Single page web design? Is it really an enhancement?
by Dennis Bork on Sep 12th, 2013 at 5:31 pm
This article gives a brief overview over the advantages and disadvantages of single page websites from the perspective of a backend-developer.
Single page web design is getting a real hype at the moment, especially in terms of responsive design, but the whole concept is really not a new innovation.
Since the beginning of commercially used internet in the nineties, most websites still use the well known multipage design that imitates the classical print media structure, where the structure sub-divides in several subpages. The Single-Page Approach on the other hand displays all information into one single page.
What´s the benefits?
Obviously, all content is included on a single page. There’s no real need to click through the navigation and subpages to get to the next thematic chapter or search certain information. The user gets guided through the content and gets the information served in an order that´s easy to consume.Still, it´s advisable to have a navigation to jump to different sections of the page.
To provide content through scrolling and interactions single page websites are mainly built in HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. The most popular scrolling techniques are:
“Parallax Scrolling”
Different layers of a website move with different speeds when the user scrolls. This creates an artificial effect of visual depth. Here is a good example:
“Infinite Scrolling”
When the user reaches the end of the site new articles and pictures get reloaded through scrolling. Only the content needed is displayed, the lower load times makes the page faster. Instead of the common paging the content seems endless. The most famous pages using this approach are Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to show the endless pool of content.
A positive effect of single page websites is the possibilities of storytelling and a smaller effort for technical maintenance.
Below the line
Even if there´s the possibility to reload content by using Ajax single page websites are not the best solution if you have to handle huge amounts of data. Therefore it´s important to reduce the data to a minimum and keep focus on crucial information.
For News Pages should not go with this approach.
For pages with bounded content a single page website can be the better alternative, mainly if the target is to promote, present or illustrate content interactively.
Good examples
http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/
http://www.360langstrasse.sf.tv/page/
http://annual.codeforamerica.org/
