What's HOT now/and what will be, in the world of web design?

[visualcommer]

Hello all....new to this site....and so far, I must say it appears to be an awesome resource of highly skilled pros. Glad to be here....

With that being said, I read the recent post of what is so 90's in web design, and thought it was an excellent post. I even caught myself a few times, as doing some things that are so 90's....which I won't disclose.

My question is....what is HOT now, and what will be with site design?

What bells and whistles do you think make sites more powerful?

What do you all think are the new cutting edge phenomenons that will take over the WWW? examples?

I will start off by naming one.

The amount of video and 3D rendering has been limited on the internet. I foresee a huge development in these medias being integrated into sites from here on out. As speed increases, and more people have broadband connections it seems inevitable.

There are some sites currently doing this, but they seem few and far between.

Anticipating your thoughts!

[korkus2000]

I think we are in a post modern era of web design. Since web design really didn't have a long history of becoming a media form we shot through many different periods quickly. I think we have started to take a turn from the graphic intensive love fest to a more functional approach.

While bandwidth grows we will see a different period emerge, but right now the pipe is holding us back. We are sticking with more basic designs to appeal to everyone. I think the web has matured and as we move foward we will see more video and multimedia as the pipe gets bigger. Right now the enphasis has returned to where it started out, and that is content.

[limbo]

Post modern era of web design

Nice synopsis :)

I imagine the support for a wider variety of file types and their associated functions/strengths will occur - like PNG tranparency or support for vector based graphics. Flash will no doubt take a bigger role in every day design as less stress will be place on that 'loading' syndrome and Flash/SEO.

The 'fat' will stay cut - as the web advances the winners will remain those who focus on quality delivery of good content. I cannot see that ever changing, bigger pipes or not - but certainly the delivery methods will.

Web TV is viewed as a bit of a fad now but I imagine there will be a big push in the next 5-10 years to promote access to the net via TV, or indeed more TV via your PC. Digital TV boxes are common place now so it's just a matter of time.

The same goes for mobile access via flip&fold screens and mobile/pda.

Audio. OK a moot point to make now, but can see maturity from heinous midi files to real music - more like movement through radio staions and tv channels than a 'click load beep-buzz' mentality.