Mickaël Larchevêque - Interactive Designer Governments don’t have websites: Governments are websites Quick question – don’t think too hard about it: what is Amazon? At one level, Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, a public company listed on the NASDAQ. At another level – the physical – it is a collection of over 50,000 employees, hundreds of warehouses and zillions of servers. But for most people Amazon is fundamentally a website. Sure, it’s an extremely impressive website that can send you parcels in the post, and which can relieve you of money with terrifying ease. Vanishing Act The same process is happening to the bits of the government that I interact with – the physical reality of bricks and mortar and people and parks is starting to disappear behind the websites. Government is increasingly a thing I don’t have any mental images of. Increasingly, when I form a mental image of a branch of government in my head, what I see is the website. Governments no longer just ‘own‘ websites, they are websites. Heartless Bourgeois Pig Wait! But… Getting digital people to the top table
Web Design Trends in 2012 It’s that time of year again, where we look into our crystal ball to see what will be the hot trends in web design for the upcoming year. It’s no secret that trends come and go, with some hanging around longer than they should. (Yes, splash page, I’m talking about you.) But trends are a necessity in the development and growth of our craft. As you read this article, keep in mind that the shift in trends from one year to the next may be subtle, and you will probably recognize some of these trends already. 1. I believe eventually, we’ll all stop talking about responsive web design – not because it will go away, but because it will become what’s expected. The continued introduction and adoption of more an more mobile devices is what will make 2012 the year of the responsive web site. 2. We have all run into this technique at some point, mostly on personal websites or individual blogs. If your website doesn’t have a lot of main navigation then you only need to provide a few small links. 3.
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