Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) have you ever heard of them? Do you know how they work and why they can bring great benefits to your online business? Check out all the details in this article and, if you are interested in learning more, don’t hesitate to contact us.

If you’ve never heard of Accelerated Mobile Pages, you can fix this with this article. And it’s very important that you do it. Why? We will also explain this in the next paragraphs.

What is Google AMP?

AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is the open source project set up by Google to make the website’s pages more suitable for navigation on mobile sites.

The web statistics show how mobile browsing are always on the rise and will soon surpass those from desktop devices, if the trend continues.

It therefore becomes very important that our site is adaptable to all types of devices. In these cases the term responsive is used. Today almost all sites are responsive, if you use WordPress whatever template you choose it will definitely be a Responsive template.

The Google AMP is something deeper and focuses not only on the adaptability of the site on mobile devices but above all on the speed of loading a page.

Once AMP is activated on your site every page of your domain will have a new extension when a user logs in from Smartphone: scorpiustechnology.com for example becomes scorpiustechnology.com/amp.

Simply saying that the number of users connecting to the web from mobile devices is constantly growing does not make the full extent of the phenomenon. The reality is that mobile technology has profoundly changed people’s behavior: today, the vast majority of us have at least one Smartphone and we take it wherever we go and at any time. That’s why; AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) becomes even more important.

The present and future of the internet is in our hands or pockets. More and more the Smartphone is used to access the internet, and even to make purchases. Hence, that is why the Google AMP was introduced, with the aim of improving the loading speed of a web page.

Changes brought by the AMP

To improve the user experience when browsing from their mobile device, at the end of 2015 the AMP project: Accelerated Mobile Pages was presented. This open source technology driven by Google aims to reduce the loading times of a website when accessed from a mobile phone.

The AMP standard or version is not only designed for the user. It also seeks to help web developers by contributing to the creation of almost instantaneous loading websites. In this way, the task of optimizing a page becomes a much simpler task. To streamline this process, the AMP standard is based on three elements:

AMP HTML, which is nothing more than normal HTML. Although with certain restrictions that make it compile much more content than basic HTML. In this way the web offers better performance.
AMP JS, a JavaScript library that allows the appearance of images at the moment. This is thanks to the improvements made possible by the AMP HTML.
Google AMP, cache of AMP HTML pages that allow faster access to the web.

In this way, the superfluous content is eliminated by reducing the elements to only text and image. The AMP standard is very useful for some websites, especially if they generate a lot of content, but not in the case of online stores.

Take care of the user

The commitment to the AMP standard is, together with the increase in web security, another of Google’s moves to improve the user experience. Recommendations made by the search engine that, if followed, will have a direct effect on SEO positioning.

For some time now, the search engine has been prioritizing in the search results those websites that have a responsive design. And the same goes for web pages with Google AMP. When it comes to showing results, AMP websites appear among the top positions. You can identify the AMP websites by having the lightning icon. Therefore, the fact that our website is compatible with AMP will benefit our SEO but only in mobile searches. Those searches made from a computer will remain the same.

If your website is developed in WordPress, you can make it compatible with the AMP standard by installing a plugin. Thus, the number of elements that make up your website will be reduced and, in this way, loading time will not be a penalizable factor when it comes to SEO positioning.

Talking about web design trends for 2019 is an opportunity we could not miss. It does not matter if you are starting your business or if you want to give a new twist to your website, what we learned something from 2018 is that the best investment you can make for your company is to invest in your website.

The main web design trends in 2019 will see how aesthetics and technology come together like never before. 2019 is almost the last chapter of a decade. And keep in mind that the Internet has grown and changed a lot in the last ten years.

For years, design trends have driven unbridled creativity, the abandonment of grids and traditional archival photographs for vibrant illustrations, bold colors and asymmetrical designs.

Discover 9 of web design trends in 2019

In the last year, advances in technology have been seen that help to better connect with users, new styles that are overcoming limits and a greater focus on documentation and accessibility guidelines to make the sites a more coherent and accessible to all. With so many changes around it’s time to put the brakes on and look at web design trends for 2019.

1. Reinventing the Headers of the Websites

Most headers have a large image that covers most of the home and a short explanatory headline. During the last years, there have been no changes in this area of the web.

By 2019, some sites have already begun to experience changes in their headers. As they are leaving the traditional designs and introduced new features in this section of the website.

For example, some websites don’t add image and has a blank space area with a simple header at the bottom of the header. They are two examples of what you begin to see that includes changing the present content, using something different from a full-width image and treating this area as the main area to capture the viewer’s attention.

