4 Ways the Web Design Industry Has Changed in the Last Decade

When it comes to trends and demand, the web design world is up there with the designer fashion industry. Styles, templates, and page elements that were once demanded and desirable are passed over in the blink of an eye, often for a complete change in design. While there are timeless design examples on the web, they're often ignored – looked over in favour of fleeting, temporary styling.

It's a major annoyance for web designers, particularly those that aim to produce clean and usable websites for their clients. The endless fight for 'now' has left some of the best websites in the dust, unable to draw the attention of the design world due to their supposedly 'bland' styling. These four styles were once cutting edge, but today have fallen out of favour with almost all web designers.

1. Flash is out. HTML and Javascript are in.

Seasoned web designers will remember the days of Flash everything. From website introductions to navigational systems, almost every page element was produced in Adobe (then Macromedia) Flash or some variant of it. Today, however, Flash is almost nowhere to be seen online, even in videos.

It's a result of the format's dangerous lack of security, its unstable nature, and its incredible lack of usability for browsers. As search-based marketing and other text-dependent practices have become more common online, Flash has been passed over in favour of Javascript and HTML5 elements.

2. Animated GIFs, flashy backgrounds, and bright colours have disappeared.

The early days of the amateur web weren't exactly vision-friendly. Animated GIF images were just about everywhere, invading page backgrounds and even corporate websites. Similarly, annoyingly bright background images were once a standard fixture on all but the most blasé business websites.

Thankfully, those days are now over. The world has, for the most part, gotten over the novelty of the internet and started to take web design more seriously. It is possible to run into a website that hasn't been updated since the days of animated GIFs, but it's becoming more difficult on a daily basis.

3. Frames, dividers, and navigational scrollbars are nowhere to be seen.

Younger web users may be surprised to hear that smooth HTML5 dividers and Javascript arranged text wasn't always the standard online. Before third-party coding languages became a reality, most websites arranged their content using frames, <div> tags, and other bulky pieces of ageing code.

Again, these design trends haven't been passed over due to changes in taste, but due to changes in technology. Frames can now be replaced with jQuery and other coding tools, while scrollbars can be edited to take on the properties of their website, not the operating system that they're viewed on.

4. 'Clean' design has taken over from flashy, intrusive 'art piece' websites.

In a development that's fantastic for users, the web design industry has spent the last decade moving away from 'design for design's sake' and towards optimal usability. Websites that were once displays of flashiness are now somewhat reserved, preferring to be 'clean' than loaded with gaudy imagery.

It's fitting then, that some of the most celebrated designs and website templates have 'minimalist' in their titles. The web design industry has shifted towards clean, user-friendly, and browser-friendly design after close to a decade of focusing on gaudy, kitsch, and utterly unusable 'fluff' design.