Characteristics of Present-Day Web Design: 5 Essentials That Haven’t Changed (and a Few Things That Have)
Website Design
By hello@chadrogezdesign.com
Originally published August 2017 — updated and expanded for 2026.
I first published this post in 2017, and it’s telling how much of it still holds up. The tools have changed, the statistics have moved, and Google has rewritten its rules more than once — but the fundamentals of a website that actually works for your business are remarkably stable. With that in mind, here’s the updated version, based on nearly three decades of designing and building websites for Oklahoma businesses.
Responsive, Mobile-First Design
Mobile isn’t “on the rise” anymore — it won. Roughly two-thirds of all web traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets, and Google indexes these versions of your website first, not the desktop version. If your website is hard to read or navigate on a phone, you’re not just frustrating visitors — you’re actively losing search rankings.
Responsive design means your website adapts fluidly to any screen, whether a phone, tablet, laptop, or widescreen monitor. Text stays readable, buttons stay tappable, and nothing requires pinching and zooming. That’s why every website I build is responsive from the first wireframe: in 2026, there’s no such thing as a “desktop site” with a mobile afterthought. There’s just your site, and it either works everywhere or it doesn’t.
Simplicity Wins — Every Time
Adding unnecessary content is the rabbit hole every website project risks falling into. To keep this section simple, focus on this:
Use clear, simple icons that instantly communicate what the visitor is looking for
A simpler design loads faster — and page speed is a confirmed Google ranking factor.
A clean layout is easier to scan, and visitors scan before they read.
Limit your color palette; restraint reinforces your branding.
Limit your fonts; too many typefaces create visual noise and slow load times.
Research from Harvard and the University of Colorado found that across every demographic studied, the one universal preference was the same: simple, aesthetically clean design that’s easy to navigate. Tastes vary on color and motion — but nobody prefers clutter.
Solid Content — Visual and Written
Good content comes in two forms, and your website needs both. First, visual consistency.
Visual consistency. Every point of contact with a customer is a brand impression. If your Facebook banner uses different colors than your website, or the typography on your business card doesn’t match your homepage, you’ve missed an opportunity to build recognition. Color schemes and design styles should stay consistent across every channel — otherwise your identity reads as erratic, and that costs you credibility. (This is the heart of what I do in brand identity work — building a system, not just a logo.)
Written content. SEO and keyword strategy are a book unto themselves, but the basics haven’t changed: do your keyword research before the site is built, not after. Well-structured, well-organized content is what Google rewards — clear headings, focused pages, and language your actual customers use when they search.
Once your site launches, keep publishing. Fresh content added to your website, even once a month, signals to search engines that your site is active, builds your authority in your field, and gives you more opportunities to show up in search results for the questions your customers are actually asking.
Navigation That Makes Sense in Two Seconds
Clever wording grabs attention in headlines. In navigation menus, it causes confusion — and a confused visitor leaves. Most people arrive at your website wanting to complete a task or answer a question, so your menu should read like a map, not a mystery.
A few rules I follow on every build:
Menu items should be plain, predictable words: Services, Portfolio, About, Contact.
Save the clever copy for headlines; keep navigation literal.
People read left to right — put your most important items on the left, and put your contact link or primary call to action at the far right.
Fewer top-level items are better; organize the rest into logical submenus.
Simple navigation keeps visitors moving toward the thing you want them to do — contact you, request a quote, or make a purchase.
A Content Management System You Actually Control
Website content goes stale faster than most owners expect — hours change, services expand, team members come and go. A good content management system (CMS) lets you make those updates yourself, without touching code. It should also make those changes easy to implement so that you can keep your website up to date without waiting on anyone else.
In 2017, I recommended WordPress. Nine years later, the case is even stronger. WordPress now powers roughly 43% of all websites on the internet — a dominance no other platform comes close to. Here’s why it remains my platform of choice for every site I build:
It’s open source and free — no monthly platform fee just to exist.
You own your website outright. Your content, your design, your data — portable and fully under your control
A massive developer community means endless documentation, support, and solutions.
Plugins extend it to nearly anything — booking systems, galleries, e-commerce, membership sites.
It’s built for SEO — with a clean structure and full control over titles, metadata, and schema markup.
It scales with your business — from a five-page brochure site to a full content platform.
WordPress has been the dominant CMS for well over a decade, and its market share continues to grow. That’s why it’s the foundation of every website I design for Oklahoma City businesses — flexible enough for extreme creativity, yet simple enough for my clients to manage their own content after launch. That balance of control and ease is what makes it the CMS I keep coming back to.
The Fundamentals Outlast the Trends
Design trends come and go — parallax scrolling, hamburger menus everywhere, dark mode, AI chat widgets. But the characteristics in this post have held steady since I first wrote it in 2017, and I’d bet on them holding steady for the next decade too: a website that works on every screen, stays simple, delivers consistent branding and useful content, navigates intuitively, and runs on a platform you actually own.
If your current website falls short on any of these — or if you’re starting from scratch and want the fundamentals right the first time — that’s exactly the kind of project I’ve been handling for Oklahoma City businesses since 1997. Get in touch and tell me about your site. I’ll give you an honest read on where it stands and a clear, no-pressure estimate on what it would take to fix it.
