simplifying the entire website allows for more to fit on the smaller smartphone screens, while maintaining an elegant design.
In the past, many websites have used a simple serif font for the majority of the website text. Recent developments, however have created more of an emphasis on sans-serif typography, especially because of the recent popularity of minimalist design.
Since higher-end typography sets for web design have also significantly decreased in price, their usage has become much more widespread. Using a specialized typographic font allows for better integration of text and media within a website, leading to a more harmonized, pleasant look. In a field with so much competition — around 51 million websites created per year — small touches such as an interesting font can make an enormous difference.
Perhaps related to the trend in minimalism has been the upswing in flat elements on newer websites. These include items such as flatter, simpler looking buttons, and subtle, expandable menus.
These items can reduce the clutter in a website, and allow for large videos and pictures fill in the background. Such moving backgrounds not only fill in black spaced, but apply a sense of motion and elegance to an otherwise sparse site. Contrast this with flat elements and the result can be very intuitive and pleasing to the eye.
With the advent of CSS, menus are also becoming simpler. Instead of picture icons and simple text, menu options are increasingly using CSS to implement minimalist-designed thumbnails and neat grid layouts to expandable navigation menus. This development not only declutters a desktop site, but allows for well-designed, intuitive mobile menus. CSS also allows for scrolling-sites, a unique way of packing a website full of information without making it look messy.
Because of the aforementioned surge in mobile-usage, integration with smartphone capabilities has also been an increasing trend in the creation of new web content. All of the above categories have found their use in desktop sites, but have mainly arisen out of the upsurge of mobile use. Mobile sites allow for marvelous integration with Snapchat, Facebook and other social media, and creating content for smartphones and tablets helps a website not miss out on the opportunities granted by this technology.
Not only are apps changing mobile functionality, but web-based tools are even beginning to incorporate mobile friendly design. For example, Google’s web apps — take Translate, for example — display in a simplified version on smartphones. Other sites both big and small are following this trend with their own web tools.
Of course these aren’t going to be the only trends in 2015, but recent web design has shown that these simple design patterns will be prominently used in the upcoming year. Because of the increase mobile-internet usage, recent trends have shown a general predilection for simple, elegant designs.
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