Being able to design a great website, or even to be a business owner able to convey to your web designer what you want your website to achieve, almost certainly requires some knowledge of what web design features are current and popular. However, as with any activity that you might undertake to enhance your business, great website design relies as much on knowing what mistakes to avoid, as it does to know what actions to take.
Sadly, many a website design has proved to be a failure, despite having many positive design elements, because it also included elements that were definitely not needed nor desirable. This tends to happen when everyone is talking about some new web design fad or other short-term trends which might be popular. Whilst some might go on and actually prove to be positive web design features, there are others that are certainly not and definitely to be avoided.
To help you steer clear of those undesirable fads that are currently on the radar, here are 3 you must avoid when planning and designing a new website.
Web Design Fad To Avoid #1: Oversimplification
You will often hear the advice ‘simple is best’ with respect to the website and that rule of thumb is one that should be followed when possible. After all, an overcomplicated website is an immediate red flag to a visitor who will simply click away, thus our desire for simpler designs for websites.
However, it seems some in the web design world have taken simplicity to the extreme and created websites that are oversimplified. By that, we mean a home page with a single obscure or abstract image which leaves everyone guessing as to what or who the website represents. By all means, keep your website’s design simple but not in the extreme so that the homepage is bereft of any concept or identity.
Web Design Fad To Avoid #2: Illustration Overkill
This is another example of taking something which is genuinely popular, but overdoing it, so that instead of benefitting from a trend that is popular amongst internet users, you are actually harming your website’s performance, conversions and possibly its ranking on Google too.
In this case, we are talking about illustrations, which are currently proving to be very popular with website visitors. However, as with everything, if you take something which is working and take it beyond any reasonable application of it, your web design will fail. Specifically, the plastering of irrelevant and unnecessary illustrations on website pages will only distract visitors to the point of annoying them, and that is a sure-fire way to lose them.
Web Design Fad To Avoid #3: Scroll Jacking
Also known as ‘scroll hijacking‘ this is a website design feature that is made possible by technological advancements that do actually include several desirable benefits, however, scroll jacking is definitely not one of them.
As the name suggests, what you can do within the design of a website is to effectively alter the way in which a visitor’s browser operates when they land on a website. Specifically, it alters the scroll function so that the page scrolls at a speed determined by the designer, not the user, or it causes actions other than scrolling. It is annoying, users hate it with a passion if their feedback is anything to go by, and so it should be avoided completely when designing a new website.