2. Natural and Organic Forms

An organic form is any form that is irregular and uneven, imperfect. Although web pages are usually configured for systematic grids, designers are turning to natural forms. With soft lines, drawn “by hand”.

Geometric structures such as squares, rectangles and triangles with their sharp corners create a feeling of stability. However, web design trends for 2019 are more concerned with giving a sense of accessibility and comfort.

Organic forms are naturally imperfect and asymmetrical and can provide depth to a web design. With their unusual appearance, they can be used to capture a user’s attention and add a personal touch to a website.

3. The Serifs Also Serve for Digital

If you move in the world of design, you have surely heard that serifs are for printing and that dry-type fonts are for the screen. While sans, with its clean legibility, still has the ideal style of the longer texts on the websites, more and more brands are using SERIFS. Especially in headings and labels.

The reason? The letters in serif are perfect to put the point of attention in a specific phrase. Within an attractive and current design. And even though the serifs are often associated with the past, they have a lot of body and are more adaptable than you think.

4. Broken Grid and Asymmetrical Designs

The concept of the grid in terms of design is an imaginary plane with horizontal and vertical lines, which is used to help design elements on the page or screen. It is a way of aligning what is being worked on.

When you have a broken grid, it means that the elements that form the design are not at a glance perfectly neat. Which makes the grid not perfectly aligned.

Some websites show a broken grid layout on most of its website. These kinds of designs that break the rules have always existed as a form of creativity. A way to stand out from the crowd. However, nowadays it starts to be part of the Web design trends for 2019.

5. Overlapping Design Elements

This is a trend related to asymmetric designs. When the grid breaks, the elements overlap each other. This allows you to develop a design on specific types of content on a website.

Users are accustomed to having each element of the web have its own space. And that they are also at a specific distance from the other elements that occupy the same website. They do not usually touch each other.

Some website presents overlapping elements as the main aesthetics of design throughout the site. In addition, subtle animations are also added that make the website feel three-dimensional.

The tendency of elements superimposed on a page can help to improve the general aesthetics of the site. It can be quite difficult to execute on mobile websites, since overlapping elements, if not done well, can cause confusion and frustration in users.

Especially when the elements overlap incorrectly. Therefore, you have to be very sure of doing it well. As you experiment more with a three-dimensional website, this trend is on the rise.

6. More Video Content

This web design trend is not new, but it is still booming in 2019. The video not only diversifies the page but it is aimed at users who do not have time to scan a large amount of text.

What is new is that video content is prioritized above all, giving it a full protagonism. This has led websites to prioritize the videos production so that they can offer content in the most efficient and shareable way.

7. Monochromatic and Absence of Color

Color is one of the most important elements in a website. Cultivate an environment, unify a brand and guide users through an interface by creating visual reference points.

What happens if you limit yourself to a single color or even bet on black and white? If done well, that type of design restriction can help improve a design.

Limiting yourself to a single color can help consolidate your brand.

Since most websites have two to five colors that are used everywhere, using only one color could make you stand out and make it more memorable for a user.

Going one step further and eliminate the color completely is definitely an option if you are looking to give a total turn to your design. Neutral colors are one of the web design trends in 2019.

8. Betting on Minimalism

Perhaps it is one of the most classic and timeless web design trends; minimalism is often the aesthetic of choice. The fewer elements and content on a website, the better. If a website is designed in the right way, it will show the user exactly what they are looking for.

Minimalism will continue to dominate web design trends in 2019. The animations and effects that make the scroll more attractive will give web pages the freedom to space their content. And, therefore, will result in more blank spaces, contrasts and clear typographies, without too many distracting elements.

9. More than Enough White Space

The effective use of white space is a design tool used by designers for decades. However, what is not so common is the amount of white space used. Or, even make the blank space the protagonist of the web.

Some websites use additional blank spaces in the header of the site. At first glance it looks like a design error. However, it is a strategy. The use of additional blanks used is intended to give a break to the information.

Adding additional blank space is part of the aesthetics of the design. By choosing to add a blank space in areas that do not necessarily need it, it becomes an important part of the design. The websites use many blank spaces to make a statement or to make it the focal point of the website.

Which of these web design trends for 2019 are you going to apply to your strategy this year? At Scorpius Technology we can help you to completely turn around your digital marketing campaign and challenge all limits.

Month: May 2019

What is Google AMP and how does it work?