World of web design has changed a lot in previous years. Main reason for this change is connected to the change made in intention of websites. Hence, a web designer has to consider many factors including current trends when he is about to design a website for a company or organization and should also notice that there are a few companies, who get their international clients through websites. Over-sized layouts is a major trend we can see in web design concepts, which is quite useful too.
Over-sized layouts simply mean that the design is much big and is enough to utilize the larger size and resolutions of desktops and other devices, which are popular nowadays. The website may not be able to perform well in small screen devices like iPad but will surely make use of big screens, as mentioned before. There are a few advantages of over-sized web designs, when compared to ones bearing margins and limitations. Here are some reasons why should prefer over-sized layouts in web designing. We have also included some examples for designs for easier understanding.
Contents
Force the Scroll-Down
You might not be able to comprise all the website contents in a single glimpse like Google homepage and you will definitely need a webpage with more height. When you are using bigger layouts, you can simply force the visitors to scroll down and to visit the other part of website. When it comes to SEO, this trend can also reduce bounce rate of your website, by letting users stay in the website for a longer time-period. You can avail this advantage by the clever use of color combinations and graphical elements rather than typography.
bronco is a perfect example for a website using over-sized layouts accompanied by both bigger and smaller page elements and typography. As you can see, the website has included an attractive color combination in the header portion and some color-effects as well. Such a use will probably force you to see the rest of website by scrolling down.
Large Screen = Large Images
Either you are a newbie or pro to web designing, you will be definitely aware about the use of images in websites. As you know, images make your site more intuitive and visually effective when you use graphical images in those images. Oversized layouts would surely help you if you want to include bigger images, image slideshows or embedded videos in the website.
www.capcandesign.com is such a website, using bigger sized images in it. They are using animage slideshowwith two wide-sized images with some text effects in the first portion of website, which can surely attract visitors’ eyes.
Bigger Background Images
You can also use bigger background images when using over-sized layouts for a website. We can see a huge number of websites, which give least importance for contents in the upper layer and add special effects in background images. However, in most cases, visitors cannot distinguish the difference between background content and foreground content because the site is visually attractive. Apart from adding static images, there are various tools available in web using which you can add slideshow backgrounds and background videos. You can also use text type animations in website when you use a meaningful background image or slideshow in it.
www.jdawgs.com is such a website, which uses a meaningful background image and adds animations for text that is displayed in the foreground content. Altogether, this addition will help your site to be a visually good homepage.
Parallax Contents
You would have definitely heard about parallax content especially parallax sliders, we hope. You can add a static menu to the top portion of website and let users to navigate between different sections in the website. For example, you can split up your company website to about us, contact us and portfolio sections and allow visitors to navigate to those sections with easiness. As you know, parallax offers a bunch of easier access to the website. You can make use of parallax if you are trying to make a website with larger contents like this. Here, as you can see, the webpage is split into about 10 pieces and easier navigation is possible through the parallax menu. In such websites, you can also use different typography trends in each section.
Readability Additions
Using larger elements will also increase the readability of website in the case of websites, where text content has a larger priority. www.eshbeata.com is an example for how oversized elements can increase readability. The designer has used a parallax style menu and split the website into three parts. The website has made use of major advantages of over-sized websites we have mentioned above.
Apart from those mentioned examples, the nearest example you can see is DesignSkew Blog itself. We are using oversized designing elements, utilizing the actual size of your browser window, for the navigation menu, post previews etc, which would probably force you to look the rest part of webpage. Our partner website, TechLila is also using such over-sized layouts.
Conclusion
We have listed some major reasons for why you should prefer over-sized layout for your web project. This trend may not suite all your intentions but works perfectly find in most ones. You may find some other advantages with over-sized websites. Let others know that via comments.
