Find out what happened in web design in 2016.

Mobile design
2016 was a landmark, transitional year in web design. The industry standard moved to mobile, responsive, design to read well on all devices—whether you access a website on a phone, computer, or iPad, all of the design elements shrink and expand.

Stackable sections
Because we are a mobile industry it's often easier to read information on a scrolling one-page website than clicking through tabs and pages. As a result, design leans more towards stackable sections, including pictures, illustrations and small amounts of content.

Make it easy and accessible
As a whole, our lives move faster and faster—we review and receive more information than ever before, needing less with easy access. The challenges that brings to design in general is our need to compact and minimize content, while making our 'call to actions' easily accessible. Overall, our audience has less time and patience to click and search websites—'Making it easy and accessible' is the #1 directive in design.

The big questions
The primary questions that need to be easily answered in print and on the web, are:

1. Who are you? — Your logo and tagline.
2. What are you offering? — Your services and benefits.
3. What makes you unique? — What sets you apart and makes you unique.
4. What do you want me to do? — Your call to action.

Take a whirl through the websites of folks who braved the newest generation of design in 2016.

Herein lies my joy…

We’re very excited to announce that this week, we’re releasing a major new update to Weebly called Sections. Sections brings a number of your most highly-requested design features and enhancements to Weebly. Here’s what you’ll see in this release:

Brand-New Header Functionality

We’ve made headers way more powerful, and easier to work with. You will now be able to place elements in headers, and instead of the static header heights, you can now dynamically re-size them however you like!

New Sections Element

You can now add multiple body sections on a single page! By dragging the new Sections element onto a page, you can create groups of elements, which can then be easily moved around a page, or copied to other pages on the site.

Customizable Backgrounds

One of our most highly-requested features is finally here! Your headers and page sections can now have dynamic backgrounds, which you can customize with color, images, and even video. Upload your own videos, or make use of our included library for you to use freely on your site!

Brand New Sections Layouts

Header and page sections now come with more categories, and varieties of layouts. This makes it even easier to get a great-looking website online as quickly as possible!

Themes
Sections will be launching today, but it will only be available to use on themes that have been updated to take advantage of the new features. To make sure that this launch is as smooth as possible, we’ll be slowly updating all themes over the next few weeks. The first theme that will have Sections support is Birdseye. This will be shortly followed by Squared, Brisk, Dusk, Clean Lines, Impact, Journey, and Cento.

We are aiming to have all themes updated by the second week of September.

FAQ

Which Weebly Designer Platform plans will get Sections?

All Sections features will be available with both Pro and Business plans.

Will Sections support the old adaptive themes?

No. Sections will only be available in our current 24 responsive themes. The plans will be updated individually over the several weeks following launch.

How will Sections impact current Client sites?

If a Client site is using a stock Weebly theme that has Sections support, and they have permission to edit any pages, they will have access to Sections. We do not have a Client permission setting for Sections at this time.

Will I be able to opt-in to using a Sections-updated theme?

No. The themes will be updated automatically, behind-the-scenes.

Will custom themes based on stock themes be updated?

No. You will need to start over with a supported stock theme. In the near future, we will have documentation available on our Weebly Developer site to assist with converting custom themes to support Sections.

Choosing a domain name is similar to choosing a company name — it requires a lot of thought and consideration. Your domain name is your identity on the web; you want to make sure you choose a name that not only fits your business, but is also easy to find and promote.

1. Make it easy to type
Finding a domain name that’s easy to type is critical to online success. If you use slang (u instead of you) or words with multiple spellings (express vs. xpress), it might be harder for customers to find your site.

2. Keep it short
If your domain name is long and complex, you risk customers mistyping or misspelling it. Short and simple is the way to go.

3. Use keywords
Try using keywords that describe your business and the services you offer. For example, if you’re a glass replacement business, you may want to register GlassRepair.com or GlassReplacement.com.

It helps improve your rank on search engines (which increases traffic) and just makes more sense to your customers.

4. Target your area
If your business is local, consider including your city or state in your domain name to make it easy for local customers to find and remember. Example: PhoenixGlassRepair.com.

