For many years, hard restrictions on webpages were tied to both internet speed and connected device processing power. In the modern age, however, these concerns have fallen by the wayside. Modern webpages are capable of immense complexity and visual flair, even on humble connections and devices. Despite this growth, web design rarely leverages the full extent of this expanded hardware potential. Using online casinos and their websites as examples, we want to explore why this is, and why the future of web design could be simpler than we think.
Clarity over Complexity
Modern online casinos can be immense, often vastly overshadowing even the largest brick and mortar casinos in terms of variety. While this can be great for the customers, it can also generate an issue of visual noise. It doesn’t matter how much a website has to offer, leaning too heavily into flooding a user with information will only drag down the experience.
Because of this issue, the best solution can be to streamline the experience as much as possible. To this end, consider this example of an online casino comparison website. As a review service, the page works to compare important components such as deposit matches and free spin bonuses, as well as key features and overall review scores. A simple idea, but one which is somewhat contradicted by the immensely broad state of modern online casinos.
Rather than endlessly listing page after page of features, this site found success through simplification and clarity. By using plain white boxes as staging areas, the concentrated information contained within each of these small review sections allows for breathing room, giving an indication of space. At the same time, the use of white-space gives the individual casino logos room to stand out. Rather than fighting for attention, they serve as basic indicators, utilising each casino’s own design elements to show what users might expect within.
A Contiguous Experience
The other side of this coin relates to the growing importance placed on mobile forms of internet access. Having been on an upward trend for some time, 2016 marked the point where mobiles accounted for more online traffic than desktop connections. Since then, attention to mobile sites has become mandatory, and this is another area where casino websites stand out.
Owing to less visual real estate on mobile devices, these websites faced a challenge. They needed to build mobile versions of their websites which were instantly comparable to their desktop iterations, while simultaneously avoiding a cramped appearance. To accomplish this, a common route has been taken in the creation of discrete sections like game listings involving a large amount of scalability. Resize the screen and these sections resize with it, always finding the perfect fit between readability and complexity.
An Exercise in Restraint
Developing an effective modern website is not an easy task. Ultimately, with all the potential we have today, contemporary web design becomes a matter of restraint. Rather than going all out, the focus has instead been put on carefully selecting the key elements which can effectively and efficiently inform. It’s an evolving discipline and one which seeming simplicity belies hidden depths. Modern websites make look simple, but the ideas and components running behind the scenes are anything but. It’s an interesting contradiction, all too easy to overlook.
