In this age, the term responsive web design is used more often than not. Responsive describes creating a website that properly functions with all devices used to access it. As the technology progresses, consumers are beginning to expect a more personalized experience.
This gives you, a website designer or owner, more reason to stay ahead of the constant competition. As a designer, you are required to make sure that the product is technically sound, user-friendly and with captivating content. Here are some of the best website design practices in 2018.
Vibrant colors
Web design writers argue that vibrant colors are expected to be the current web design tools. Previously, mobile screens were not as significantly strong as they are now, and vibrant colors did not always translate well with complex visual designs. With the advancement of our smartphones, there is expected to be a lesser divide between the quality of content displayed on them as compared to that of the computer screens. This is one of the ways responsive web design has found its way into the semantics of color.
The innovation of grid layouts
Previously, web design made significant use of the conventional grid designs. For the best website design practices 2018 however, there is considerable need to keep websites aesthetically pleasing to the views eyes but also, be different from other sites.
Page organization has a big part in this feature. This requires a web designer to try unique column combinations for new ways of page organization.
Mobile catering
Mobile websites have been standard in web design for the past few years. Designers in 2018 however, are calling for more attention to it. The reason is that a significant amount of website traffic comes from mobile devices. Apps and website concepts need to be separated. Having a responsive app is different from having a responsive website. Depending on the circumstances, however, you as a web designer might work on them at some point. Website response development semantics are different from those of app development.
Smart typography
This practice uncommon, but with consideration, you can create a responsive typeface as an addition to other page aspects that are designed to be responsive. Different fonts jump out and work best on a big screen. They are designed to be large in contrast to other fonts in the page. This makes the font less useful on a mobile page. It is less pleasing as it may push crucial informative text out of the users’ screen. Setting up titles and website text into different fonts and sizes for each device used is an essential practice to enhance user experience on a particular website.
Increased micro interactions
The practice of using micro interactions is increasing as the best website design practices in 2018. Micro-interactions are variables which allow a website user to effectively and efficiently interact with a web page without reloading it. These micro interactions save time and make the user experience much more fun. This practice is expected to be more popular among web designers this year. Devine Solutions Group LLC, a full service marketing agency in the Bay Area CA, recently did a series of webinars covering micro interactions and the data was astonishing. What they found is that users opted into offers with their email and phone numbers 40% more than websites who did not incorporate micro interactions.
SEO friendly
No matter how attractive your website is, it will not achieve the expected results if you don’t show up in the top 10 results of SERPs. As a professional web design practice, you need to ensure that the content of your website is compelling and engaging to your visitors.
You as a website designer and owner need to use proper alt tags, meta tags, heading tags, and any other on-page resources for search engines to effectively rank your website.