back to journal

Various Types of Website Designs and Their Primary Functions

Written By Aisha Ahmed | Last Modified On March 19, 2024

Users must create a fantastic website for their organization because web design accounts for 93.99% of first impressions. Unfortunately, before you even hire any Website Designer for developing websites, you may be unclear on how to manage your site. Which type of website designs are most acceptable for your business?

Luckily, we have all of the answers. Continue reading to learn about 18 types of website design and its advantages and disadvantages.

We’ll also go over the many kinds of websites you could make to determine which one is right for you!

Website layout vs. website design

The main difference between website design and website layout is Skilled website designers use designing applications such as Adobe Photoshop to create the layout as well as other graphically visible parts of a website.

Website developers, on either hand, get a design for a website and then turn it into a functional website.

What does the term “website design” mean?

The design of websites which are presented and visible on the internet is referred to as website design. But instead of software development, this primarily relates to the user experience components of website creation.

What is a website layout?

A website layout is a style structure (or framework) that defines the pattern of a website. Its purpose is to organize the content on a website for equally the website’s admin and visitors.

It creates distinct navigation patterns throughout web webpages and prioritizes the most crucial aspects of a website.

Either you’re studying ways to create a blog or developing an easy site for the simple or small businesses, website layouts set the data hierarchy. Visitors will indeed be guided throughout the website by content, which needs effectively communicate your concept to them.

“Listed down 14 Tips to choose an expert and reliable web design company. Read More: How To Choose a Web Design Company

6 Traditional Formats of Website Design

There are six different forms of website design for your website.

  1. Static Page Layout
  2. The Liquid Design Layout
  3. Adaptive Website Design
  4. Dynamic Website layout
  5.  A Responsive Design Layout 
  6. The single-page layout

You’re ready to start building your site. However, you’re not aware of the web design style to use? Below are six of its greatest prevalent web design patterns for your company, along with their benefits and drawbacks.

1) First Web Design Format: Static Page

Static page layout is one of the most basic website design approaches. The pattern lets you make a website with pre-set page settings and a preset dimension. Static layouts maintain these dimensions regardless of the browser.

Static layouts have grown old-fashioned as a result of the rise of mobile users. Since these sites do not convert to mobile devices, including tablets, these will not provide a satisfying user experience. However, static layouts are still an option. One should use them if you’re creating a separate mobile version of your private site.

 Advantages:

  • The setup is simple.

Disadvantages:

  • Devices and browsers are not responsive.
  • It necessitates the creation of a distinct mobile version.

2) Web Design Format: The Liquid Design

The very next type of design on my agenda is liquid design patterns. Such a pattern, also known as fluid design, utilizes changeable units rather than the static units utilized in static designs. Since the settings are customizable, the webpage must still match the measurements of the gadget’s screen, regardless of the device it is.

Liquid designs have tended to diminish as a viable solution for organizations, despite the importance of user experience in attracting and retaining visitors to the site. This style, on the other hand, could be really useful. However, by stretching your website excessively far or packing quite so much content onto a single page sheet, you risk giving a poor user experience.

Advantages:

  • It’s less difficult to put up with the responsive design.
  • On web pages, no content is cut off.

Disadvantages 

  • When a browser is too broad, information is extended to suit the display, which might make it appear unpleasant.
  • When a browser is narrower, content is smushed around each other to suit the window, rendering reading and browsing harder.

“An ultimate goal of SDLC 5 Phases is, to make information systems or software development procedures greater in regularity, efficiency, and overall quality. Read More:  SDLC 5 Phases and types of SDLC.”

3) Web Design Type: Adaptive Website Design

Designers suggest adaptive site design that you can use for your e-commerce or business website. As the name implies, CSS queries change the size of a web page depending on the settings page. Adaptive websites adapt their appearance in real-time to deliver the best possible user experience to their visitors.

There are standards for how a site should react when employing adaptive website designs. “Restrict the main focus element to 400 pixels wide whenever the browser is 500 pixels wide,” could be a set parameter. The flexible style will transition to a separate stage with a smaller browsing screen if users keep a two-column arrangement on your page.

Advantages

  • The setup is simple.
  • It requires less time to build than flexible layouts.
  • You can change the size of your website to fit each internet browser.

Disadvantages 

  • Between defined points, gadget widths could lead your website to possess too many or too little rooms.
  • Isn’t completely receptive

“Do you know? A bug is usually a cause of mild (or considerable) discomfort. Bugs can sometimes be so serious that we have to quit using a piece of software entirely. Read More: How to reduce bugs in software.

