Future website trends and what to expect in 2021 and beyond

Part 2 of 3

6. Mobile specific content

For years now, we have seen websites simply adapt to suit a mobile interface, but as we see the usage percentages shift further and further away from desktop, we will see more websites designed “mobile-first”, meaning that they are designed specifically for mobiles, and then get adapted to fit larger screens. This might mean that we see far more simple and basic looking websites in the near future.

7. Location specific content

As an addition to mobile-specific content, we will also see an increase in the amount of content that is delivered based on the user’s location, whether that’s just a re-ordering of content to better suit where they are in the world, or to completely overhaul the content to only show the relevant information. We see this being applied across different demographics, but is likely to be most effective on ecommerce websites, where it smartly only displays the products that are available in your area.

8. Movement

Although websites utilising parallax elements seem to be on the decline, in favour of simpler, more-legible layouts, there’s no reason to believe that they will disappear altogether. Instead we are likely to see an increase in the number of sites that use it a bit more sparingly and effectively, to accentuate the rest of the website’s design.

9. Chat-bots

I have often likened chat-bots to shop assistants who ask if you need help as soon as you walk in to a store. Intrusive and unnecessary… except for when you do actually need assistance. We have already seen an increase in their usage, and have no doubts that they will continue to improve the AI behind the responses, developing in to extremely popular additions to a website. We just hope that they don’t get too intrusive and become just another thing you have to close before you can explore a site without interruption.

10. Accessibility

At the time of this writing, an estimated 2.2 billion people live with some kind of visual impairment. And we have recently seen an increase in the number sites that take this in to account, offering a variety of different visual and audio tools to assist users should they need it. We hope to see these tools increase in usage and effectiveness, until they too become commonplace for every website.

Come back next week to read the final part!