It’s important to remember that just because something is popular, doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily good. It could be a trend for all sorts of different reasons that have nothing to do with actually bringing more visitors to your site. It’s also true that trends tend to wane pretty quickly, so it’s easy to get caught up in an old trend without realizing that it’s not useful or really appealing to viewers anymore. Here are a few examples of trends you should stay away from at all costs.
Loading Screens
It’s understandable why people do this, certainly. The idea is obviously that it’s better to tell someone how long it’s going to be before the site is actually functional instead of just making then guess. But the problem is that the trend happened mostly on the developer side, and that actual users mostly hate them like crazy. It’s just incredibly frustrating to watch percentages slowly tabulate on-screen. And the problem is that adding graphics at the front-end of sites just makes it take all the longer for a user to start actually using the site. They might look cute, but the added delay is going to frustrate users and they are going to click away.
Stock Photos
It’s obviously really tempting to just use the free stock photos that you can get your hands on. But if they aren’t adding anything to the site, they are just going to annoy people and look amateurish. If you have some really good stock photos that don’t actually look like they are stock, this can be worth it of course. The problem is they will often be so expensive to actually implement that it won’t be worth it.
Device Control
Another common trend that is a terrible idea is trying to dictate to users how they should view your site. You might have a box on the site that says “This site doesn’t work in IE, please download Chrome or Firefox.” Or it might tell users that the site is best viewed on an iPad, or a particular sized phone, and so on. The problem is that users will greatly resent being told how they can and can’t access the Internet. Half of the point of the Internet is freedom and customizability. If you try forcing a particular approach on users, they will likely decide your site isn’t worth it, and relish going somewhere that will accommodate them better.
Too-Small Font
Some designers will try to fit as much text as possible on the page by giving stories really small font. The problem is, users need to be able to actually read these stories, and if they are too small it’s going to be beyond what’s worth it for a reader to try making their way through. You can usually get around this by just including less of a story and then just having a link out to the rest of it. If people like the first paragraph or so, they will be more than willing to click through to the rest.
Excessive ‘Natural’ Design
This was a big thing for a while, but it’s recently being left behind largely. People used to add excessive shadows and textures to objects on their pages to try to make them look more natural or realistic. But the trend these days is to flat, simple lines that are easy to load.
Fortunately, there are plenty of guides out there on how to make your own website in a way that will avoid these problems and keep your site fun and simple to use for users.