Simplicity is Key This Year in Web Design

What you can do to get the most out of your website in 2010

Everyone has heard the phrase less is more—well in 2010 this is phrase every web designer should keep in the back of their minds when designing websites.  According to multiple websites, simplicity will play a major role in how websites should be designed this upcoming year.

Why is this trend becoming more popular?  Probably because with the slew of information on the internet these days people need to be able to scan a website to see if the content is relevant to what they are searching for.  If you can keep it simple, and have a few eye popping pieces to showcase what your website has to offer—more than likely people will stay and check out your site.

So what can you do to keep this simplicity up to date and still modern?  Try using a plain white background and one or two bright colors.  This will keep your text standing out on the page.  Again the easier it is for someone to find your information the more likely they will come back to your page for more information.

Even social networks such as YouTube and Digg are cutting back on their pages and making thing simpler.  One reason is to cut down on loading time—a few seconds might not seem like much but in this impatient world of ours it could help tremendously.

Large headers can really get browser’s attention as well. Keeping the background clean and using one large image can cut down on load time and really grab someone’s attention right off the bat.  Remember that less is more, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Sometimes simplicity can really be more interesting and eye popping than a page with many things going on which can be overwhelming to the eye.

Try and cut down on content and have a one page website.  It could be a challenge but cutting out extra information that isn’t needed can simplify your page and get readers strait to the information without them having to dig around for it. 

Shannon Suetos is a writer based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for Resource Nation, an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs.