Thanks to technological advances, many web trends are becoming increasingly obsolete. Want to learn more?

 

Every year, we see new web trends emerge with aesthetic and functional changes. The latter, in particular, is driven by ongoing technological advancements. Due to these changes, some web trends also become obsolete and fall into disuse.
At the beginning of this year we wrote a post telling the web design trends that we expected to find, and now, with half a year already gone, we tell you about some of the trends that they have replaced (or are in the process of replacing).

 

Flash introductions

A few years ago, any website that wanted to have a bit of style had to have a Flash-based introduction. This introduction was an automatic animation designed to grab the user's attention and encourage them to read more.

So far it may seem like a good idea, but if it's on our list of declining web trends, there must be a reason.

The first problem with this trend is that mobile devices do not display it, so all users who access a website made in flash from their mobile devices will not see anything.

Another drawback is that Google doesn't index content created in Flash. Therefore, if you ever want to improve the website's search engine ranking, it will be impossible.

Finally, users don't like having to wait to watch an entire video to access the information that really interests them, and they are likely to leave before then.
Instead, we have large background videos, which allow us to display impressive videos without hindering the visitor's navigation.

 

Typography in image

Having a boring website is something we all try to avoid, so before web fonts were used, it was common to find pages with lots of text in image format.

This is not a very good idea because, being an image, search engines cannot read the content beyond its alt tag.

Furthermore, if one of these images failed to load, instead of text, the horrible symbol that appears in this type of error would be displayed.

Now, with the diversity of fonts we can use on web pages, these problems disappear.

 

Complicated forms

Not so long ago, it was common for a form to have countless fields to fill in, asking for a lot of information, especially in e-commerce.
Fortunately, web design now focuses much more on user experience (UX), that is, making a website visit pleasant for the user. To achieve this, it's vital to put yourself in the visitor's shoes and, from that perspective, avoid putting them through anything you wouldn't want to experience yourself.

Fortunately, nowadays we have forms where we simply enter a couple of details, and online stores that remember our information from time to time.

Complex designs and “Skeuomorphic” designs

Skeuomorphic design is essentially design that imitates reality by emulating materials. Apple and its iBook library are one example.
These types of designs with 3D elements that try to look as much like real life as possible are being used less and less.

Thanks to flat design, which focuses on clean and clear content by leaving aside any element that could overwhelm or distract visitors, we say goodbye to the Skeuomorphic web trend.

 

Stock images

Having free image banks is a great help to designers in principle, but in the end, what happens is that many websites end up using the same photos.

Seeing the same type of photographs on every website you visit is monotonous and boring, but above all, it lacks originality. For this reason, these types of images are being used less and less, while manipulated, more personal, and original images are becoming more popular.

The arrival of illustrations in web design has also meant that we find fewer and fewer stock images.

 

Pop-up windows

Another common practice in web design that, fortunately for everyone, is used less and less each day, is the use of pop-up windows that cover the content we were viewing.

These types of windows force us to do something to remove them from our view, even if it's just clicking on the icon to close them.

Once again, user experience prevails and a few annoyances disappear.

 

These are some web trends that are no longer in fashion in web design, and we'll see what the second half of the year brings, but be careful with overly trendy designs; they might end up on a list like this one in a while…