5. Avoid numbers and hyphens
Numbers and hyphens are often misunderstood — people who hear your website address don’t know if you’re using a numeral (5) or it’s spelled out (five) or they misplace or forget the dash. If you need these in your domain, register the different variations to be safe.

6. Be memorable
There are millions of registered domain names, so having a domain that’s catchy and memorable is essential. Once you’ve come up with a name, share it with close friends to make sure it sounds appealing and makes sense to others.

7. Research it
Make sure the name you’ve selected isn’t trademarked, copyrighted or being used by another company. It could result in a huge legal mess that could cost you a fortune, as well as your domain!

8. Use an appropriate domain name extension
Extensions are suffixes, such as .com or .net, at the end of web addresses. These can have specific uses, so make sure to choose one that works for your business. The .com domain extension is far and away the most popular, but it can be tough to get a short and memorable .com domain name because it’s been around for so long.

A bevy of new generic top-level domains — like .photography, .nyc and .guru — offer a great opportunity to register short and highly relevant names. And here are some other top extensions and how they’re often used:

• .co : an abbreviation for company, commerce, and community.
• .info : informational sites.
• .net : technical, Internet infrastructure sites.
• .org : non-commercial organizations and nonprofits.
• .biz : business or commercial use, like e-commerce sites.
• .me : blogs, resumes or personal sites.

Pro tip:
You don’t need to build a website for every domain. Just forward any additional domains to your primary website.

9. Protect and build your brand
To protect your brand, you should purchase various domain extensions, as well as misspelled versions of your domain name. This prevents competitors from registering other versions and ensures your customers are directed to your website, even if they mistype it.

Author
Andrea Rowland is a former small business owner and newspaper journalist, and a published nonfiction author, Andrea Rowland helps craft compelling communications for small businesses and web pros through her work as managing editor of the GoDaddy Garage. When she's not writing or editing, she likes to experiment with baking, travel, read, and dip her toes in the ocean.

By Connie Wong
Website Builder Expert

I love checklists. It’s not because I have an obsessive compulsive need to lay out a detail plan for everything I do – okay fine… I do, but it’s not why I like it.

It’s because checklists are great at simplifying complicated or overwhelming projects like building a website – into easily manageable steps.

Everything is nicely laid out for you like an organized road map – so it takes away all the guess work out of building your website.

If you feel completely lost and don’t know where to start when it comes to building a website, you’ve come to the right place.

This checklist will show you exactly:

1. What you need to get started with a website, and
2. What you don’t need and probably never need for your website.

If you’ve already done some research and have a rough idea what it takes to build a website, this checklist can help you find out if you missed anything (just in case).  We’ve also linked to some awesome guides to make sure you get off to a good start!

One of the biggest mistake people make when building his or her first website is trying to do too much.

What you end up with is an endless list of things you need to do and things you need to pay for.

Soon you are overwhelmed and end up doing nothing – does this sound familiar?

As our lives shift and change on an ever-increasing basis, it's sometimes difficult to keep up with the technology and terminology and we ask ourselves, "What am I suppose to do with this information?"

As an example, I spent 1/2 hr on the phone yesterday chatting with my cell phone service provider about my services, "What plan should I get? What makes the most sense for me?" Ultimately, I have to trust that they know what they're talking about and have my best interest at heart. It can feel like a leap of faith, and it is.

I recently ran across a blog post that's well written, easy to understand worth a read.

Understanding Mobile First Web Design
by Roberto Blake

As technology evolves, so do the ways we experience information and media. With the success of the iPhone with its launch in 2007, the way we consume media—and our expectations—have changed dramatically.

Businesses without a website are not taken nearly as seriously by most people anymore, prompting the need for more sophisticated approaches. People no longer use telephone books to find companies or individuals to do business with. They perform Google searches, and today typically they do this on the go with a mobile device.

The mobile experience of your website is now more often than not becoming the first experience people have of your website, and it communicates to them whether or not you are outdated or professional. That is why designing your website to be “mobile first” is a priority. What is meant by “mobile first web design,” is the idea of designing your website with an eye towards how it presents on mobile devices as the first priority rather than an afterthought.

There are two web design methods you can employ: adaptive or responsive.

Responsive design websites shrink and expand to fit on any device.
Click and visit the sites below to see how they work.