4) Web Design Format: Dynamic Website 

Whenever browsing a checklist of website design styles, you’ll notice that the dynamic website design is one of them. For those who do not have substantial HTML understanding, dynamic website designs are ideal. Although two individuals browse around the same webpage, these websites might give varied material to website users.

You can create a database of content and capabilities using a dynamic website style. The website code then automatically assembles the elements using your database to build the page whenever a user asks it.

Advantages

  • Interaction with customers
  • Users’ functionality has been improved.
  • There are fewer coding abilities necessary.

Disadvantages

  • Adding additional capabilities can make it more difficult to set up.
  • Due to the obvious various components and webpage compositions, they take longer to load.

5) Web Design Format: A Responsive Design

The responsive design pattern is the next sort of site template on our listing. It is the greatest common layout format since it enables your site to work on all platforms and cover the browser width exactly. A cellphone approach is used to create a responsive design.

You start with a mobile style and, after that, expand the website to accommodate larger browser sizes. Therefore, rather than trying to slim down the site and produce it shorter, you launch little and expand. Dropbox is an example of responsive web design.

When viewed on a mobile device, the complete site is scaled to accommodate the mobile browsing window, resulting in a fantastic user experience.

Advantages

  • Get yourself a mobile-friendly website.
  • Delivers a consistent user experience across all gadgets
  • There’s no need to create a specific mobile site.

Disadvantages

  • It takes longer to create and develop.

“A NoSQL JSON directory can store and recover information utilizing the  “no SQL” rule. Read More: What are the advantages of NoSQL.”

6) Web Design Format: The single-page

A single-page template is the last sort of web design we’ll discuss within our listing of web design styles. Single-page themes feature just one page that customers scroll down to discover details regarding your services and products, as the title suggests. You could have a “navigation bar” with connections to particular points of your website using this design pattern.

Advantage:

  • I can assist you in developing a simple and basic website

Disadvantages:

  • It can’t be used by companies that sell things online.
  • It can’t be used by businesses that require several pages.
  • If a single page becomes too lengthy and involves excessive scrolling, it may turn consumers away.

“Read More: Below the fold website. The digital marketing wisdom is that the content present above the fold is noticed more and so is more important than the content present below the fold website.”

4 Trending Formats of Website Design

Static and dynamic website design is two main types of website design currently available. 

Here, I’ll demonstrate you several unique site designs that are currently trending and that you must be aware of. It’s necessary to discard all old practices and experiment with various web design styles:

1) Illustrative Web Design 

Illustration is a versatile design tool that might very well be applied in a range of methods. Since here are a variety of possibilities to pick through whenever it comes to site design.

Illustrations, such as cartoonist drawings, may bring web development to reality.

Illustration, by definition, is a creative artistic drawing activity, thus incorporating it into the intended design of any website is one of the most unique methods to provide information online.

Artwork is now becoming a major feature of a website’s look in 2015 onwords due to its appealing and entertaining small components like icons. Moreover, the website will be much more customized for customers, allowing them to connect more efficiently.

2) Minimalist Web Design

Minimalism’s objective is to reveal a design’s basis by eleminating all un-necesssary shapes, structures, elements, and thoughts. Minimalist in web design omits unwanted interruptions and reduces distraction components with their simplest basic versions.

It’s a popular approach that arose in response to the turmoil and overabundance of material that the Web brings. So when the primary goal and objective of the profile is to showcase your excellent efforts, the superb efforts you could do about the business is to quietly stay away of the path.

3) Typography Web Design

Early impressions stick with you for a long time. The typography, rather you realise it or not, contributes to the creation of a journey for visitors once they’ve viewed a single word or selected a link. Typography seems to have the power to reveal the visitor what’s operating the webpage and what individuals ‘re for, in addition to simply conveying a story. The handling of type, like the voice, generates an environment and inspires a feeling.

Typography, being one of the most important design aspects, might build or destroy a website. Considering recent developments in online technologies, we’re always useful whenever it refers to innovative typography patterns, which means picture replacement approaches are still widespread. 

Drawback:

Considering the development of mobile consumption in recent decades, one could claim that typeface design is a disadvantage because it slows down the site’s page load time. The challenge can be readily solved by presenting typography depending on gadget resolution.

4) Flat Web Design

Design process is a simple development style that emphasises usability. There is plenty of white space, crisp lines, brilliant colours, and two-dimensional/flat graphics.

