In the world of eco-friendly web design, terms like “flashy” and “trendy” do not mean “usable” and “appealing”, and it’s important to know the distinction. When designing your digital storefront, you want to keep appeal and user satisfaction front and center. Elements such as clean design, effective strategies for attracting the right traffic, converting traffic into leads, and turning leads into customers should factor into every part of your web design. So read on to learn about the dying trends in web design, and keep in mind that these trends are dying for a reason.

1. Image Carousels

Also known as image sliders, these carousels of carefully selected images often get confused by users as ads, can distract from the content, and decrease conversion rates. No wonder this element is on its way out as a website design trend. Alternatives to the image slider include:

  • Showing a single static call-to-action (CTA) alongside text, maybe accompanied by a static image
  • Having a single static message or offer in text, accompanied by static images
  • Where the slider is, showcasing your offer, CTA, or main message, then showcasing secondary messages in static below it.

2. Using Flash

Flash has hung on way longer than most of us thought, but the shift organizations are making towards open platforms means that platforms like Flash will continue to go down in popularity. Flash is all but ignored by Google, and creating Flash content is time-consuming. Yet the biggest strike against Flash is that it is not compatible with mobile devices. With more than 1.2 billion users accessing the internet through mobile, it’s foolhardy to create a website they won’t be able to access.

3. Automatically Loading Music or Video

Unless you’re a dedicated radio station with your users already logged into their station of choice, please avoid this feature on your website. Nothing annoys users more than trying to find the mute button or the stop button when they load your site in the middle of a meeting. Some web designers believe music or video will help ‘set the tone’ or inform, but nothing is further from the truth. The same thing goes for GIF-like loops embedded in headers. All of these detract from user engagement and will ensure your visitor doesn’t come back.

4. Mobile-exclusive sites

Since Google changed its search algorithms to make mobile optimization mandatory, companies and organizations have scrambled to ensure their site is mobile-friendly. However, there’s the temptation to create an entirely separate site to meet this new algorithm, just to cover the bases. We recommend you avoid this temptation, as you then have an entirely new website that you’re now responsible for updating, optimizing, debugging, supporting, and maintaining. You’ve doubled your workload. Plus, you’ve also added the problem of messing with search engine optimization due to duplicate content. Instead of this nightmare, spend the time upfront to create an original site that is mobile-optimized and responsive.

5. Overdoing Parallax Scrolling (PS)

Parallax Scrolling was all the rage not too long ago, to the point of overuse. New studies done by the Journal of Usability Studies found no discernible difference in results between using PS and not, and in those websites that used PS, some users experienced motion sickness, reducing the usability of websites that have these features.

6. Splash Pages

Splash pages might be considered the trench-coat-wearing flashers of the internet experience. No one wants to see them, and no one knows when they’re going to pop up. While they can be a great way to force your visitors to digest information they otherwise might not see, it does not make for a pleasurable visit to your website. The worst offenders are popups or splash pages used solely to display a third-party ad or to solicit likes for social media platforms.

7. Modals

These are the splash page’s evil, evil cousin. They block web content from the reader and force user interaction before the page can be viewed. And it’s not even enlightening interaction either, it’s coerced, fake, and manipulative, and the user immediately knows he’s being played into clicking where the web developer wants. This is the ultimate insult to your visitor’s intelligence. Our advice is to stay far away from this feature.

8. Being a Show-off

Don’t try to break new ground in web design by turning what has been proven to work on its head just to show off your skill set. Chances are, you’ll frustrate your users and hurt your bottom line. If your users understand that a common symbol means X and another does Y in most web interfaces, don’t go changing the paradigm. Stick with the basics and the tried and proven ways that work.

For further help in knowing which elements in web design to implement on your site, and which to avoid, contact our design team at Planet Media. 

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Planet Media is an eco-friendly and sustainable creative agency specializing in branding, UX/UI design, web development, ecommerce, and digital marketing solutions. We have extensive experience in developing, promoting, expanding, or reinventing your web presence.

Contact our Denver, Colorado office for a no-obligation, project cost analysis.