Web design 2011 is characterized not only by its beauty, but first of all by its perfect usability and functionality.
Here are top web design trends of the year:

1. More CSS3 and HTML5

Finally the new and progressive technologies CSS3 and HTML 5 became widely used in web design. They are top trends of year 2011 and will surely become web standards in the upcoming years. So if you are going to order a new website, make sure your web design company will make it up-to-date and fashionable. Flash web design is used rarely and mostly some flash elements are integrated in the HTML5 web design.

2. Simply color schemes

Simplicity is one more popular trend of this year. There is nothing more effective than a simple message on a simple background. Green, yellow, red and blue are the most sued colors this year, but it’s better to use no more than three colors in your website. That’s why the usage of shades becomes more important.

3. Mobile Ready

Smartphones, tablets and netbooks become more and more popular. With the growing number of mobile gadgets the requirements for web design become higher. Now web design of every site has to be crossplatform. Web design for mobile devices made a great step forward with the help of CSS3. One of the most important advantages that now professional web designer can create a site that will be displayed properly in any user’s gadget. It is extremely important today, because the sales of mobile gadget grow every day and the number of your potential clients that are using them becomes only bigger. So, to prepare yourself for this new trend, you need a crossplatform web design.

4. Touch Screen Web Design

Your web design should be optimized for the usage of touch screen, not mouse. Most of mobile gadgets, netbooks and notebook are using touch screens. Make sure that your web site is optimized for it.

5. Depth perception

3D movies became top fashion, and that’s why 3D effects are now used everywhere. With the help of 3D you can make some elements of the website seem closer than others. A clever usage of 3D effects can make your web site extremely attractive and popular.

6. Big Photo backgrounds

The number of big beautiful backgrounds grows in 2011. Big photo is always an easy way to attract the audience. But of course a background should be connected with your content, so that it doesn’t harm usability.

7. Previews.

Google presented a new possibility to look through the search results using previes. If your site is using only flash, there will be problems with preview – Google doesn’t show flash elements there.

Nowadays Internet grows very rapidly and thousands of new web sites appear every day. Of course new tendencies also appear in web design. In this article we will try to mention the most important web design 2011 tendencies.

1. Styled and non oversized graphics.

One of 2011 web design tendencies is styled logotypes and headers with big size but small weight. Their main aim is to impress the users. The produced effect is made even stronger because of a great number of web sites with minimalistic design. The main idea is that styled graphics makes users remember your web site.

2. Sketch web design.

Painted style is not a totally new tendency in 2011 web design, but we can see that sketch web design becomes more and more popular. Such web design is always unique and a designer needs talent to create such site. Of course not all such web sites are worth their own place in the museum of arts, but sketch web design makes your site more personal and original. There is a tendency that sketch web design will be used in future even more often.

3. Title and original fonts.

Title fonts are rather new in web design but they are already used for more than two hundred years in other mass media. Earlier designers were afraid to use different fonts, sizes and capital letters, because usability was the main criteria here. Nowadays browsers became better and a web site with two – three title fonts looks better and attracts more attention. The main idea is that in 2011 web design big fonts should reveal the most valuable content and effectively attract users’ attention.

4. One page design.

The main aim is to reveal the content. Most often these are personal sites – business cards and advertisements of some services and goods. In 2011 web design the navigation becomes easier to understand and to use. It is important because users can find all needed information. The idea is that such web sites will become easier and on the same time more personal.

5. Big images.

They create the same effect as styled graphics and also attract attention. But such images should have some meaning and carry information, only than their usage can be justified.

6. Intuitive / interactive web design.

In earlier days flash technologies often were annoying because of their big size. But nowadays flash can be used more often. Flash is used in for interactive web design, but its usage should be professional.

7. Modal windows.

This tendency in 2011 web design becomes extremely popular. Such windows look clear and neat, and are easy to use, which makes them an ideal decision for every web designer who makes accent on the usability.

8. Minimalism.

In 2011 web design minimalistic sites will save plenty of free space, but some colors and big fonts will appear even in minimalistic web design.

9. Magazine lay-out.

More and more users prefer to visit web sites instead of buying press. Web sites with magazine lay-out often appear nowadays, because they substitute real magazines. That’s why they try to look like them. Nowadays creating a magazine structure web site became a separate trend in web design. All magazine readers will like a familiar lay-out and a web site would be easier to read.