The most common standard patterns are the conventional right-hand or left-hand pattern or the straight in pattern. Conventional patterns have all turns in the same direction, i.e. left or right-handed or none at all and the legs are perpendicular to each other (90° turns only). The speed of approach is at most the steady state speed at full flight. A conventional pattern includes the airspace from the ground to 1000 ft directly above the landing area plus a 500 foot lateral margin.
At many DZs, one pattern is preferred and the other pattern is not considered standard at that location. Straight-in patterns are allowed, although not used often, except in long spots. Airports have segmented circles to denote the appropriate pattern for each runway that is followed by aircraft pilots. Many DZs have equivalent rules that detail the appropriate patterns for skydivers.
For instance, suppose a DZ had a North-South runway and the landing area was to the East of the runway. If the landing direction were to the North, then a right-hand pattern would be followed. If the landing direction were to the South, then a left-hand pattern would be followed.
A predictable pattern is one that follows the schematic. It does not have spirals, s-turns or sashays along any leg of the pattern. Deviations from straight legs can cause collisions or cause others to make avoidance maneuvers.
Other standard patterns that have come into common use lately are swoop patterns.
Swoop patterns deviate from conventional patterns in several important ways. One way is that they do not always have a downwind, base and final legs and they do not necessarily have all turns in the same direction. Another way is that speed is induced, so that the trajectory is covered in a much shorter amount of time. The faster speeds mean that the time to react to problems (other traffic or misjudged altitude) is significantly shortened. Many swoop patterns do not have straight legs. Heading changes are done via a continuous turn that usually exceeds 90 degrees. A swoop pattern includes the airspace from the ground to at least 1000 ft directly above the landing area plus a 500 foot lateral margin. A canopy with a large recovery arc requires a higher initiation altitude than a canopy with a smaller recovery arc. Larger turns in a high performance maneuver increase the initiation altitude of the maneuver.
Generally, swoop patterns are best done when there are no other canopies in the pattern because of significant speed differences and pattern entry.
The most compatible swoop patterns with conventional patterns are the front riser and 90 degree approach.
Other swoop patterns, 180s, 270s etc, have been done in conventional patterns with success. But there are many cases of unsuccessful swoop patterns mixed with conventional patterns. Many of these unsuccessful approaches have lead to botched landings or canopy collisions that have resulted in injury or death to jumpers.
One aspect of swoop approaches is dramatically clear. Swoop approaches are much safer and successful when they are done in a dedicated airspace that does not conflict with a conventional or another swoop pattern approach.
It makes sense for jumpers doing swoop patterns to do those approaches away from other traffic, whether it is other swoopers or people flying conventional patterns.