Translat article by Benjie Moss describing the seven web design trends of 2014. And of course, advice on how to actually deal with them.
It’s that time every year when all the web bloggers reach for the crystal ball, dust off the tarot cards and stare into their cups of tea for hours trying to guess the trends that lie ahead for us this year. The resulting list then ranges in terms of probability from something that is completely certain (Apple will release some new device) to completely improbable things (that the new device will be a TV).
The article was translat with
The kind permission of webdesignerdepot.com . The original text of the article (EN) can be found here: 7 web design trends you’ll actually see this year (and how to survive them) .
But the truth is that only extremely rarely does a trend appear out of the blue, without any preliminary indications. When you take a closer look at the major trends of the current year, you will find that their roots began to develop as early as 2013 (or even earlier). While it’s certainly possible that some revolutionary indonesia phone number data concept will emerge in 2014 and become wildly popular, it’s much more likely to be a year of small improvements to whatever can be improv (either bas on or in response to unceasing technological development).
The future of web design is already evident today, just look back. So this article describes seven prictions for the year 2014, the truth of which is already being proven, and there is no shortage of advice on how to deal with them in order to survive.
1) Gradual decay :hover
The CSS pseudo-class :hoveris one of the most original design concepts on the web. It is closely ti to the cursor, indicating that a person is about to click something and encouraging them to do so. But as the market a strengthen your brand is currently more and more flood with devices that do not use the cursor at all, the usefulness is :hoverquite questionable.
I recently heard an interview where a designer argu that :hoverit’s actually a bad practice to use because it encourages UX designers to think in terms that most end users will never encounter (ie cursor navigation). However, it can definitely said that effects bas on holding the cursor somewhere appear less on new websites.
A tip on how to survive
While it’s true that mobile users will likely outnumber desktop users over the next twelve months, the percentage of desktop users will still be in the double digits. We already design for such platforms, for example IE7, which had a much smaller market share. A mobile-first strategy definitely does not mean never for desktops, and the :hover pseudo-class will cz lists eventually disappear on its own thanks to the concept of graceful degradation. So (at least as far as I’m concern), the pseudoclass :hover still has its merits, it’s just not a vital tool anymore.