10 Essential Elements of Modern Web Design You Need to Know

Photo By UX Store on Unsplash

There are billions of websites on the Internet. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a small or medium-sized business, or even a multinational company, just having a website is not enough. You need to know the essential elements of modern web design.

You must have a modern website design to stand out and differentiate yourself from other regular websites. However, redesigning a website is not just about adding the latest features; it must be effective and modern as well.

By using effective elements, your website can attract many visitors and strive to improve SEO to make your website even more famous in search engines.

Nothing beats a professional, clean, and modern website design for making a strong first impression. Contemporary web design consists of trendy and sophisticated elements tailored to the needs of today’s users.

However, modern website design must offer an outstanding user experience in addition to being clean and attractive. Here are a few things you can do:

• Capture audience attention. On average, visitors decide in 0.05 seconds whether they will stay on your website or not.
• Guide readers through pages. A well-designed website keeps readers scrolling. It takes an average of 7 seconds for people to form an impression about your brand.
• Improve functionality. User experience is also influenced by your website’s performance.
• Showcase professionalism and trust. Let’s face it: outdated and tacky websites have no place on the Internet. 94% of people won’t trust an outdated website.

Here are ten core elements that will enhance the appearance and functionality of your modern website:

With 58.99% of global web traffic coming from mobile devices, over 85% of adults believe a company’s mobile website should be at least as good as its desktop version.

As a website owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that the user experience is consistent across devices. Thus, mobile-first design is at the core of modern web design.

There’s a reason we advocate for mobile-first design. Mobile-first design is different from responsive design. A responsive website can adjust to screen size and resolution and respond accordingly.Unlike responsive design, mobile-friendly design takes into account the size of buttons to prevent accidental taps.

Responsive design shrinks search results as on desktops, while a mobile-friendly layout adjusts strategies, turning columns into multi-column results depending on screen size.

In short, responsive design focuses less on mobile users’ feelings and more on website functionality, while mobile-friendly layout considers the user experience in terms of how they view and navigate elements.

Getting ranked on Google and other search engines is the most effective way to inform people about your website or business. This can be achieved by optimizing your website according to search engine best practices.

Optimizing your website for SEO includes optimizing meta tags, title tags, and other elements within your website’s code. Then, make sure these elements are customized and optimized to get the full benefit of search engine algorithms.

Another way to incorporate SEO-friendly elements is by including videos, which can help increase your organic search traffic by up to 157%.

Cross-browser compatibility issues arise when a website doesn’t display correctly on different browsers, browser versions, or operating systems. This occurs due to the different underlying engines used by browsers.

Additionally, different browsers select which features they wish to incorporate into their system, and which features they will discontinue. Websites still using outdated elements may fail to display correctly, leading to losses.

To ensure cross-browser compatibility, conduct cross-browser testing, either manually or through online systems.

Typography is a crucial component of modern design. It encompasses all written content on the website, including fonts, font height, line spacing, color, and line length. Ultimately, typography ensures that the written content on the website is easy to read.

It’s common for organizations to use specific fonts or typography to identify themselves as a brand. For example, The New Yorker uses Adobe Caslon to brand their company for easy recognition.

Furthermore, to maintain a clean look throughout the website, consider using fonts that remain consistent across pages and even across other online resources you may offer (such as e-books, guides, or worksheets).

Here are three main rules to always remember when designing a website:

• Fonts should be readable and very clear.
• The number of fonts used across the website should not exceed two.
• If you’re a brand with the resources and time to invest in brand-building, always use custom fonts, not default fonts.

Websites typically offer various features and options to users. These features and options can make navigation easier since users can directly access any option they want from the website’s homepage.

However, these features and options also take up a significant amount of screen space, especially on mobile devices. The hamburger menu can quickly solve this problem. The button that opens the navigation menu is larger, saving space and keeping the interface clean and neat.

With a hamburger menu, users are also likely to find the information they need quickly and easily to complete the desired tasks.

A slow-loading website is one of the most common mistakes and harms your SEO campaign and ad conversion rate optimization.

Customers always appreciate fast service, and the same goes for website loading speed. Research by Google shows that 53% of people leave a website that takes more than three seconds to load.

A 1-second delay in page response can lead to a 7% decrease in conversions.

Such statistics highlight the importance of speed in modern web design. Using smart techniques to deliver complete information without delay is an essential element of modern web design.

Ensure your website is hosted on a good hosting platform. For instance, dedicated hosting or virtual private servers typically provide faster loading speeds than shared hosting. Additionally, consider WordPress hosting.

All images should be optimized, regardless of size. While PNG images offer higher quality and transparency, they are much larger than JPEG images.

In most cases, JPEG images provide the ideal balance between speed and quality. On the other hand, GIFs are suitable for animated images but use fewer colors.

Keep your files small and compressed. Many modern compression tools can significantly reduce file size without compromising image quality. Read More Here

Modern web design is characterized by intuitive appearance. Your website will be a significant flaw if it cannot be used by both children and adults.

You need to conduct a quick analytical check to ensure your target audience can intuitively understand how your website is designed and navigated, regardless of whether you choose a hamburger, accordion, drop-down, or mega menu.

Website navigation refers to how your website is organized in terms of links and menus. The navigation menu affects the relationship between different pages and how easily visitors can find them.

The concept of white space is using less content and leaving plenty of room on the page. White space refers to the space between all elements of your webpage, such as copy, sidebars, margins, etc.

A cluttered website will overwhelm visitors and make it difficult for them to focus their attention.

Internet users are constantly bombarded with information, which can lead to intellectual fatigue. Balancing white space and content is essential for creating a site that is visually appealing, easy to read, and easy to navigate.

Using space to separate elements like images, written content, or calls to action can draw users’ attention to important areas of your site.

Interactive elements are common features of modern websites. This section includes quizzes, calculators, surveys, maps, webinars, and e-books.

In addition to keeping website visitors engaged, these elements allow you to gather valuable information that will help you provide a more personalized experience for them.

Whenever you choose to implement broader lead magnets, such as asking visitors to sign up for a webinar or download an e-book, ask for their email address in exchange for sharing these resources.

You can grow your email list while simultaneously providing value to your customers.

Website accessibility refers to web design that allows everyone to access and navigate the website, regardless of disability.

Find ways to eliminate barriers that make it difficult for visitors to navigate your website, including those with visual or hearing impairments.

For example, a blind person may not be able to see your images, but they can hear the alt text attributes that describe your images.

Include brief descriptions of each photo on your webpage so people using e-readers can understand what’s displayed. Additionally, you can add subtitles to video content and adjust font size.

Modern web design provides engaging visuals and captivating content while offering a seamless user experience, regardless of the device someone is using.

The elements above are a great starting point for designing your small business website to be stylish, sleek, and fast, engaging users, and helping increase conversions.

That’s the article on 10 Essential Elements of Modern Web Design You Need to Know, which Mangcoding shares. Hopefully, this article is useful and provides new knowledge for you. If you have any constructive criticism or suggestions, please comment or send them through Email and Mangcoding’s social media.

Source : Crowdspring