All designers have different interpretations of what minimal web design truly is, but most would agree that the purpose of an effective minimally designed web page is to layout the content in such a way that no single element distracts attention from the visual hierarchy. And the key to achieving minimal distraction is to initially have a well-structured backbone focused on the comparative space relation between the fundamental elements of the web page.

Although, minimal design does seem to have evolved ever so slightly over the last few years, especially within web design. Trends, techniques, and user expectations have changed and quite remarkably this has resulted in alterations to the look and feel of what we would typically define as a minimal site.

Those boundaries that had previously existed between all mainstream web design trends have become blurry, resulting in a blend of styles, where only the best parts of each have been wisely selected to create a whole new minimal style. This is the modern web.

This gallery features 50 minimally designed sites that have not only stripped away all non-essential elements, but have also successfully absorbed other popular modern design trends, like over-sized typography and large imagery, simple yet effective navigation systems, long scrolling, carefully selected interactive elements, flat design, and all use the latest responsive techniques.