The beginning of each year is always a great time to devise new or adapt and improve some old strategies for the period ahead of us. Web designers and developers have a lot to look forward to in 2013 – HTML5 continues to establish itself as a major standard for an increasing number of platforms, new CSS standards are being introduced and useful web design tools are springing up everywhere. In this article we will list what we think are most important resolutions web designers need to make in order to stay competitive and survive in a crowded Internet environment.
One thing that you can consider constant about web design is that it changes. Of course, web design is not unique in this – our tastes change all the time and with them our preference about clothes we wear, music we listen to and so on. But the thing about web design is that it changes rapidly and, unless you are ready to keep up with its pace, you are going to stay behind. This is why every web designer’s new year’s resolution needs to be: stay up to date and do not let the competition outmatch you just because you were too lazy to follow the latest trends.
Cross-platform Design Strategies
The advent of smartphone platforms and their rapidly increasing popularity influenced web design a lot in the year behind us. Flexibility is now considered one of the top priorities of a successfully designed web page – it needs to follow the user’s habits and look good on all the platforms – large-screen desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Therefore, in 2013, a good web designer will focus on cross-platform design strategies and strive to create designs, which are responsive and clean wherever you access them from.
Pay Attention To Content Management Systems
Even though we witness the apparent fall of Adobe Flash platform and HTML5’s rise to the space which was left vacant, it’s foolish to think that from now on the web is going to be all about HTML. On the contrary, the designers and developers who want to stay on top need to diversify their skills and be ready to deal with CSS frameworks, PHP, Javascript, Mobile and regular JQuery, My SQL, Python, Ruby and many other website development platforms and environments. They will also need to pay attention to Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal, which rapidly gain prominence due to the simplicity of maintenance of the sites created with them.
Certification
Due to a large number of people who pose as web designers these days, it is hard to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Even if you are a really talented designer, it might take a while before you manage to reach your clients and build up your portfolio. Certification badges are something that can partially circumvent the lack of an impressive portfolio and give an additional boost to your website. The year ahead is as good as any to start obtaining those certificates (in case you have not obtained it so far) – find a training school with good reputation, master a web technology or try to get in touch with famous IT companies (IBM, Oracle, Microsoft) and ask for a way in which you can establish some kind of partnership with them. When you put all those prestigious badges on your personal web site, clients will be more inclined to trust you and hire you. And one more thing – the badges are far from being the only benefit of this action – educating yourself is still the best thing you can do for yourself.
All in all, 2013 promises to be a great year for the whole IT industry, which despite the worldwide economic crisis still manages to hold on to its market. Web designers and developers need to find their place in the ever changing market and establish themselves as important players if they want to “stay alive”. The only way to do that is to constantly improve yourself and do everything in your power to keep yourself and your ideas fresh and relevant. Let the beginning of this year be the time when you make the decisions, which will benefit you in the months ahead.