Web design is continually changing and until recently is has been playing it safe. Accessibility, practicality, creativity and RWD have to be considered in order to be successful at web design.
Accessibility and practicality seem to be joined together in the world of web design. When a website is accessible it also tends to be practical so I will talk about these two together. Accessibility and practicality have become a growing problem with the increase in mobile and tablet users. What you can click on with a mouse on a desktop computer might be too small to tap on with your finger on a tablet and/or phone. You have to make sure that the mobile and tablet users have large buttons so they can be touch screen accessible. You also should limit your use of Flash. Flash cannot be seen in most mobile and tablet users since it in not supported. I went to a website the other day where the navigation was build all in Flash. Don’t get me wrong it looked nice from the desktop view but once I went to that same website on my cellphone not only could I not see the websites design properly but I also couldn’t navigate through the website at all because one of the most important parts of the website was no longer visible. You also want to make sure that your website loads quickly and easily. Viewers using a mobile device on a cellular service with low bandwidth don’t want to wait for your website to load. They will simply skip your website and move on.
Creativity in web design has evolved from having heavy graphical content to having very clean, simplistic content. When I make my way to a website that is loaded with content everywhere where I am confused and overwhelmed at what to look at first I jump right back out of it. These types of websites are not just overwhelming and most of the time an eye sore but the are also difficult to load and maneuver through especially on a mobile device. Clean, simplistic designs are very easy to load and maneuver through and are nice on the eyes.
Responsive web design is one of the leading changes in web design. The ability for your website to respond to the different screen sizes of desktop, tablet, and mobile devices is something that has to be taken advantage of as soon as possible for everyone with an online presence. If you haven’t caught on yet, bringing your website to every device as seamlessly as possible is a must in the years to come especially since the viewership of websites on mobile devices is growing and fast.
Accessibility: http://www.sitepoint.com/accessible-web-design/
