Trends in Web Design

The web is like any designed media -- fads come and go. Here are some I've noticed in the past few years:

About two years ago, online publications like Wired and CNN.com led the way away from strong background graphics, switching to largely gray layouts where the content and accompanying images draw the most attention. (In relation to technology, this shift makes good sense; as download speeds have gotten better, large graphics specific to the stories are feasible. Using repeating background images for an entire site was an efficient way to add color and visual appeal in the early days of the web.)

Over the past year, more sites are incorporating JavaScript-based interactivity, such as scrolling panels and hovering windows, that don't take the visitor away from their starting point. These elements shift considerations in information design and layout away from discrete pages and toward user-friendly controls

This summer as I was working on a freelance book project that required updating screen captures of websites, I noticed another more subtle shift. Although only a year had passed, the featured sites had changed to make room for much more ad placement–-nearly every site had been reworked to show Google ads in multiple places on the page even if the rest of the design was the same.

Maybe the big lesson is that web site design, like fashion, is not timeless. Even sites that were the height of cool in their day might end of the web equivalent of a 1970s polyester leisure suit. It will be interesting to see what comes next.