Trends in Web Design: Horizontal and Vertical Parallax
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In the past few years across the web we have seen a shift towards using parallax, mostly vertical uses. This is basically a way in which a website feels like its the one single page, with multiple layers to give it a three dimensional slant. When executed properly it can have a wondrous effect, giving your site a new level of attractiveness and usability. Of course with all new uses of technology, badly executed versions can create headaches and failure in terms of user experience.
New Zealand’s tourism site uses a beautifully executed version of parallax, but seemed to forget the point of usability. The user certainly feels like they have been taken on an exciting visual journey, but then once they click on a few areas, they will find themselves lost in the backwoods of Auckland.
Nike’s “Better World’ uses both the content and the technology is such a way that you feel the need to read and absorb the information, as well as admiring the visual splendour of it all.
This one is very much a fun site, serious content but leaves the user with a sense of child’s play. But that also may be its downfall. You find yourself staring at the rocketship and the groovy illustrations and then left wondering at the end what it was all about.
And I’ll leave you with this one, using horizontal parallax. I have no real idea who, what or where they are. And by the end of my experience I didn’t really care. Form over function. Look out.
