Like fashion trends, the look and feel of the average company website, as well as its purpose and functionality has changed from year to year.
Let's look at the reasons for having a website.
Back in the beginning of time, a few savvy businesses decided that having a website would put them in direct contact with the computer geeks of the world. Gradually as the home computer became a little more accessible to the average family, and internet became easier to use for those of us without a programming degree, the news channels and travel companies started to see the advantage of reaching out via the old dialup modem.
Although because updating your own website was pretty much out of the question (without a programmer on staff), and large graphics would take much too long to load, the aim of the website was to provide good reading leading through to contact information. Pages were long, full of text, and often pretty boring to look at. Web pages were also designed to be very printer friendly, as the dialup connection was known to fail regularly and printing out your favourite page was more common than bookmarking.
Time to abandon the scroll.
ADSL was introduced to most households, and not only did people have their own desktop computer, but many had a laptop as well. Screen sizes grew and suddenly we could show more, and in doing so the clients demanded more functionality and purpose from their website.
The website was no longer a brochure advertising products and services, it was now being considered as an office that's open 24-7. This was the ultimate office, with round the clock service and employees who didn't complain.
Whether you were selling products online, or encouraging patrons to visit your location, the websites were all the same. Fit as much as you can into a single screen space. Make it flashy, colourful, add movement and sound, but don't let the client scroll, instead, make them click to another page.
Websites had huge navigation systems which almost needed the duey system to get around. In fact, it was as normal to have a "sitemap" and "search" page as it was to have a home page. But the websites looked great and gave you every bit of information about the company you could possibly desire.
Websites are now on the move.
Now in 2014, the internet is not only faster but also mobile. Mobile browsing has gone from text only alternative websites to full screen interactive video and sound. When checking your website analytics you are no longer watching for apple v's pc... it's now mobile v's tablet.
Designing a website now means that you need to capture the attention quickly and boldly. No more reams and reams of text, just link to a pdf so they can download it for later. No more long product descriptions, just zoom in on the picture. And just like the return of shoulder pads, scrolling web pages are back. Only don't be tempted to put too much information on the page as today's surfers only want byte sized pieces of information, and if they like it, they'll go to your ebay to buy it, or they'll call you to book your service.
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This blog article has be inspired by the need for responsive website design and the ease of creating them on your own with WIX websites.
