Trying to predict the future is always a tricky business, and that’s especially true when it comes to web design, a field that seems to change minute by minute. Still, for those of us who lay out new websites and program code on a regular basis, there are some patterns that are so clear that they can’t be ignored.

Here are four web design trends to watch out for in 2012, and what they could mean for the future of your business online:

Simpler navigation. Bigger isn’t always better on business websites. If you doubt that, just ask a handful of your customers. They don’t necessarily want to see more pages or complicated navigation structure, they just want to be able to find what they’re looking for easily and within a few clicks.

Sites designed in HTML 5. While HTML 5 is still evolving, it’s very clear that any new business website should utilize it. That’s because it doesn’t just make code simpler – leading to fewer errors, faster loading times, and better compatibility among browsers – but it has more built-in expansion capability than older HTML platforms did. Talk to your business web design team about HTML 5, and they can fill you in on the details.

More emphasis on quality, original content. While there are literally hundreds of good reasons to pay close attention to the content that’s been added to your business website, Google’s Panda update made it even more important. Sites with poor, redundant, or scraped (copied) text and images are now much harder to find, so wrap your marketing message in something that makes you stand out from the competition.

Mobile web design is only getting bigger. Did you know that, within the next couple of years, more people in North America will be accessing the Internet via smart phones and computers? That means mobile computing isn’t a coming trend, it’s one that’s already here. If your company doesn’t have a mobile version of your business website, then there’s no time to waste.

© Urban Creative Co. 2012