2013 is almost upon us, and that means you better prepare for the year ahead and the web design trends that will undoubtedly have a major impact on your website in 2013. Unless you are prepared then before you know there will be a new trend in the market. While some trends from 2012 might retain there is no doubt that 2013 will bring a lot of new ideas and trends. So without further ado here are our predictions for high-impact web design trends in 2013.

Responsive Web Design

It used to be that you would design two versions of the same website, one for desktops and one for mobile devices, however as tablets and phones become more and more popular and more and more varying in size responsive web design will be the way forward. Pretty much responsive web design will eliminate the need to create separate websites for different devices because of its ability to respond to the size of the device being used.

Scrolling Everywhere!

In 2013 Vertical or Horizontal scrolling will surely become a trend, whether it be vertical or horizontal, there should be no reason why you would ignore this trend. Vertical scrolling means that as you scroll down the page the menus and other important elements remain locked in their position. Bagigia is a great example of how parallax and vertical scrolling can be implemented in order to create a stunning website.

Out goes Flash in comes HTML5 and CSS3

It used to be that if you wanted to add animation to a website you would have to use Adobe Flash, however in 2012 Flash was dethroned and this is no doubt a trend that will continue into 2013. With the emergence of HTML5 and CSS3, Flash will have a harder time. It is expected that more and more websites will replace Flash with HTML5 and CSS3. Another reason is that HTML 5 and CSS3 simply work better across platforms and they don’t require any special plug-ins or software.

Full Page Image Backgrounds

It used to be that backgrounds were exactly that, just a background, they were to be ignored and remain unnoticed, however 2013 will change this more and more designers are starting to use high quality photographs to get the attention of the visitor and leave a long lasting impression. Designers are starting to use backgrounds that become an integral part of the final website.

Designed Typography

It used to be that a picture said more than 1,000 words well in 2013 the words are coming back! More and more websites are using fonts in a fun and creative manner. Typography is becoming an important part of any web design project and the use of custom fonts is gaining in popularity. Expect to see bigger fonts in 2013, not only can it look beautiful if done correct it can also help pull the attention towards the main element of the website.

Skeuomorphism. 

You might remember that Steve Jobs famously asked designers to make sure parts of the iOS Software looked like real life objects, the Calendar and Notes app all look like their real life siblings, perhaps this is also why Apple apps feel more natural than the outdated software that other companies are creating. Expect that 2013 will be no different, web designers will continue to use designs from our everyday life when making our online experience more realistic.

Huge Buttons

As more and more users are surfing the web from their tablets and phones, web designers will have to adapt to their needs and 2013 will be no different so expect to see buttons getting bigger. There is nothing worse than tapping a button frantically only to realize that your fingers will never hit the button as expected because it is just too small. Bigger buttons will make like much easier if you are on your smartphone, however a downside is that as the buttons get bigger so does the download time, so it will be interesting to see how designers deal with this problem.

Crowd Sourcing

Always a controversial topic, crowdsourcing was on the rise last year and 2013 is predicted to be even better. The most popular areas seem to be WordPress tweaks and logo design.

Minimalism – Simpler Is Better

It used to be that websites were stuffed with everything the designer could possibly think about, pictures, animations, long blocks of text, you name it and it was most likely on the site. However in the past few years there has been a trend towards getting rid of the unnecessary and instead create a site that is as minimalistic as possible. A simple and clean design is often much more effective when getting a message across, and 2013 will see a boom in this perspective, we expect that designers will use simple one color designs with white being one of the most popular trends at the moment. Apple.com is a great example of keeping it simple while still getting your message across.

Videos on Landing Pages

Time is money, and with the clock ticking away people just don’t have time to read large chunks of text. If you have a large paragraph of text explaining what it is your site does then you have more than likely already lost customers. In today’s world you only have seconds to capture your visitor’s attention. In 2013 we expect to see more and more websites using landing page videos to draw the attention of the user. If you don’t have the resources to make a high production video don’t worry more and more providers, such as Shutterstock.com are offering stock footage for fair prices.

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