One-page web design: trends, tips and advice from UX

So you've decided to go for a one-page web design. While this approach has its limitations, it can be very useful for certain purposes. Usually, these websites are used as a kind of presentation for a company, a product or an independent artist or entrepreneur. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see product sites, specific commercial offers, portfolio pages or even some business websites presented as a single page. Before going to the tips on how to improve the design of a single page, let's briefly look at some of its advantages and disadvantages.

Pros and cons of the single-page design.

Pros

One of the most obvious benefits of single-page web design comes to mind immediately: it's easy to design, update and maintain. In addition, making a mobile version of the website is quite easy, since it can remain basically the same but perfectly suitable for mobile devices.

Depending on the purpose of the website, it can be very simple and convenient to use as well. If there is a kind of uniformity of purpose or message behind the site, then this might be the best way to do it. By presenting a single idea or product, the design of a single page offers the opportunity to organize information in a way that can be very useful for users or even for you. That is, you can organize the information so that visitors discover it in the exact order they want it.

In addition, if you only want to make a brief presentation of your company or project to the audience, the design of a single page is an excellent option. Check how Pixel Lab did it in a simple and charming way, answering the most common questions and showing your most important work.

Frequently asked questions

A more concrete commercial benefit is that, if used correctly, you can increase conversions. The entire conversion funnel is placed on the same page, which makes the conversion process fast and simple.

Cons

As much as it is suitable for the presentation of a single product, the design of a single page does not work as well if you want to show multiple products or services. Having all of these on the same page can end up messy and confusing. In the same way, scalability is also a problem. If you want to significantly expand your business or your offers, it may be impossible to do it in a reasonable way without adding more pages, in which case ... well, in which case, obviously, it is no longer a single-page website.

Sometimes people try to put too much information on a page and end up being forced to leave a lot of external links on the website. This is not the best way to go as it complicates the idea and violates the whole concept. Especially if people do not know they're going to end up on another website. This is exactly what Clean Air Commute Challenge did and it is definitely not the best strategy. Simplicity should be one of the main features of single-page sites and you should keep this in mind at all times.

Also, the fact that you have all the content in the same URL can create more problems. That is, not only is it more difficult for visitors to share a specific part of the content they like, but it is also more difficult to analyze which exact content performs better.

Finally, there are SEO problems. If you decide to upload too much content, your website will take years to load and this can ruin your ranking. It is also more difficult to optimize the website for a large number of keywords, since there is a limitation in this number.

In general, choosing this type of design is an excellent idea, but only if there is a firm logical connection that unifies the products or ideas presented. Here are some tips on how to make it more attractive and easy to use.