The Evolution of Web Design for the Last 5 Years

Web design has had to move with the times, but unlike car design, web design has not simply had to change because of new technology and trends. Web design has also had to change because of user methodology, search engine optimization, new web browsers and new forms of online browsing. They have also had to change to adjust to mobile web browsing too. This is a lot of factors that affect just web design, and this does not even mention actual design elements when it comes to web design.

The factors listed below represent how things have changed over the last five years. It points out how things now differ when it comes to web design, and lists all the things that a modern web designer is forced to think about if he/she wishes to be a good web designer in the years 2013/2014.

New technology

Web designers have had to deal with newer technology coming into the arena. And, many people think about hardware in this situation, such as how a website appears on a tablet device. However, you must also remember that HTML5 has just come out too.

One of the great things about HTML5 is that you are no longer bound by Flash. HTML5 allows you to add videos to your website without having to use Flash, which is very handy because the likes of the Apple iOS (their mobile operating system) will not run a Flash script.

Trends

The happy-go-lucky web designer has had to deal with changes in trends over the last five years. However, luckily, the changes have been mostly positive when it comes to web design itself.

Web page design has become a lot more simplified, which may be explained by three reasons. The first is that a simple web page is often more search engine friendly, and is certainly easier to optimize than a complex one. The second reason is that mobile web pages and dynamic web pages cannot be too complex if they are to function. Finally, it has come to designers’ attention that almost all of the most popular websites on the net, have almost all got a very simple web page design.

This trend for simplicity and usability is one that has only just come about over the last five years. It has also gone hand-in-hand with the decline in popularity of animations. These include the tacky animations such as figures/cartoons moving on the screen, to the impressive but unnecessary animations for things such as opening page menus, etc.

Methodology

Writing web page methodology has not exactly changed in the strictest sense, but one can claim that Google has helped to clean up web page code. Google and its SEO rules have made it so that it is more advantageous to have clean HTML code and well written HTML code on your website. Things such as JavaScript scripts are to be kept off page and called upon as resources by the HTML code on the web page.

This methodology has not exactly been invented over the last 5 years, as web designers have always been able to do it. But, the methodology has certainly become more popular over the last few years.

Search Engine optimization

A web designer is now required to know about SEO. The days of the freelance web designer being clueless about SEO are over. Many people who hire web designers are not just looking for a website, they are looking for a website that will rank highly. That is why a web designer needs to be more aware of search engine optimization these days.

New web browsers

These are certainly something that has evolved over the last few years. It used to be just Internet Explorer, and the fact is that many web designers still base their designs on the IE browser. But, a web designer should now be cognizant of web code optimized for Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari. There are others, but the five mentioned are really the only ones that web designers have had to concern themselves with over the last five years.

New forms of browsing online

Over the last five years, web designers at perception system have had to become more learned on the different forms of web browsing, including traditional desktop, touch screen, stylus and games console browsing.

Author’s bio:

The guest post is written by Sonia Jackson from http://www.write-my-essay-for-me.com. She helps you in writing essays and research papers on different topics. Feel free to approach.