In a previous article, we mentioned the first 5 web design trends of 2014: layouts, typography, minimalism were few of the highlights. Let’s delve even deeper into the trends that defined the web design industry, in the year that almost passed.
CSS animations and 3D transition effects
JavaScript has been for a long period of time the primary choice for browser animation. However, in 2014, JavaScript is partially ignored and designers adopt CSS3 to the mainstream trends, building their own animation effects using @keyframes. CSS animations, more emancipated sisters of traditional animations, are accompanied by creative 3D transitions effects, created with jQuery or CSS3. For more ideas, you can check some 3D animated code examples.
Ambient Video Backgrounds
In 2014, the ambient video backgrounds were considered that pizzazz that every exquisite website should have. However, it seems that developers loath this trends, from various reasons: it doesn’t bring any added value to the content, slows down the website, and raises the bounce rate (yes, some people cannot stand that horrible incoming train noise from your video). Therefore, this feature lays somewhere between tantalizing new trend and obnoxious UX-detractor. However, customer is the king, and if everybody seems to like them, designers are forced to adapt to the trend. With the rise of HTML5, the website is no longer a static experience, the visual flourishes, creating a more immersive user interaction and a pleasant background atmosphere for users. Here you can check some quirky, fun examples.
HTML5 Video Players
Flash still has a purpose now and then, but all web designers are betting their money on HTML5 media and emerging JavaScript libraries. Some great resources, for both basic and advanced designers are Video.js and MediaElement.js, or a more complex multimedia solution, HTML5 video players from Cincopa.
Responsive image galleries
This is not a brand new trend, however, the growing integration of JavaScript and CSS gave developers loads of creative ideas. 2014 was the year of dynamic carousels sliders and image lightboxes, elastic dragging interaction to switch between pictures (Elastic Stack) and jQuery gallery plugins. In addition, this was a good year for high quality images, due to the increased loading speed and affordable pricing. Check this list of incredibly good looking websites.
SVG Animation
Even if this trend is not fully supported by all browsers (yes, some people still use Internet Explorer!), in few years SVG images and icons will rule the digital space. Scalable Vector Graphic images are easy to scale and manipulate, without too much quality loss, they are small in size and judging by all the JavaScript libraries out there, it’s easier and easier to implement them.
These were the hottest web design trends of 2014. Of course, the list is still open (crafty CSS3 image caption effects, mega navigation menus which expand to hold large chunks of content, focused landing pages, browser games, etc), but there is a lot more to be expected in the future. The forecast for 2015 web design trends is even greater: we expect a higher focus on speed and users, material design and mind-blowing typography. Stay tuned!
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