When it comes to the actual market share, the dominance of WordPress becomes quite evident. WordPress claims slightly over 60 percent (up slightly from November 2015’s number of 58.7 percent). The nearest competition? Joomla with 3.1 percent market share (up from 2.8 percent). Drupal is also up from 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent.
Mobile traffic is past its tipping point with roughly 52 percent of web traffic currently deriving from smartphones versus desktops – and counting. People are accessing sites and services with the expectation they will not only have the same functionality they would on desktops, but, more so today, that the sites will also use the functionality native to their devices without needing to download an app.
Source: Why Responsive Design is Dead
Design preferences (and techniques) seemingly change by the day (if not the hour). These changes make it quite difficult for those responsible for the visual aspects of their enterprise’s user experience (UX) to keep pace, but it is certainly not impossible.
According to the recently released Ranking Factors for the Media Industry study from Searchmetrics, nearly 78 percent of the corresponding Google.com page one results on mobile were found to be AMP-enabled, positioned either in the standard organic search results or in the ‘Top stories’ news boxes and carousels in mobile results.
The reality is that the Web isn’t “the Web” in the traditional sense anymore. E-commerce, CMS software, CRM, AI, publishing, social media, digital products and services, SaaS – none of these are static in the way that Web design once was. By and large, the Web is now a gigantic global software platform. And by extension, modern Web design is no longer Web design; it’s product design.
Source:Why Modern Web Design Is No More: The New Era of ‘Product Design’
The changes make Web design play an even more critical role in how a site ranks, so enterprises will want to make sure they are avoiding these common mistakes.
Source: Web Design Mistakes that Kill Rankings – Website Magazine
It’s been more than five years since Steve Jobs wrote his infamous “Thoughts on Flash” letter citing the high level of energy consumption, lack of performance on mobile and poor security as the reasons his company’s products would not support Adobe Flash technology. Finally, it appears we’re getting closer to the curtain closing on Flash.
Source: Farewell To Flash: What It Means For Digital Video Publishers | TechCrunch
Lots of marketing resources, startup resources, educational tools, email tools, image resources, icons, CMSs, CSS resources, and much more. And as always, some awesome new free fonts!
Source: What’s new for designers, August 2015 | Webdesigner Depot
Despite its sudden popularity, flat design is not just some fly-by-night trend. It’s a substantial approach to Web design that’s rooted in practicality, and necessity. The balance between aesthetics and usability reflected in flat design 2.0 demonstrates that the principles behind the philosophy have true staying power.
Source: The future of flat design
Absolute consistency is repetitive to the point of boredom. In order to mine its benefits without putting your users to sleep, you need to know when to break the monotony.
Applying colors is a delicate process that needs to take in context the audience and the entire environment of the website you want to modify. The choice is highly individual, as it needs to fit the website’s (and the brand’s) personality.
Source: Color vs Contrast: Which one brings more conversion? – UsabilityTools.com
Many of today’s most popular design trends (including flat design, large background images, and hidden global navigation) are directly or indirectly influenced by minimalism, a web-design movement that began in the early 2000’s, but borrows its philosophy from earlier movements in the fields of fine art and human–computer interaction. Minimalism sometimes presents as an attempt to prioritize content over the chrome and, when applied correctly, it can help you focus your design to simplify user tasks.
Typography doesn’t typically get the attention it deserves when it comes to designing and developing websites.
The web operates in ways that can conflict with our traditional view of what a “story”—with a set start, middle, and end—is. Content is chunked, spread across various channels, devices, and formats. How do we define story lines, characters, interactions, and the role of the audience, given this information sprawl?
Building Nonlinear Narratives for the Web · An A List Apart Article
A great website—one that takes into consideration all the elements that drives customer engagement—is one that will help you move a business forward. Read about a few web design trends that small business owners should be aware of.
Minimalist Web pages have been popular among designers for quite some time, but the trend is evolving in some elegant and sophisticated ways.
Create a Video Background for Your Web Page – Website Magazine
A website serves different purposes but a big chunk of people having websites often fail to answer the most fundamental question – “Why do you have a website?”
Small Biz: Why Do You Really Have a Website? – Website Magazine
So, what are the ground rules that you must keep in mind? Are they the same for every website? Or, do they differ from industry to industry?