Web designs should be tailored to meet the commercial priorities of the firms that are procuring them.
Photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash
Leading digital agencies keep this very much at the forefront of their minds. After all, not every kind of business requires an on-trend website with the latest features and functionality unless they support commercial growth. Nevertheless, some businesses do want to be at the forefront of the latest trends, so they invest in keeping abreast of all the upcoming developments in the website design sector.
With this in mind, this article covers thoughts and predictions about which web design features are likely to make a splash in the coming year. Here’s what we predict are likely to be the coming trends.
More Use of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is now being used in so many aspects of daily life that we can already take it for granted to some extent. Machine learning helps with anything from route planning to warehouse optimization today. However, it isn’t that big of a feature in web design – yet. This is going to change – perhaps slowly at first but then with a much faster shift. At the moment, AI tends to be used to help predict what search terms might be entered on a website. This can be handy for very large websites with, for example, hundreds of product pages. Simply by typing a few letters, AI should help to come up with suitable suggestions. Crucially, machine learning does this even when users make errors, perhaps entering the wrong letter.
Another area that is ripe for growth is the use of automated interactions online. Website managers who invest in AI-powered chatbots, for example, will be very trendy indeed next year. Of course, chatbots are only as useful as the algorithms that power them. Inappropriate or illogical responses only frustrate users. However, as the technology behind them improves their uptake will only grow.
Greater Uptake of Voice-Enabled Searches
There are plenty of voice-powered searches that are made these days. Typically, internet searches are made from voice-enabled smartphones, allowing users to make a Google search, for example, without having to type anything in. The other big reason for the growth in voice-powered searches is down to how many home smart speakers there are around nowadays. However, web designers haven’t generally made website designs that are friendly to voice-based users. We think this is going to start shifting soon and could be a big feature of what web design is focussed on in 2023.
Imagine having a voice-based interface on your website that allows visitors to navigate their way around without swiping, tapping or clicking. Although this might not be a commercial priority at the moment, the more websites that offer such features, the greater interest in obtaining a similar level of functionality there is likely to be.
Night-Time Website Integration
Given that most web browsers now offer night-time modes – or dark modes – to help stop users from straining their eyes too much, there are many predictions that more and more websites are going to offer this sort of functionality in the coming year. Lowering the tone of a website to make it darker takes some doing if everything is to be automated. The website will need to know where in the world a visitor is and what time of day or night it might be locally, for example.
As such, the big trend will be for two colour palettes that users can choose to switch between for themselves, a much easier win and something that can be achieved more cost-effectively. Remember that websites with dark modes place the batteries of devices visiting them under less strain so search engines may well start to favour sites that offer this sort of battery-saving – as well as eye strain-saving – functionality.
Even More Focus on SEO
It is fair to say that websites should always have some focus on SEO services However, 2023 is likely to be the year that is even more engaged with how to improve the optimisation of sites for the likes of Google and Bing. Many companies will want to overhaul and refresh their search terms. After all, the terms people use to search for goods and services change over time because all languages evolve somewhat. What’s more, it is expected that there will be more focus on overseas SEO through multilingual sites. Another big trend to expect is more SEO-friendly multimedia content, perhaps with words and images mingling together in online parallax scrolling environments.
Whatever the real trends turn out to be in web design, you can be sure that Bird will be over all of the detail in 2023 and beyond. Why not speak to us if you have some ideas of your own?