Recently. Mashable asked 12 entrepreneurs for their opinion on web trends and features.
We read their ideas and had a few thoughts to share.
Homepage Sliders
What is it: A slide-show of images and/or text that automatically rotates through. Viewers can also click through all of the tabs.
Keep it or Trash it: We currently produce a number of sites that use this feature. Why do we love it? It gives your web visitor a quick run though the hot-topics on your website. In our visual-heavy culture, a combination of images and text can send a message faster than just text.
We say, keep it!
Stock Photos
What is it: Getty revolutionized websites with the availability of a stock photo of pretty much anything and everything.
Keep it or Trash it: If you don't have any proprietary photography that will work well, a stock photo may be your best bet. However, web consumers are becoming more brand-loyal and they like to know the faces and places behind those brands.
We say, use stock photos only when necessary!
Animated Gifs
What is it: In this case, a picture is worth 1,000 words.
We say, keep the flag, get rid of the animation!
Reloading Pages
What is it: As you navigate along a website, the menu, sidebar and footer don't need to be reloaded, necessarily. Just the content in the middle of the page would need change.
Keep it or Trash it: This is a must keep. If you ever want to send a customer to a specific page or product, then each page really needs their own unique address. Also, search engines love to crawl pages on your website. Make it easy for Google to find your site and index all of its information.
We say, keep it!
Mobile Websites
What is it: A separate website just for mobile devices.
Keep it or Trash it: Responsive websites are becoming more of a necessity with increasing web use on tablets and cell phones. If you've got an elaborate website, a separate mobile site may actually be easier for your audience to navigate.
We say, go responsive if you can. If not, be sure to have a separate mobile-ready website.
Sidebars
What is it: The 250-300 pixels along the side(s) of a website.
Keep it or Trash it: If you utilize sidebars on your website, be sure all of the information you put there is necessary and not simply taking up space. If you choose to go without, be sure your web site content has large margins. What's a good rule of thumb for text width? Your text should be no wider than it takes to list out the alphabet three times. Any more and it is difficult for the eyes to track.
We say, do what delivers the most value!
Hit Counter
What is it:
Keep it or Trash it: Please let the "hit counter" go the way of the floppy disk. But do delve into your website's stats to see how many visitors you've had, what the top search terms were for your website and other valuable information. Please note: hits are no longer being tracked.
We say, trash it!
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What website elements do you think should be a thing of the past? We'd love to have you join the conversation on Facebook!
