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› December 1, 2005
2006 webdesign trends forecast
Over at http://blog.html.it, the italian multi-author blog I write for, I just posted an entry about 2006 webdesign trends. I'm posting a translation here, but as the title says, please keep in mind that it's just a forecast. I don't have a crystal ball, yet...
CSS: with the forthcoming IE7, many web designers will clean up their stylesheets of hacks. Negative margins will make their way into layouts.
Fixed layouts will probably use larger widths, and will be designed to fit 1024x768 screen resolutions. But most of all, liquid layouts will boost their presence over the web. Faux columns will decrease, and we'll see simpler and less dense layouts that give importance to content. We'll see different navigation schemes, and probably richer footers.
Concerning typography: probably the use of serif fonts will increase, and the use of sIFR for headings will widen in popularity.
Dominant colors will be black (especially for backgrounds), green, and then blue and orange.
Regarding graphics: we'll see lots of rounded corners. Gradients will be used less in favour of solid colors and eventually borders. The use of icons will increase significantly.
Javascript will be used more for graphical and choreographical effects. In general, javascript will be used for more than just behaviour of the page.
2006 will be the year of webstandards, and there will be a clearer awareness of accessibility.
Finally 2006 will confirm definitively web 2.0 and Ajax. Websites will become more near to web-applications and will raise their collaborative and social nature.
That's all for now... probably I dared too much in forecasting.. or not?
Comments
1. December 1, 2005 01:41 PM
2. December 1, 2005 02:23 PM
Andreas Posted…
Hmm, I also doubt we'll see wide-scale use of sIFR in 2006... And isn't the 'rounded corners'-peak over already? As for gradients, I think we'll see more of them, albeit a bit softer maybe: this is a good example.
Some other predictions (or maybe secret wishes ;-) ) for 2006:
- less Apple like, glossy icons
- the disappearance of wet floor effects
- the disappearance of (Backpack/Basecamp inspired) yellowish backgrounds under recently updated items
- interesting experiments with PNG opacity when IE7 enters the browser scene
- standards compliant AJAX applications
3. December 1, 2005 02:42 PM
Nate Posted…
Ouch! and Andreas mops the wet-floor. It's OK though, it was never meant as a design trend - just a fun little give-away.
4. December 1, 2005 03:24 PM
Andreas Posted…
Hehehe ;-) Just teasing a bit. But let me give some examples: there IS some hot 'wet floor' action going on recently. Of course there is Apple, but also Mozilla, Color Schemer, Pilok, Irishstu, ...
5. December 2, 2005 11:50 AM
6. December 2, 2005 05:41 PM
Mark Wubben Posted…
Here's the 2005 sIFR forecast, by the way: http://www.fortymedia.com/2005-web-design-forecast2.fhtml (how about that, Lon?!)
7. December 6, 2005 01:48 AM
8. December 15, 2005 04:35 AM
9. January 5, 2006 08:31 PM
Pilok Posted…
Hi,
Though I admit that my 'wet-floor' effect is not the most innovative idea of the year, I would not conlude too quickly that this effect (along with glossy icons, and other effects) should disappear in 2006. Any graphical idea can be interesting if it is well-used in a webdesign and some "common" techniques can create a coherent, original and still "on the move" identity on the web. For example: http://www.emotionslive.co.uk/ received a lot of real good compliments but the website use long-term known techniques: gradient body background, shadowed titles and menu, and gradient menu buttons. And this is maybe not the best example.
I don't try to say that I create a real good mix of recent css-design techniques but that the visual quality of a website depends on the idea behind it and not only on the techniques used to achieve it.
So my secret wish for 2006 would be that more designer would surprise us using simple tehniques in a way that they creates eye-catching, but still usuable, web interfaces. ;-)
Rimantas Posted…
We already see a lot of rounded corners. I think you are very wrong regarding layouts and typography (the sIFR part). Most likely is predictiona about colors, IMHO