Website designs keep constantly changing every year hence if you are a UX designer or a website owner, you need to keep yourself updated with the latest trends in web development and tweak your website to match the latest trend. We have seen many websites online which still use outdated designs which need an immediate update.
We have discussed below a few outdated designs that you should not be using on your website;
- Complex Elements with Multiple Features:
Complex designs do not attract users anymore as they prefer websites which has more white space. Clogged websites look decluttered with too much of the information in a small space which looks extremely distracting and increases user bounce rate.
- Sticky Navigation Menu Bars Crossing Borders:
Sticky navigation menu is supposed to help users navigate through the website without scrolling to the top again and again but if the navigation menu covers a large part of the page, then the remaining page visibility area reduces, that could be a problem hence make sure that the navigation menu only covers a small portion of the entire page.
- No Paddings for the Navigation Menu:
If the navigation menu does not have padding, then the users would precisely need to click on the text to navigate, which becomes really inconvenient especially when accessing through small screens such as mobile phones, hence make sure to pad the navigation menu.
- Too Flashy Website with No Symmetry in Design:
Websites which uses too many colors look shabby and shattered as there is no symmetry in the design. The latest trend is to use one color theme throughout the site so that it looks neat and continuous and you can relate the brand with that color as well.
- Using too Many Text Formats:
Using too many formats of text can make the page look clumsy and also make it difficult for the user to read the content. Stick to using headline wherever needed and use the same text format for the majority of the post.
- Interfering Pop-Up Messages on Page Load:
Websites which load a pop-up as soon as the site loads are outdated as users are not interested to engage with you until they understand about your brand in detail and that will only happen after they scroll down to the end of the page. Avoid using pop-ups but if you do, then use it when the user reaches the page end.
- Misleading Images:
Using visual content is important for a website to rank high but using these images to clickbait the users by making them click on irrelevant ads or misleading headlines is not a good UX design. Make sure to use visual content only to aid the users and not to misguide them.
- Long and Pre-Checked Forms:
If you are still using long forms for the users to fill in the information and pre-checking fields for them, then you need to update your form. After the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to protect user data privacy, most UX designers are building a transparent website which gives users all the information related to data storage and its secure use.
The latest web design trends focus on improving the user experience and the above discussed outdated design elements work against that hence if you aim for your website to increase user engagement then you need to update it immediately.