Microsoft was one of the first corporations to include this type of design into its user interface. Instead of converting a reality, such as a planning tool, into a little creative image, flat design proponents recognise applications with simple, icon-like visuals. By instead transmitting true qualities to platforms, this shows a clear distinction among scientific and actual elements.

18 Useful Types Of Website Design

You must therefore select what kind of websites you need to develop for your organization in order to restrict any list of site designs to the ideal one. Because every business has unique requirements, your website may be distinct from others. There are 18 different types of internet sites you could indeed make by experts Designers for your company:

1. Blogs

The first style of site on the list is a blog. Blogging are publications that provide users with useful information on themes related to their sector. Whereas blogging may not become your major website, whether you’re conducting content advertising, you should consider setting up a blog.

  • Who Needs Blog Websites?

Content marketing is an important approach for assisting your company in expanding online and getting confidence from its customers. To use the advantages of digital marketing by writing the blog, the company may want to consider creating a different blog website, similar to Allstate, or incorporating that into your main website.

  • Website Formate suitable for blogging

With the exception of single-page designs, each site type could use each and every web design style. Flexible and responsive web design designs are ideal for such a website category.

“Website maintenance services help you to rank higher on the search engine results page organically. Learn More: What is a Website maintenance services list?

2. Websites for eCommerce

An eCommerce site is another form of website you may make for your company. If you really want to offer things on the website, it is the finest website style for your business. Ecommerce websites allow customers to browse product descriptions, add items to their carts, and finalize purchases.

  • Who Needs eCommerce Websites?

This website category is ideal for businesses who want to sell things. When it comes to the best web design for just an eCommerce website

  • Website Formate suitable for eCommerce

The creative and responsive are really the best options.

3. Websites for Businesses

A company website is an additional form of website that can make. A commercial website is similar to a regular website in that it offers information regarding your firm and the solutions you provide. Although you don’t offer things online, you can still create a business website to promote your services.

  • Who Needs Business Websites?

These websites are straightforward and provide a central location for customers to discover your company. Whenever your website does not offer things, you can choose this website category. You could get any of the styles of web design outlined earlier for a company website, but you should pick the options that will assist you in providing the best service for the visitors.

 “Do you know? Software Quality Assurance SQA is a set of structured and planned activities necessary for the extraction of satisfying results essential for software improvement. Read More: How SQA helps you to save money?

4. Websites for members

A subscription website would be the ultimate form of website you may make. You get a barrier for visitors to access with just this website category. Only users have access to your website and may view your products.

Example:

Grove. Co is an example of a membership service provider. To examine all of their services, you must first register an application and spend the membership cost.

  • Website Formate suitable for members’ site

If you wish to utilize this site style, you have two options: adaptive or responsive web design templates. These layouts are ideal for showcasing member-only products.

5. Website with a wiki or a public forum

Wikipedia is probably of the greatest and well-reputed, frequently accessed websites. Wikis can be made on any topic. A Wikipedia is a webpage where multiple people can cooperate on content, edit it, and implement modifications.

  • Who Needs These Websites?

Websites for public forums offer an organized manner to post conversations on a given topic. Visitors can create new topics or join existing ones by registering. The WordPress assistance forum is an excellent example of a forum that helps users resolve technical concerns.

Example:

The design among these websites is comparatively non because of their open structure. You’ll see that Wikipedia isn’t well-designed; it’s essentially just HTML with such little CSS modification.

If you decided to establish your community forum, though, you could be more creative with both the design as well as work alongside a developer to ensure the backend runs smoothly.

6. Websites that provide video streaming

Likewise to social networking websites, after the layout is designed, the majority of the maintenance falls to the technical side. Such websites necessitate a lot of backend management due to the high volume of visitors and bandwidth loading. Streaming services typically get their unique design & analysis crews that concentrate on long-term improvements.

Example:

Throughout the last generation, video streaming sites such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and many other competitors have exploded in acceptance. Many are open, whereas others need a fee.

7. Portals on the internet

Web portals are frequently established for a company’s, organization’s, school’s, or company’s internal use. Websites usually require a login and provide a customized experience depending on the user’s preferences.

For example

A university may offer a web portal where students can obtain course materials, or a firm may utilize a portal to enable personnel to schedule time off and examine pay stubs.

Portals are generally highly sophisticated than many other sites, requiring higher complex design and technology. As a result, businesses frequently outsource development, building, design, and IT management to a third party.

