5 Must Have Design Features for Modern Websites

A website with just the right mix of features is key to giving your visitors a great experience. Whether you run a one-person business or manage a large multinational corporation, you’ve likely heard of all the latest trends: parallax scrolling, infinite scrolling, and hamburger menus. A modern website with these features can provide an intuitive interface that engages users and provides them valuable information in an easy-to-find format.

After all, the days of Flash-driven websites are well behind us, and the banner ad is on its way out. Modern websites place emphasis on creating a user-friendly interface that gives people options to quickly navigate the site and find what they’re looking for. And we’re not just talking about web design—websites have come a long way from just being pages with text and graphics.

Modern website designers often rely on techniques such as responsive web design (RWD), HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript to build interactive websites that will engage a user in a splendid experience. These features are essential to help modern websites stand out from the crowd.

Here are the five main features you need in a modern website:

 

1. Responsive Design

RWD is based on a web page being viewed on multiple devices: tablets, desktops and mobile devices—from phones to iPads and everything in between. The reason for using this feature is that the user will have a great experience regardless of what device they use to view your site. In addition, RWD makes your site more likely to rank high in search engines, because it’s easier for people to find what they’re looking for when the website adjusts according to their preferred device size.

2. A Good Content Management System (CMS)

The CMS is the foundation of any website. It stores all your content, posts, pages and navigation options. Content is the most important part of a website, so having a way to manage it properly is essential. The best CMS’s allow you to customise your site with ease and without spending a great deal of time learning how to use them. Us at OCD use WordPress.

3. A Strong Design with the Right Colours and Graphics

Your website’s design will set the tone for your company or brand, whether you work in an industry that values creativity or numbers and charts. Although some websites have a strict set of rules that they follow, you still want your product or service to stand out in the crowd. The look and feel of the website should make people want to buy what your company has to offer, even if what they’re looking for is just in your company’s portfolio or on your about page.

One of the best ways to create a modern website is by using visual elements such as motion graphics, animation and design elements like drop shadows that highlight or accentuate certain content while removing other content based on a user’s location on the site.

4. A Fast Loading Website

A modern website should load quickly no matter the time of day, so you don’t annoy users while they wait for a page to load. Use HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript (Javascript). As a modern web designer that values visual appeal, I know that I want to use these tools in my website design. For an example of how competitive modern websites have gotten, look no further than Pinterest’s 2012 “Website Speed Index.” Pinterest’s goal is to make their website load faster by the year 2020 as measured in milliseconds (ms). To get closer to this goal they’ve instituted a speed index, which measures how long it takes loved ones’ Pinterest pages to load using desktop computers.

5. The Right Amount of Features

A modern website should have enough features to keep you from having to redo content or head back to page one of a site’s navigation when trying to find information on a specific page.

Overall, the best way to make sure your website has all the features it needs is to hire a professional web designer that can tell you exactly what your needs are and how they will be met. A professional can help you determine the price range on which you will be comfortable and allow you more time for creativity. If you need any advice or have any questions regarding anything to do with websites or what you think you could use some help with to make your business perform online, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

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