2013 Website Trends

2013 Blocks As I do every time at this point in the year, I have been doing a bit of research on what we can expect to see with regards to website trends for the the upcoming year. Here are 10 trends that I think we will see in 2013.

  1. Greater Use Of Typography – We will see more of the written word on websites, with less use of images. Typography will take a greater role in the design of websites as they become cleaner, faster loading and make more use of whitespace.
  2. Flash Will Finally Die – With many mobile devices decidedly NOT supporting flash (Apple being the main player), we will see it’s use dwindle. Instead, we will see more websites being developed using technologies such as HTML5/CSS3 and Javascript.
  3. More White Space – With the trend towards cleaner websites and the greater use of typography, we will see many more websites built with the effective use of white space. Such website not only have a crisp and professional look and feel, but are much easier to view on mobile devices and lend themselves well to responsive website design.
  4. Responsive Web Design – With the explosion of mobile devices, it has become an outright necessity to have a responsive website. Responsive websites adapt themselves to the device they are being viewed on (tablets, smartphones, etc) and make for a much better user experience.
  5. More Social Integration – We will continue to see more and more integration with Social Media networks, with website content being heavily tied in with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube, among others.
  6. Content Will Continue To Be King – Content has always been the driving force behind any website, and this will not change. In fact, it will become even more important in 2013. Web users are savvy, and content will often be the deciding factor when users are making decisions on what product or service to purchase.
  7. Larger Buttons – With more and more websites being viewed on mobile devices, the importance of making it easy to “tap” links and buttons has increased substantially. Larger buttons are easier to use on mobile devices, and will make website less frustrating for users.
  8. Large Images For Backgrounds – No, I’m not back-peddling here. Despite the increased development of typography-based websites, large images will still be, at times, used for impact, particularly on landing pages. Content will still hold the high ground, but large background images will be used to compliment the brand and the written word.
  9. Parallax Scrolling – Parallax Scrolling is the act of layering 2-dimensional objects in such a way as to give a 3D appearance. You can see an example of it HERE. I haven’t decided if I am a fan of this or not, but I do think we will see more of it in the coming year.
  10. Increased Usability – This continues along the same lines as cleaner, mobile friendly websites. Websites will become much more user friendly, they will be easier to sign into by incorporating social media accounts, and navigation will become even more intuitive.

So there you have it. I’m looking forward to another year of serving my awesome clients, building new relationships, and developing new amazing websites.

Happy New Year!

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