8. Websites of magazines and news organizations

Magazines and news outlets or sites have a similar layout to blogs, although they focus more on reporting than individual interests and viewpoints. These websites have useful and instructional articles, photographs, and videos. 

The magazine, as well as the news sector, has transitioned from a published perspective to a digital medium, which is normally available by a subscription program, during the last several decades.

  • Who Needs This Website?

The New York Times, for example, seldom updates the design or collaborates with specific designers. They generally collaborate with the designing, developing, and upkeep organizations or agencies.

9. Pages with contact information and a directory

A directory, often known as a contact page, is a location wherever visitors can find out how to connect with your company or other people.

Whenever you need to list a collection of businesses or individuals within an organization, this website is ideal. A small restaurant directory, for instance, includes menus, price ranges, phone numbers, and reviews for restaurants in the area.

  • Who Needs This Website?

A directory website is an excellent fit for the type of organization. A strong association of area doctors in a city, for instance, would provide each member’s specialty and contact details. For customers, keep this design choice in mind.

Example

Manta is a location-based small company directory. The site includes categorized searching in sectors such as restaurants, general contractors, or physicians, combined with keyword searching. Companies can list themselves in the database, and the website makes money by selling advertisements.

10. Landing pages design

The landing page is a sort of webpage that is designed to encourage users to do a certain action as part of an advertising campaign.

The information on a landing page must be kept to a minimum and should guide the visitor to the call-to-action (CTA) that they want them to take. Provide lots of empty places around the call to action, and preserve components that aren’t relevant to the campaign’s goal for future pages.

Example:

This website style may be seen on Shopify’s free version landing page. Simple titles and CTA—call-to-action, like “Start a free trial,” are included. All of the pieces on the page are designed to take the client on a very precise route that will result in them being a certified leads. They employ topical, trendy photographs and add an illusion of depth with the spectacles on the side, as well as demonstrating the design on any of the shopping websites.

11. Website for your portfolio

Your personal portfolio website will likely become the first website users construct like a designer. An ideal portfolio site is a website that showcases and promotes examples of a person’s previous efforts. 

A portfolio webpage is simply a visual CV, and it is most commonly utilized by persons who perform in the creative area. It showcases your creative abilities and highlights your greatest work with the goal of attracting potential clients or companies.

You may create and produce your site using Webflow, a program that helps you make bespoke websites because the material isn’t too hard. However, numerous platforms, such as Squarespace or Wix, make it simple for everyone to efficiently and simply establish a portfolio site.

  • Experts Opinion: 

Instead of a complicated website design featuring showy animations, you choose to convince potential customers and recruiters with your expertise and encourage visitors to contact you regarding your services. As a result, you might need to go for a minimalist design style to let the actions speak for themselves while promoting a positive user experience. Would you like expert advice on how to construct a website? So, speak with our reliable and experienced designers.

12. Website for personal use

A personalized website’s purpose is to be just that personal. It could be for no other reason than to post and discuss thoughts rather than market products or promote works. It could often include a blog, a single-page resume featuring connections to certain other social media platforms, or whatsoever someone wishes to post.

You won’t be requested to develop numerous private websites as a web designer, whether it’s a favor to a family member or friend who wishes to open and discuss a topic they’re focusing on.

13. Brochure Websites

These websites work in a similar way as electronic business cards. These webpages, which become primarily used by small businesses, are designed to sell products and offer contact information on multiple pages.

For example, a small plumbing company might construct a brochure website with a homepage simply presents contact information, a ‘about us’ feature that explains the company, and possibly a few photographs of their work.

  • Is the catalog or brochure website is same as an eCommerce website?

A catalog website differs from an eCommerce site since it does not permit customers to purchase products and services online. Rather it is intended to highlight them and encourage individuals who are exploring to approach the company to purchase online or get a quote, dependent on whatever is provided.

14. Fundraising or Charity

Fundraising is also known as Crowdfunding. It is a method of obtaining little amounts of money from a big number of people to support a project or business. These websites are increasingly becoming the go-to forum for start-up companies.

Formerly, the only way to fund a new business venture was to raise considerable amounts of money through a small group of individuals. However nowadays, setting up a funding campaign is simple — all need to do is create a proposal session about the project you want to support and set a goal rate and timeline.

People who trust what you’re doing on the internet would donate money to the risen cause. You might provide perks like discount coupons or VIP services in return for money.

