Today’s websites are much more than a simple page full of text, images and advertisements. In fact, many commercial sites have been redesigned in recent years to engage visitors in new and exciting ways and to incorporate interactive and dynamic elements that can help generate revenue and improve customer satisfaction.

Working From Home

Working from home website designs are beginning to change as well as more and more people work remotely. The website is the primary platform for information online, and it has become a new trend to make websites more interactive. Companies want people who visit their site to stay longer on it, create an account or participate in polls. They also want to get feedback from their customers instead of just selling products.

The most popular website designs are adapted from Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. They provide users with different options like boxes with constantly updated content (tickers), user-friendly navigation (no dropdown menus) and smooth access to all pages (easy-to-remember URLs).

Website Or App?

At the same time, today’s websites look very similar to mobile apps because they don’t open new windows anymore after clicking on hyper. An excellent example of this is the website designed for the musical “Evita” that provides information on the play, its cast and crew. The site of T-Mobile is another example; you can create an account on it without leaving your Facebook page.

Combining all these new design ideas into one website has become more popular among companies like Google, Disney and American Airlines. They make their sites easy to use, with smooth scrolling (when you move down a list or page using your mouse), good navigation options and large images. A Report on Cision about new casino sites confirms this trend.

Interactive Widgets

These sites are also very interactive because they allow users to upload videos, pics, lyrics or texts from other websites directly onto their pages via widgets from YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr and others. They have rapidly expanding menus as well as big fonts on their homepages.

These websites are new, but the design of online commerce sites has also evolved. Nowadays, most companies have abandoned dropdown menus because they take too much time to use. Instead, they focus on using the space above the fold (the part of a webpage that users can see without scrolling down) by providing information about products or services.

App Integration

Companies are spending thousands of dollars every month to make their sites attractive to people who always carry mobile devices online. This is why more and more businesses are creating apps for smartphones and tablets, which means that you don’t need to visit their website anymore to stay up-to-date with all company news and promotions.

User Experience

This trend has become very popular among fashion brands that create user-friendly navigation and video tutorials about how products are made or worn, making users feel comfortable purchasing clothes online. They also try to remind people of their stores by placing virtual items in the same way they’re laid out in the actual store (e.g., next to each other instead of spreading all over different categories). 

Websites are still important, but having an app provides users with a better shopping experience overall.