The New Year heralds a lot of promise and excitement for the web design community at large. By and large, there are a few trends that have been showing favourable signs of progress in the design community. While it is difficult to exactly predict what is coming next, one can say that there have been some ideas that are becoming more widespread when it comes to application.

Here are a few things that web design professionals are probably looking forward to.

Responsive Web Design

This one has been doing the rounds for quite some time now. Responsive web design has been becoming increasingly popular ever since the smartphone revolution took off. Here the goal is probably to come up with a singular coded structure that can function smoothly on all interfaces including computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets.

Basically the point is to create a single canvas which is fluid and dynamic in its very nature.

• Retina Devices

A lot of professionals have started coding for devices with retina support. This trend was ushered in by Apple for the iPhone 4 and hasn’t looked back ever since. Screens with retina support are of double thickness than any normal lcd. The thickness is in terms of pixel density which is double within the same physical area.

• Fixed Headers

Web designers have started using CSS position: fixed to fix headers on to websites. Thus, even though readers are scrolling down a page, they can always navigate properly and go back to the home page. This is coming into great prominence now.

These fixed header bars work well for all kinds of websites, whether professional company websites or blogs, etc. It becomes very easy for the visitors to navigate.

• Large Photos

This new design trend will definitely wow all lovers of photography. Using oversized photos in the background can do wonders for catching attention. However, these photos have to be tasteful for it to garner the right kind of marketing attention.

• Transparency

Transparency in web design is the new exciting thing which allows you to edit opacity without needing photo editing. This is all thanks to the new properties of CSS3.

• Using Illustrations

Art work always helps in grabbing the eyeballs. Illustrations can really achieve this and create different concepts on your website. Using digital illustrations can also be a great boost for branding. However, the only task is to find the right artist who is talented enough to pull this off.

• Infinite Scroll

Another trend that has becoming big is this loading technique. For example, take a look at Pinterest and how well they have worked this design. Basically the results will keep loading as you scroll down. So no more of clicking ‘next’ to go to the next results page. However, you would do well to remember that this layout doesn’t work for all kinds of websites.

• Oversized typography

Just like using oversized photos in the background, oversized typography is becoming big too. You can use these in the background of your website pages too. This will fill the entire web browser. Remember that this has to be executed perfectly in order to be pleasing on the eyes and not annoying.

• One Page Websites

Going with the trend of minimalism, many people are incorporating gorgeous one page websites. Usually, the content is divided using horizontal dividers. The bar for navigation stays fixed atop the window.

These are some of the trends that have had a very promising start and look to continue and develop well into this year as well.