Red Hot: Latest Trends in Web Design.

Despite the fact that you are about to find out about some of the latest trends in web design does not mean you need to rush right out and try them. Use your common sense, and above all else remember that there are a lot of people on the Net today would rather you just stuck to the basics thanks and skipped all the folderol of new thingies on web sites.

Having said that, what is new? First up is the Web Desktop Style, and yes, you will get an example of what we are talking about. Yes, it looks very nice, if you can see it on your screen properly and are running the right kind of OS. It is also really, really expensive and lots of work to produce.

What are they trying to do with this design style? Good question. It seems the idea is to get is as close to possible as what your desktop looks like. You might be asking yourself why, and that is another good question.

Here are the elements you will find when looking at this style of website design:

• Blocks – an area of screen with border, header, footer to logically connect elements like links, text, a scorecard, article preview. May have optional shadow.
• Mini Blocks – block within blocks with a mini picture and darn hard to read text
• Buttons – they have gradient, contrast borders, optional shadow and may also have a glass effect. Buttons react on mouseover
• Tabs – same as the buttons

Example is: www.yahoo.com

Next is something called Silver Orange Style. Really not that colorful when you get right down to it. It is evidently easy to use, fairly simple and lightweight. Which is a nice touch, but the drawbacks may outweigh the pros. It is a fashion flash and rather pricey. Most of these sites focus on usability not looks, although they do look ok (just not impressive).

Here are the elements you will find when looking at this style of website design:

• Top Menu - dark with a light font color; background rich-colored gradient and contrast dividers
• Logo and guide line – more gradients here. Guideline contrasts with top menu background, font color gray
• Gradient and text dividers – again, more gradients, mild divider

Example is: www.digg.com

And now, something called Apple Style. The fruit's must have it this year. This is high end, really quality design, but woooo-eee, expensive and too distinctive. Now you would not think that would be a drawback, but it is. It is hard to seem original when you are THAT distinct.

The main feature of this design style is the glass tabs and other elements. Yes, it looks cool, but it is not, because of the overuse of small or tiny fonts. That is great if you have good eyesight – but let us remember many of today's surfers are seniors. Again, this is very expensive and requires an enormous amount of work.

Here are the elements you will find when looking at this style of website design:

• Apple Menu – this is the central point of this style. Everything else is the same – glass buttons, gradients, rounded blocks, etc.

Example is: www.apple.com

Next is something called Microsoft Style, and with the problems they seem to have with some of their coding and programs, it is a wonder anyone would use this style for a website design. But, if you like it, use it. It does seem to be fairly functional, fairly simple (that would be a first for Microsoft) and three cheers, cheap. However, it does make you look like you are a Microsoft affiliate.

Let us face it – this style is plain Jane, simple, and created by engineers for other engineers. But hey – it mostly works – but doesn't really make your site sing.

Here are the elements you will find when looking at this style of website design:

• Microsoft Menu – gray, simple, functional. Borders, mouseover events, floating sub menus from the left (are you asleep yet?)

Example is: www.microsoft.com

And last but not least, and yes there are other new hot designs, but we can't cram them all into one article. These are the ones that seem to have the most potential. Anyhow, the Magazine Style Design which is very attractive, almost pretty. It is simple and nicely condensed. This con is and is not a con, it needs lots of text and pictures and relies on quality content. Hardly a con really! Most websites should rely on fresh quality content. However, they don't take too kindly to having too many pictures due to download issues.

It looks like – uhmm well – it looks like a magazine. Period. Its high-end design and do not try this yourself. You would need a pro to put this stuff together. Translation: it's going to cost you big ka-ching!

Example is: www.style.com