User interface design patterns help in creating consistency throughout the web and are also a great resource for the web designers who look out for the most efficient, usable and best-tested layouts. Any professional UI Design Company understands that creativity is definitely much important but maintaining consistency and conformity is also a must and this is where UI patterns in web design are gaining prominence.
They are fast becoming important resources to create designs maintaining the required consistency and help the website to be friendlier to the users. Here are 6 UX design patterns that web designers must know in 2019.
- Page Grids – Web design layouts are generally measured in columns, the common one being the three or two columns. It is always more advantageous to visualise the layout design in a grid, a grid consisting of both rows and columns. A grid is not designed for making the design much rigid, rather it can be used as an excellent tool.
They are used in web design to organize the imagery and content, apply Divine Proportion along with other basic design principles and create alignment. Grids recognized as interface patterns also presents clear points of interest, both primary and secondary.
Two very good practices while employing a grid are to create a standard having a fixed number of subdivisions and making sure that the website elements are fitting the width and height of the grid lines. While using the grids the prototype design can be executed much quicker.
- Vertical Navigation Bar – Usage of left or right navigation bars is not much common nowadays as the designers tend to make the website designs simpler. Also, horizontal navigation is much in use nowadays. The vertical navigation bar, on the other hand, though getting out of use slowly, can be put to purposes which even the horizontal navigation bar may not help in.
For a relatively simple tree structure and few links, a horizontal navigation bar is good but when it comes to more complex navigation, vertical sidebar navigation is always the best. Very big websites like Amazon uses the vertical navigation tool as a result of which the navigation looks absolutely compact and exactly in place.
The submenus also do not interfere with the rest of the content. Even the smaller websites, can have great advantages while using vertical navigation. If it is placed right below the logo or any other primary location, it is quite beneficial. As there is a lot of space available for the rest of the content, the vertical navigation becomes more evident and user-friendly.
- Horizontal Navigation Bar – Horizontal navigation bar across the top of the page can also be considered as the perfect for some situations. There is a reason behind the popularity of this interface.
It always spans through the entire page and is near the top, thus it becomes the next point of interest right after the logo. This is what the designers want usually.
There are other advantages as well. For e.g. the horizontal navigation varies only by width and that width is meant for the reservation. Horizontal navigation is always best for those links that are not subject to change.
- Modular tabs: they are becoming popular with the age of the bogs and content heavy websites coming into play. The basic advantage of modular tabs is that it can arrange the extra content in a clean and an organized way and hide it, till demanded by the user. In such a way more content can be put in a single page without having to compromise with the design. If the user views this additional content, the users can navigate through the site in a better way with links or blurbs, generating interest.
- Article Lists: Blogs are becoming popular day by day. Thus, the design interface for the article lists is also becoming popular, whether it is for a series of blog posts or news headlines. Knowing how to efficiently list the articles for the users is a very good designer skill. Nowadays, most of the article lists include the title or the headline, comments, content, date and any other important metadata.
The title should always be the main point of interest whereas the content is of secondary importance. The other features of the design pattern include proper spacing between the separate posts and complete consistency in a vertical list.
If the designer adopts this interface pattern when he wants to display the list of articles it becomes a very good way to attract the attention of the readers as it allows the content, the most important thing in a website, to take up the maximum portion of the page, and allows the reader to know everything important about the website.
- Breadcrumbs: these are the visual representation of the navigational hierarchy. Breadcrumbs help in finding the way through the levels through the pages and the categories. They are usually located above the relative content and in a single left-to-right line. The location breadcrumbs help the user to navigate up and understand his position with respect to the rest of the site. The attribute breadcrumbs help to see the choices while narrowing down the search.
The website designers should have a deep understanding of the best practices for the breadcrumbs, which sites to use them on, pages and hierarchical structures needed for them, how to display them etc. They are becoming the need of the hour as the websites are becoming content heavy and more complex.
Thus, if you are thinking of taking your business online, get in touch with a professional UI design company today and get a fully-functional and stunning website delivered in just a few days.
Hermit Chawla is a Marketing Manager at Sprak Design. He would love to share thoughts on Top Ui Ux Design Services, Lifestyle Design, Branding Firm, Exhibition design etc..
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