10 Current Web Design Trends

With all the different styles for web design floating around out there, we wanted to bring up some of the more popular ones. While we do conform to many of these ideas, we pride ourselves on being original. So many of our designs are very different than what you see as popular. Remember, different attracts attention.

1. Over Sized Header Images
   These large headers have really taken over on blogs and became very popular on MySpace pages. What better way to grab someone's attention than to put a big piece of eye candy at the top of your page.





2. Typography
   Different size and style fonts that direct your viewers straight to the important information. Yet it still leaves room for the smaller and more detailed information.





3. Magazine & Multi-Column
   This is another way print design has influenced we design. Magazine style and multi-column layout give you plenty of room to post information and pictures in a nice, neat manner.








4. Minimalistic
   Yes, less is more. Simple and clean layout tend to be easier to follow and navigate. This trend seems to get more and more popular every year.





5. Large Images
   What better way to convey what your site is about than to put a big, beautiful image that reflects what your site is about on your page? Not only can it improve your layout, but it can also reel your visitors in to read on.





6. Modal Boxes
   These boxes are little pop-ups inside the web page. They are extremely popular for site log-ins and product demonstrations. It is better than having to navigate another page. Remember when we used to hate pop-ups.





7. Hand Drawn & Sketchy
   Layouts that look hand drawn are less techie and sometimes even more inviting. This style works great for anyone in creative arts such as illustrators or musicians.





8. Single Pages
   Single page web sites are becoming increasingly popular for portfolios and professionals. The pages work great for people such as musicians, comedians, actors, artists, and plenty of others. Great thing is it is usually a cost effective way to get your name out there.





9. Over Sized Footers
   Large footers are seen on many pages now. They're a great place to put extra information such as links to social networks, blogs, contact information, and more. This will probably become more popular as time passes.





10. Perspectives
    Web sites that look like you're in a room or staring at a cork board are becoming more popular than the everyday desktop look. People online look at a flat and usually dull interface all day long on their computers. Why not give them a change of scenery when they stop by your site?

References

http://www.webbyzone.com
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com
http://webdesignledger.com

10 Facts About Social Networking

Here are 10 facts about social networks you probably don't know.

1. Nearly 1.3 billion users logged onto one of the top 20 networking sites in 2009.
2. In 2009, Facebook surpassed MySpace traffic and became more visited than Yahoo.
3. MySpace still boasts nearly 57 million unique visitors a month.
4. There are now 1.5 million local businesses on Facebook.
5. Currently, 91% of mobile web users are using some kind of social networking site from their mobile device.
6. Facebook claims there are currently 400 million active users on their network.
7. Facebook also claims that 50% of its users log on every day. Meaning it has nearly 200 million users online per day.
8. In the month of January 2010, Facebook saw 25.1 million mobile users while MySpace had 11.4 million and Twitter saw 4.7 million mobile users.
9. LinkedIn is currently growing at a rate of 1 million users a month.
10. At the end of 2009, Twitter claimed there were 1.3 million tweets per hour.

Now you should have a really clear understanding of why social networks can help businesses and organizations. People are now beginning to use social networking sites more often than they use search engines. This trend shows the importance of having social networking accounts for your business as well as your own web site.

We also wanted to leave you with 10 professional opinions about social networking, so here they are.

1. MySpace is one of the most useful tools for promoting a musician.
2. Social networks are excellent ways to get feedback from you clients or fans.
3. MySpace still allows you to completely customize your layout, making it easy to add widgets and other promotional content to your page.
4. Tweeting on Twitter is an excellent way to keep people informed with what is happening with you company, organization, or band.
5. Eventful is an excellent tool for anyone that holds events and wants to keep their followers updated.
6. Sites like Flickr and Photobucket are great for anyone who needs to show off pictures or designs.
7. Facebook has great ways to keep people up-to-date with functions like your Wall, Photos, and Discussion boards.
8. LinkedIn leans more towards helping professionals and business people in general keep in touch.
9. Blogger is probably the best blog site to get information out to clients.
10. MySpace is still our favorite social networking site because we can make you a layout that looks like a web site.

References

http://blog.compete.com
http://www.web-strategist.com
http://techcrunch.com
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com
http://econsultancy.com