15. Educational Website

The majority of educational websites are self-explanatory. Such  websites are designed to provide information on certain topics while also keeping the visitor interested with interactive aspects and eye-catching design. Consider hiring a freelance expert web designer to create some ICT features, game modes, or quizzes if you wish to make one of these instructional websites.

16. Websites With Business Directories

A corporate directory website is something that compiles information on a variety of businesses in one location. These websites have historically been beneficial sites to promote and have provided vital causes of free interconnections to online businesses. However, browse engines like Google had also progressively devalued such links because they are eligible to publish when assessing the power of a domain centered on inbound links.

Certain commercial directories are nationwide in scope and encompass all business categories; many are localized in scope but still include all fields. Yet others are focused on specialized sections of the company and are occasionally worldwide but often internationally.

17. Search Engines 

They provide tools that help people discover relevant information on the web. These systems are not portal sense because they can not serve selected or organizationally picked materials to all those who view them. Rather, they start with a blank canvas in the manner of a querying box, within which a visitor must input words or submit a picture.

  • Response Against Text Input

When a search or browser engine receives text input, it is designed to answer the user’s keyword, phrase, the combination of words, or statement, comprehend the query’s purpose and then run it via algorithms to identify the highest relevant and appropriate webpages or picture results.

  • Response Against Image Input

Whenever an image is entered into a search engine, the engine is built to look for similar and identical pictures on all websites. This might be beneficial for recognizing the creator or photographer behind an unidentified image or for discovering comparable photographs to utilize in a project.

18.A non-profit Website 

It promotes a non-organization, including a medical research foundation, an international relief institution, or a heritage group.

Although several other websites, such as educational websites promoting educational institutions, are formally non-profit, the word “non-profit website” is more commonly associated with charitable forums other than colleges and universities.

Do you need to know which website design is ideal for you?

It’s difficult to decide which web design style is appropriate for your company with so many options. ENOU  can assist you in creating stunning web designing services if you’re having difficulties with the task of creating the greatest website.

We’ve created multiple websites and received hundreds of accolades for our work.

Our group of above 450 marketing people can assist you in creating a stunning website that provides the greatest possible experiences for your visitors.

Who is responsible for creating the website design?

The layout and design of a website or online pages are the responsibility of a website designer. It could simply be creating a new website or modifying an existing one. Online developers, on the other hand, specialize in turning web designs into reality or designing code that determines how various components of a website work together. There may, however, be some overlap between the various roles.

A website design is among the most significant platforms a company may use to advertise its services and goods, as well as to generate revenue. Although the business site is not intended for commercial use, it is critical that it be simple to navigate and entertain your website viewers. Determining the correct web designer is a significant financial commitment for your company. These characteristics will assist you in making the best decision possible.

 “Do you know? The main difference between a software and a program is that software is a collection of programs while a program is a set of commands. Read More: What is the difference between a computer program and computer software?

Final Thoughts

The Internet is a vast expanse of information with various web pages and information to explore. Knowing. However, the top popular sorts of sites seem to be to and whether ones give the best prospects for all of you to build for customers is beneficial as a website designer.

Great design is far beyond a pretty face; it also encourages user interaction and is specifically tailored to the demands of the people who are visiting the site. 

Give importance to what other businesses have accomplished with business web design so you’ll be able to quickly determine whether the format is best for any project or not. Understanding what competitors have done with various websites would give you a good idea of what website style would work for your business website.

FAQs

Is it true that programmers create websites?

Developers employ coding languages to create a website’s essential structure, whereas designers are generally visually imaginative and user-focused. Designers employ their programming skills to bring the developer’s imaginative ideas to reality.

Which is the biggest crucial aspect of website design?

Content is by far the most crucial aspect of any website. The website becomes nothing better than advertising without good content. That is not a successful internet marketing strategy. The objective of every marketing expert designing a website ought to be to provide visitors with an online guide.

What role does web design play for your target audience?

Your website must be developed with your target demographic in mind, and it will ultimately increase user experience.

What is the price of a new website?

This question does not have a single answer. The specific requirements of each project determine the cost of a website design. Each website is diverse and necessitates different elements.

Which is a mobile-friendly site design, exactly?

Mobile-friendly design implies that the material on any website — texts, links, videos, and photos – is easily and quickly accessible throughout all platforms, especially on the considerably smaller screens of mobile phones and tablets.
Mobile friendly, on a more complex level, implies maximizing all of the wonderful possibilities of mobile devices to provide an effective, gratifying experience to users on the go.