UI trends that are set to drive website visitors in 2017

Constant innovation and experimentation in creative fields give rise to new trends, which eventually get adopted by many. Some of the popular trends are capable of revolutionizing the conventional industry standards and can even lead to improvements in existing methodologies. It has also been observed that while some major trends stick on for long, others disappear in short time. However, these short-term trends can be the driving factors for the major ones in the future.

The same is true for User Interface (UI) design trends as well. While some trends such as grid layout and flat design elements have stayed on for long, others such as 3D transition effects were not able to retain the interest of the website users, only to fade away in some time. However, new ones keep coming in and many in the industry are keen to know and learn about them. Discussed below are some of the new UI trends that could drive website users in 2017.

Mailable Microsites

Interactive emails are one of the latest trends that could be hitting peak popularity in 2017. Instead of static messages, recipients could well receive a microsite in their mail, which they would be able to open within the inbox itself. This microsite could contain almost all the features of a full-fledged website, allowing the users to have comprehensive details about the senders, rather than just a glimpse of their offerings.

In addition, the users would also be able to receive and play videos and animation content such as event videos, animated presentations, product demo videos, etc., all from within their emails.

Moreover, the advent of mailable microsites could also open up the prospect of sending a micro version of an e-commerce portal, which would not just allow the users to have a look at the available products, but also let them make a purchase without having to open the main website.

Another vital development in the field is the possibility of sending the live content to the users, which means the entire content of the mail could be updated at the very moment a user opens it in the inbox. Using this technology, marketers could add a sense of urgency for their prospects by showing a countdown clock that could accurately show the time left irrespective of the time they have been opened.

Long-Scroll Content

Thanks to the massive rise in popularity of mobile devices, one of the easiest methods to navigate a site is the long-scroll or infinitely-scroll. As users losing the interest to click, owing to the small screen sizes, scrolling has become the method of choice to browse a website. This has also lead to the popularity of single page websites, and the trend looks to continue in 2017.

The method has been found to be highly efficient when it comes to the current swing towards storytelling. The long scrolling has been found to have a much higher impact with storytelling when compared to the page-by-page navigation

While long-scroll may not be a new trend, as the UI Designing patterns have been inclined towards this method already for some years now, we might well see a new derivative of the long-scroll in 2017, which could add to the efficiency of the site’s navigability.

Flexbox (The CSS3 Flexible Box)

Flexbox or Flexible box is the new layout mode in the third and the latest version of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3), which has come up with many long-awaited novelties. The advantage of Flexbox is clearly visible when the page layout has to adjust according to the different display devices and their screen sizes as it guarantees the behavior of the design elements as predicted. This is a huge improvement over the block model which has no room for floats. Also, it did not allow the collapse of flex container’s margins in relation to its content’s margins.

As Flexbox defines the method of arrangement of the flex items inside a flex container, everything outside it and inside a flex item is displayed without any deviations. This certainly has brought a lot of relief to the UI designers, which could perhaps make the idea of employing the Flexbox a major trend in 2017.

Parallax for Mobile

The parallax effect on the website is used to increase the scroll speed of the foreground in comparison to the background, which makes it appear as if the content such as images or text is floating above the base behind it. While the trend has been essentially used for desktop sites over the years, it is swiftly catching up with responsive websites as well.

These types of websites are independent of the device as well as the screen-size and can fit comfortably on the smaller screens of mobile devices. However, designers experimenting with this functionality on the mobile-centric sites have to careful against the over-use of the effect as it might turn over-bearing for the users. However, the appropriate usage can add to the aesthetics of the site and can render special focus to the imagery.

While these are some of the distinguishable UI trends that could capture the user’s attention in 2017, there could be much more surprises in store as we move ahead to achieve new milestones in the field of UI design.