Recommended best practices for website design changes every year, and while, some of these changes may be purely visual, there are several significant changes that affect a website’s full potential. In the past, web design dictated that sites be created with numerous pages. While this is still possible and even recommended for some sites, it is not a defining requirement. There are wonderfully designed websites of just one page, or at the very most, three to five pages. This doesn’t mean these website have little to no content. To the contrary the content sits on these few pages, and can be accessed by scrolling. A process that was a definite ‘no-no’ even a few years ago.  Today, for many users, it is easier to swipe at a screen (as in a tablet, or smartphone), or to scroll down, than it is to click on a page link.
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Whether it’s a brand new website design or an existing website restructuring process, requirement analysis is a critical first step. It implies to website designer, web consultant or a business owner and true for web design as well mobile application design.

Instead of running directly to any creative web design agency or your in-house team of web designers and start designing process immediately, a brief discussion and requirement analysis is evident. If you are going for a website redesigning it is very important that you do some research, take user feedback, analyse google analytics for user behavior  note down different findings, it will help you with a search engine optimization friendly web design.
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You’re only as good as your last website design – while it is not imposed, this should be the mantra all web designers should live by. In order to constantly elevate your web design skills, you need to look around, check out masterfully crafted websites and attempt to equal these sites if not outdo them.

One way of doing this is to use tools and one of these highly useful tools is the browser extension called Firebug. At the very basic, Firebug allows you to view how the HTML components of a specific webpage work as well as enable you to try and see how your site will look like using a particular design without modifying the underlying codes.

Firebug packs a lot of features which can benefit web designers. Here are some of them.
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Typically, a high bounce rate means bad news for a lot of marketers. A high bounce rate is usually equated with low engagement and thus, non-conversion. Marketing logic dictates that you want your visitors to stay longer on your website, browse through different pages, really digest your content and ultimately, respond to your call to action.

While the factors that affect bounce rate differ site from site, outlined here are a few tips which you can implement to bring down your site’s bounce rate to the minimum. Again, this is not to claim that all these tips will work magic on your site. This is just a simple guideline and it is still up to you to examine your analytics data and drill down on the real source of your site’s skyrocketing bounce rate.
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Good news for all web developers and web designers out there. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the US Department of Labor, the demand for web development, web design and other online marketing experts will continue to surge until 2020 making it one of the fastest growing employment sectors. This is primarily attributed to the foreseen growth in ecommerce. Given this industry boom, there still one question that has been beleaguering a number of website designers: should you be a “jack of all trades” designer or should you go the route of a highly specialized website design company?

Clearly, there are benefits to both but here, the discussion will zoom in on the advantages niching can bring to a designer of a web design agency and how you can carve your own place in this extremely competitive industry.
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With thousands of websites competing for attention, getting traffic to your site is clearly not child’s play. Once you get traffic, it’s a shame that you’ll just let it go to waste just because your landing page design is sloppy and not made to fulfill its role. Here are five landing page design flaws that you should stir away from.

Mistake #1: Terribly Written Headline
Without a good headline, you are like catching a fish without a hook or bait. Once a visitor arrives on your landing page, you literally have seconds to convince them to stay. In fact, an arresting headline can be the single most powerful tool of conversion optimization. A good headline should capture the visitor’s emotion. It should be concise and direct to the point and at the same time, should be creatively written in order to engage visitors. It’s best practice to perform split testing on several headline variations before launching your landing page.
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Blogging platforms have come and gone, but not WordPress. Since its inception in 2003, it has gone from a simple and ubiquitous blogging site to a preferred and preeminent open source web development platform. It’s the most widely used content management system and according to Yoast, accounts for 20-25% of all new websites.

From topnotch publications such as The New York Times and CNN, music icons such as Jay-Z and Katy Perry, to Fortune 500 companies such as UPS and eBay, WordPress designing and development has been sought after.
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Web designing, just like fashion, is an ever-evolving discipline – one day you’re the most visually appealing website and the next day, you’re not. Just like in fashion, web designers are crazy about trends.

So, as the world bids goodbye to 2012, here are the top web design trends you can expect in 2013.

Responsive Web Design

Internet users are now going online using different devices with varying display resolutions. It would be impractical and cost-inefficient for you to design different sites to accommodate all screen sizes and gadgets. The solution: responsive web design.
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