Web Design 2010—What’s New

We are beginning the process of a website re-design, and it’s interesting to learn what’s “in” and what’s “out” when it comes to website design trends.

A clean look is in—banner ads are out.  (Didn’t they just come in?)  Short video clips describing what companies do are popping up on home pages, and Twitter/Facebook buttons are ‘must haves’ as well.  Are you blogging yet?  Your visitors will want to know what you think.

Of course, a lot of this is only directional.  But what we do know for sure is that ‘Web site’ is now one word.  And no caps.  As of April 17, 2010, the AP Stylebook has decided that ‘website’ is good enough.

In 2007, we did a report on eMarketing, which included a section on the website preferences of scientists.  Given the fast changing nature of web platforms, we are considering fielding a 2010 version of this survey.  Here was an interesting finding we came up with in 2007:

Click to enlarge.

Are scientists more comfortable with website security features now?  Are they more trusting that website owners will handle proprietary information with care?  We’ll find out in our new survey, and see if scientists are willing to share more information when they register.