Incorporating the Latest 2017 Web Design Trends

Posted by Myles Golden on Dec 27, 2016

Over the years, a tremendous shift in the manner in which developers are building websites has occurred. Users are switching to the mobile platform and newer browsers to support the Internet standard. Since there are a number of unique ideas that continually enter into the design community, web design trends are being replaced all of the time.

With all of the new web design trends, the world is changing constantly online. New designers can step into the field and incorporate these new trends relatively easily. Some of the top web design trends are outlined below:

Mobile First Design

Mobile responsive design isn’t limited to a traditional website portraying themselves on a smaller scale. The underlying idea for web design trends is to begin with a mobile interface and work your way up from there. It is easier to plan the vital components of your interface elements first and then work them into your mobile layout. You can plan for how the layout is going to look as you enhance the size of the windows. As efficiency is one of the main driving forces behind developments, mobile devices synced with desktop sites is the next logical step. Instead of being tethered to a computer system for hours at a time, this feature would allow people to move freely while still completing their tasks. Thanks to the effects of cross device integration, this is becoming a reality with each passing moment.

Single Page Applications

The newest 2017 web design trends is probably Single Page Applications (SPAs). Single Page Applications are Web apps that load a single HTML page and dynamically update that page as the user interacts with the app. SPAs use JavaScript to create fluid and responsive Web apps without constant page reloads. One of main reasons that Single Page Applications are becoming more popular is they allow to offer a more native app like experience.

SPAs have two main benefits for users which makes it one of the upcoming 2017 web trends:

• The first benefit is removing that annoying page change when you click on a link. In a Single Page Application, the navigation controls and main interface typically stay on the view state when you click a link. In return only the piece of content you want changed actually gets changed.
• The second benefit is the massive speed boost you get from a lighter server response (as it uses the clients browser) for the chunk of content versus a whole page loading. The lighter response transmits across the network faster and the browser can incorporate the new piece of content more quickly than redrawing an entirely new page.

Isomorphic / Progressive Web Apps

What is an isomorphic web application you might ask? To break things down real simple – it's a code base that can be used between shared environments (both server side and client side). Isomorphic comes from the latin words: iso (same) morphic (form), thus isomorphic web applications share the same code base from client-side to server-side. The latest evolution for the 2017 web design trends has become Progressive Web Apps. Progressive Web Apps are actually just a design mechanism. These are web applications that meet predetermined criteria to be given special native capabilities on smart phones. They are cost effective, have a low barrier to entry, and don’t require the publishing apparatus of App Store apps.

Increased usage of Animations and SVGs

In the past, websites used to have lots of animation. As flash and other trends died off, we went towards a more "flat" design. In 2016, animations were starting to be used more heavily on websites as technology has caught up with the demand of mobile browsing. Now we are seeing SVGs becoming more sophisticated and animations using SVG and CSS to achieve some pretty unique design elements. They are often a great way to show how something works, how to do something, or otherwise reveal meaningful content.

The key advantages of SVGs come through loud and clear in the format name itself: scalable and vector. Instead of being raster or pixel-based, SVGs are composed of vectors: mathematical descriptions of the object’s shape.

We anticipate in 2017 the use of animations will become more prevalent and a web standard. Animation helps communicate things easier and quicker than text and video can. A bonus, when done right, can often be even more lightweight than several images or even a video which is why we predict that SVGs and animations will shine in 2017.

Infinite Scrolling

Numerous social media sites have begun to incorporate infinite scroll effects onto their timelines. Due to the popularity of Twitter and Tumblr’s unique style and layout, this effect has become one of the hottest web design trends of the year. if you are unsure what this can do for your website, it allows you to have a seamless interface without having to reload the page continually. This also goes hand in hand with most Single Page Applications which are trending on the design scale.

Whitespace - Content Centric Designs

Years have been spent adding things to our websites such as sidebars, headers, banner ads, sidebar ads, calls to action, comments, popups, social media buttons, signup boxes, etc. These things ended up cluttering websites and taking up more and more real estate, taking the attention away from the entire point of a web page: the content. Even though whitespace has been one of the web design trends for a number of years , they have evolved into a newer creativity spectrum. Plenty of websites use this tool to focus more intensely on the content on their site. If you have a dense website, they can utilize this technique to help alleviate the room on your page. Just because it is termed whitespace doesn’t mean it has to be white. You can integrate dark layouts into the equation to help maximize the look of your site.

In 2017, websites are likely to start moving back to basics and placing more emphasis on the content. Whether that means we remove all of the other distractions that we’ve spent years adding, or just making them take up less real estate is yet to be determined. Designers are finding new ways to incorporate advertisement into the mobile viewing world as less and less virtual screen real-estate shrinks. Getting back to the driving force of a website — the content — will be prevalent action moving forward.

Responsive Typography and Bold Fonts

Responsive typography is the natural evolution of web programming and it pairs perfectly with mobile device support options like responsive design. As the design world comes to the consensus that our focus should be on the content, more and more websites feature lines of resonant. Inspiring copy set in type that’s just as big and bold as the statement itself. In a world that’s as fast, busy, and information-overloaded as ours is, these concise yet powerful statements will become the bread-and-butter for companies of all kinds. This blends into the natural Branded messages that need to be delivered to the user.

Natural Brand Design

CSS3 specifications have introduced a number of web design trends. Everything from rounded corners to background gradients and box shadows can help to create an amazing website that is sure to garner the attention and maintaining the brand of those browsing it. Images that were once built into the layout are being replaced by CSS properties.

In the pursuit of staying more on brand, more brands are using duotone imagery and graphics for their websites. Not strictly using duotones, but some branded designs are even experimenting with two or three colors and using the duotone effect. There’s a sort of synthesized naturalism to this reemergence of bright hues and bold gradients, and we personally look forward to seeing more of it in 2017.

Cleaner Source Code

Thanks to the release of more open-source Javascript frameworks, web developers have been able to decrease their coding times significantly. You can build an entire website in no time at all. Less HTML markup is needed to achieve the web design trends of today. Everything is streamlined and smaller on the websites of today.

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