Parallax scrolling for everybody

Now that mesmerizing parallax scrolling templates are readily available on WordPress and other platforms, expect to see a lot more highly innovative, narratively driven web pages.

Card design

As Chris Lake states in his round-up of card-based web design, cards are ideal for the TL;DR generation, perfect for mobile devices and responsive design.

 

Ghost buttons

Ghost buttons aren’t meant to distract you, just attract your attention in a subtle way.

They’re transparent but have a recognizable shape, are bordered with a very thin line and contain light sans-serif fonts— not quite a call-to-action. Ghost buttons are great for designers wanting additional, but, uncluttered navigation.

Examples from WebsitesWithGhostButtons.Tumblr

Speed

We all talk about it, but people don’t always do anything about it. There was a time when everyone would try for minimal graphics to speed things up, then desktop connections got faster and nobody worried.

When mobile came along, everyone worried again. We think people will probably start to look at this again more broadly.

Scrolling not clicking

Scrolling through webpages is far quicker than clicking. It helps convey masses of information without slowing down the experience for the user, it’s mobile and touch friendly, it’s a non-committal action that requires little thought and it’s perfect for webpages where the purpose is storytelling.

Upwardly responsive

Although there are plenty of brands adapting their websites for smartphone and tablet users, responsive design should work for bigger screens too.

Quoting Chris Lake from his article on websites designed for big screens earlier in the year…

It goes without saying that a growing proportion of your website’s visitors will be using handheld devices with little screens, but you may be surprised by how many people use bigger screens.

Dynamic/animated charts

Add motion to previously static images -show a chart rendering on the fly…

 

We could go on and on… Happy 2015 to all.