Take a look at some of the exciting web trends to look forward to in 2011 including the breakthrough of HTML5, CSS3 and other concepts!
HTML5 and CSS3
You can’t talk about website design trends for 2011 without mentioning HTML5 and CSS3. Both HTML5 and CSS3 make websites easier to build and link with social tools.
This latest version of the HTML enables the designer and developer to create more readable code and build layouts that are semantically meaningful. It introduces advanced features that help you structure mark-up. Other HTML5 features are APIs, dragging, drawing graphics on screen, canvas, keygen, output and progress.
CSS3 is the latest module of CSS, Its much more advanced set of features makes this new version the tool of the future. Some distinctive aspects of CSS3 are features like “border radius”, “box shadow”, multiple background images and text shadow. Animations with CSS3 are made easy, subtle and lightweight.
Minimalism
Minimalism style of designing whether in a website or in print has the capability to create high visual impact designs that create a feeling of space and light. By the removal of superfluous elements and by retaining only essential elements, minimalist designs enhance the message and draw in the user.
Especially With the need for websites to be mobile-friendly, compatible and accessible, design has to be kept simple. The minimalistic approach is easier it is to navigate and comprehend.
Typography
Designers have started to use typography an integral part of the overall work rather than a liability and this trend will be more clearly seen in 2011. With HTML5, CSS3, and new typography programs, there will be many fonts available that do not slow down search engine optimization. With the growing numbers of tools and applications, typography will become a primary design element in its own right. A new trend has begun to gain strength and that’s utilizing big and bold fonts with the exclusive intention of grab the surfer?s attention.
Textured Backgrounds
As you look around in 2011, you?ll see how textures are being used in many different ways by Web designers. The grunge look that was so popular during the nineties has been reinterpreted and adapted to the present time, with a new style of combining grungy textures along with clean interfaces and bold typefaces.
One Page Websites
One pay layouts our like business cards and are becoming a common medium for users to ?get straight to the point? – skills /services/products that the site is offering. The challenge for desiners is to put everything you need in a single page in a way that will get the user attention and interest.
It?s a great way to have a large impact with a small amount of content.
Outsized Logos/ Headers
To make an unforgettable impression on the visitor, the trend for 2011 will be oversized logos on an equally oversized header. Since a header is the first impression a customer gets large and interactive headers with special offers, promotions, and calls to action help increase the number of conversions a website creates.
Hand-drawn Designs
In 2011 the trend towards incorporating hand drawn elements into web designs will be more widely seen. Hand drawn elements will be seen in navigation bars, as backgrounds, as accenting elements, or as an entire site theme. They charm of these hand drawn elements is that they give websites a very unique, out-of-the-box, and organic/realistic look; they can help to set surreal sceneries and also are more lightweight than complicated designs.
Modal Boxes (Lightboxes)
Modal boxes are basically the next generation of pop-ups and a leading trend in designing. They are a cleaner, more user-friendly alternative to the basic JavaScript pop up windows that have been around for years. Clean, crisp, and focuses the user on the information you are presenting, whether it is a picture, text or a video. This little tool helps the presentation go a long way.
Enormous Images
Large scale backdrops will surge in 2011. These images will be high resolution, and covering the entire site. Large photos are an instant way to grab your audience? they cannot help but to see it and have an. Trends point to soft and slightly transparent imagery that does not over shadow your content, but harmonizes with it. opinion about it.can create the stunning visual effect and add more life to a site design compared to the traditional tiled.
Oversized Footer
Oversized footers may be everywhere already, but 2011 will find them even more exaggerated. Footers are becoming more important every day as designers realize that they?re a vital part of every design and they must be utilized with the same importance than the header.
Footers are now areas where you can place things like social stream boxes, contact forms and tons of information.
