UX Website Design Trends 2017
The importance of UX (user experience) in website design cannot be overstated these days, and you’re no longer allowed to think in mere UI (user interface) terms. The main focus now is user satisfaction instead of just nifty web visuals. But what UX trends can we expect for 2017? Here are the most popular predictions:
Age-Responsive Design
Even if you only have the slightest interest in web design, you must have heard about the increasing dominance of responsive design, right? This is a web layout that adapts to the device you use to view the site so it looks fine and functional whether you’re using a PC or a smartphone.
But some websites are already experimenting adaptive layouts that change depending on the age of the user. Various ways have already been planned to identify user age. When that’s successful, the layout can change to match the age needs of the user. If they’re teens, then the design should look hip and cool. If they’re older, the site may feature larger font sizes and increased spaces, as well as other visual features that make a site easier for the elderly to read.
Mimicking the App Look
Apps are so popular these days that many web designers are planning to make their sites look like the design and interface of an app. The emphasis is obviously on user experience, since users won’t have to learn a new interface each time they visit a website using a different device.
Apps have become popular because they’re designed for optimal usefulness in smartphones, which most people are now using to go online. You may want to include those same useful app features when your site appears on a desktop PC monitor.
Greater Use of Chatbot
Once upon a time, visual interface tools were required to be able to use sites. Now you can use voice, and that’s obvious when you see sites like Google on your smartphone. Who wants to use the keyboard when you can just say what you want to look for?
Chatbots will most likely improve considerably in 2017, so that it can be much more useful than it is now. Conversations can be the means of communication not just for ordering fast food online. It may become the de facto means of getting customer support 24/7 or it can be used for online banking.
Identity and Authentication
Finally there may be a safer and more convenient way of securely logging into websites. Typing in user names and passwords can be so unwieldy. You have to memorize weird passwords, or hackers can guess them.
But user experience may become better with new advances in voice recognition and GPS location. Even image recognition may be used. All these can make online activities like online banking more secure and also much easier.
It’s pretty obvious that the surge in mobile browsing is driving the trends in the field of UX design.