In the field of web design and development there is always room for improvement. What you thought was a great website today is old news tomorrow and this is why so many companies spend time rebranding and sprucing up their old washed out image. Of course as the years have gone by we have seen some web design trends. Some are great, some are just plain awful and some are overused.
In the world of design you will see a great design idea simply ripped apart and destroyed by thousands of other designers trying to put their spin on it. This doesn�t mean that you should not be prone to web design trends…it simply means that you need to be careful when using them to create a client�s website. Corporate image is everything so make sure that you incorporate features and functions into your web design that are timeless.
Loading screens � these are dangerous to include on a website because they can frustrate a user. No one gets excited about seeing a loading screen, especially if it is moving slowly. If you are looking for a fast way to lose interest, this is probably it.
Hidden navigation and menus � while it�s great to offer a flat design website where clients can scroll for days to reach the sections that they want, this can become quite annoying. If there is no clear menu on the page to take a person to certain sections of the site, you can expect them to lose interest � probably very quickly too.
Moving animations � chances are that a person is on a website to find information. Moving animations such as falling snowflakes or flapping butterflies across the screen can certainly cause distraction and irritation.
Pesky pop-ups � when a person is bombarded with �sign up now� or �open an account� messages that just pop up and don�t go away when they are ignored, are bound to find somewhere else to go. Think twice before attaching these to the main pages. Rather add a tab or section somewhere where a user can decide independently.
Background music � yes you are probably thinking that the person can turn this off via their web browser, but how many users know how to do this? Also, it can be quite irritating to have the sound of lions roaring over and over again in the background if you need to minimise a site to come back to it later. Think twice before you suggest background sounds and music to clients.
These are just a few of the bad web design trends that you should avoid when creating a website for a client. If you would like some design inspiration browse through some web design examples and see what you like about the site and what would irritate you. The idea is to provide the user with a pleasant experience and maybe even get them wondering which web Design Company was involved in the creation of the site.