Must Design

Future Tools
This is a great web design post. Don't worry if you don't know or understand only about half of it. Importance is in the tools suggested to test, design and pivot toward a future of more flexible web design.

But there's a problem.

I created my first highly static website in 1999. Not static in the sense we didn't update it since we updated it all the time. Static in the servers and code we used. Today and especially true tomorrow your websites will need to fly around the web curating information from the 4 corners of the web.

The more "flying around" your website does the greater the stress on your backend serving architecture and the more the need for the cool web design tools outlined in this Smashing Magzine post.  

An updated look at the hottest best web design trends of 2014 including a showcase of modern web design inspiration.

Marty Note
This @justcreative post hit many nails on the head when it was initially published and Jacob's update of Helga Moreno's post doesn't disappoint either. Things I REALLY agree with:

See Less of (PLEASE):

* Stock photography (no photos? ASK your employees / followers for help but please no more Stepford people in pics on websites).
* Flash (has killed more #seo and sites than you can shake a stick at and fact it is still alive is amazing).
* Capcha - spam sucks but so do capcha forms.

More of PLEASE:

* Content First (implied in Responsive or Mobile First Design is a new way of thinking about, tagging and presenting content).
* Interactive Exploring (BIG AGREEMENT see my post about Time is Money Online https://plus.google.com/+MartinWSmith/posts/RdjAjWoJTHw and tag this next to #gamification).
* Arresting pictures and Video (YES, your great content will be ignored or under-shared UNLESS it is paired with strong visual hooks and supports).

Great post by Helga for Just Creative and so TRUE to our experience of web dev in 2014 for leading ecommerce clients such as Moon Audio.com.

We're boiling down 13 of the most prominent web design trends emerging in 2015. Will they change your understanding of a "modern website"? You be the judge.

Marty (@Scenttrail) Notes:

1. Make it big (Agree but not as easy to do well as they make it look).

2. The multimedia experience (agree and same as #1)

3. The Parallax effect mutations (Horizontal Scrolling) Agree

4. Animated storybook (Agree and cool).

5. Flat design (agree & effect of mobile)

6. No more boxes (Agree and YES!).

7. Tiles (Pinterest effect and agree).

8. Navigation widgets (Agree!)

9. Integrating Google maps (Agree where appropriate).

10. Mashup interfaces (AGREE grab those APIs :).

11. Minimize (Seems to contradict #1, but agree).

12. World Wide Wait (speed is going to be KEY).

13. Designer automation (Agree, can do a lot with templates now).

With the release of iOS7 just around the corner, clamor over the changes Jony Ive will institute is growing. The general consensus--on this site and elsewhere--is that Apple is about to get a flat makeover. But for the uninitiated, “flat design” can be a confusing term. So let’s talk it out, shall we?