just because a website design feature is popular or trending does not necessarily mean that it is perfect. Here we take a look at some of the pitfalls of popular web design elements. It is good the know the pros and cons before you add anything to your website.
Carousel Image Sliders
These seem to be very popular appearing on many websites online today. This is most likely due to the fact that this single feature can host many different images and each image can have a text overlay or simply convey information with the images themselves. What may seem good in theory does not always translate in practice. Studies and surveys conducted over the years by various sources have shown that engagement with any images (apart from the first image in the carousel) is very, very low. Bear this in mind if considering (or if currently using) this on your website, it is very rare that any of the other images will be interacted with so do not house crucial information here.
Features that Float
You may have come across, or even use, these features on websites. They usually take the form of a semi-transparent lightbox that hovers over the content of a webpage. Within this, there may be links to business social media accounts or an arrow button to bring users back to the top of a webpage. These elements float over the page content and often follow the website visitors as they navigate through website pages. While this may sound helpful, in reality, this can be a nightmare for Ux. If you don’t want to follow the brands’ social media outlets or return to the top of the page, the little floating element still follows you and can even block (by unintentionally covering) the content that you do want to read and interact with.
Complicated Calligraphy
To stand out from the crowd, some business websites choose to utilize a unique font or typeface. However, the more complex these become, the less legible and clear they can also become. One also has to remember that fonts usually have to be scaled down to fit on mobile device screens, so this is another layer of potential problems for already complicated calligraphy. That is not to say that it has to be ruled out completely. Titles (which are usually bigger) or sporadic accents of this type of text here and there dotted throughout your website can cope fine, but keep the main bodies of text to a clear and crisp (and overall legible) font.
The expert team at Ireland Website Design leads your website design in the right direction and make sure your eyes are open to the pros and cons of each design element. We work to drive sales to your business and don’t just follow the trends, but also set them.