The history of web design
The Early Web Design Days
(1991-1994)
The very first website on the World Wide Web was created by Tim Berners-Lee who designed the website at the Swiss research center, CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). You can still access the basic CERN website which was developed for the purpose of distributing information to other researchers.
Not only is Berners-Lee credited as the first web designer, he also created Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), with which he coded the CERN site. He would go on to found the World Wide Web Consortium which still oversees development of web standards today.
In the early web design days, HTML’s <table> function was the only way to organize information by assigning data to columns and rows. No colour blocks, no images, no graphics, just text. A far cry from what we consider “web design” today.
The World Wide Web continued to grow and only 2 years later, the world’s first search engine was born. ALIWEB (Archie Like Indexing for the Web), was a web page that organized links into the categories of computing, entertainment, living, money, newsstand, recreation, research, and shopping.
ALIWEB also utilized a new form of organization – colour. A yellow background separated the categories and made it easier for users to quickly identify what they were looking for. Like the first website, ALIWEB is still alive today. In fact, clicking the “BMW” link in the Auto category will take you to BMW’s present-day site.
As the number of websites grew, so did the concept of using website design to achieve business goals. Landing pages began to sprout up around 1993, and drew users in with colour and invitations to “Click Here to Enter”, or “Sign Up Now”.
Hotwire (now Wired Magazine) pioneered the first web banner ad in 1994, and had the subtle message of, “Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will”. Brilliant.
Websites exploded in popularity in the early 90s. One website in 1991. A total of 2,738 in 1994. And for historical context, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com in 1994.
Houston, we have liftoff.
The Evolution of Web Development
(1995-2000)
Once the novelty of simply having a website wore off, it was time to get serious about effective design. The evolution of web design and development that occurred from 1995 to 1998 would drastically change the history of web design.
Enter JavaScript. This is where design began to differentiate from development, as Javascript was the first programming language that could add motion to static websites with interactive effects.
HTML 2.0 was released in 1995, supporting graphics, forms, tables, and more. This gave developers more creative liberties in page organization.
As tools for design and development became more sophisticated, web users began to expect more from their online experiences. As a result, Apple coined the term, “User Experience” at a computer systems conference.
In 1996, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) became available and directed the display and style of HTML coded design elements like colour, layout, and typography. HTML and CSS were a power duo, but CSS would eventually replace HTML tables with the exception of data requiring true tabular layout.
Web animation was next to the stage, and Macromedia Flash 1.0 took the web by storm. But it was not without its faults. Animations could only run if a website was equipped with the Flash plugin extension, otherwise the animation would show up blank. This posed a significant problem for websites built entirely on Flash. In addition, the heavy lifting that was required behind the scenes to bring the animations to life also meant slower page loading.
Downfalls aside, Flash ushered in an era of page improvement through movement. It served the web well and played a significant role in the history of web design. That role, however, came to an end on December 31, 2020, when Adobe ended the support of Flash and Windows removed Flash from all browsers.
In 1998, Stanford PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched Google Beta as part of a research project that explored indexing page results based on relevant search terms. Page and Brin could not have known the magnitude of what they had just created and how Google would influence and change both the internet and web designing.
As Google became a major search engine, the term “Search Engine Optimization” began to be thrown around, and businesses sought ways to improve their rank.
Interestingly, because Flash animation required a plugin extension to work, it was invisible to Google.
Web capability was growing and ecommerce and online payments now allowed businesses to shift analog payment processes to digital. Paypal (which was actually named Confinity for the first two years), launched in 2000 and established itself as a front runner in online transactions.
(2000 – 2006)
Up until the new millenium, websites had been created for desktop browser windows only. “Responsive web design” as we know it was still a ways out, but ideas were stirring. In 2000 web design, developers started creating multiple versions of websites to be viewed on different browsers and devices. While this technically worked, it was time consuming and impractical. Devices and browsers were constantly evolving and having multiple versions meant that updates had to be made separately – desktop, tablet, and mobile. Triple the effort, triple the time.
As time went on, more and more people created websites for business purposes, information distribution, and a growing trend – blogging. The need for content management systems (CMS) grew as it enabled dynamic design and smooth updates to content. And although various CMS’ had been around in the 1990s, the heavy hitter launched in 2003.
WordPress was originally launched as an open source blogging platform, but steadily grew and evolved until it became the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world. In fact, WordPress now powers 35.9% of the internet.
This timeline would be remiss if it didn’t acknowledge the entrance of MySpace (2003) and Facebook (2004). Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe created MySpace to promote self- expression through online profile pages and allow users to connect with each other online.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and co. at Harvard University as a campus social networking site and exploded in popularity worldwide when it went public in 2006. But you already knew that.
The dawn of social media, self expression, and online connection had arrived, whether we were ready for it or not, and MySpace and Facebook set the stage for a new level of interaction. This kicked web design into high gear as there was now a market for designing ads, widgets for websites, and graphics and images for social profiles.
As social media evolved, successful business became tied to successful social media campaigns.
The Mobile Era
(2007 – 2010)
Fast forward to 2007. Apple had just released the first iPhone and it was a game changer. When Steve Jobs gave his legendary presentation of the iPhone, he said, “We’re bringing breakthrough software to a mobile device for the first time,” and explained that the Safari browser was “the first fully usable HTML browser on a phone”.
The iPhone was breaking the mold in more ways than one, as it did not support Flash. While there was no formal statement on this initially, Steve Jobs penned an extensive explanation in April 2010, entitled, “Thoughts on Flash”. Towards the end of the letter he states, “…the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.”
Apple’s decision undoubtedly influenced Flash’s gradual downturn and coming demise.
As the world turned towards mobile web experiences, responsive and mobile friendly design became a necessity. In 2010, web designer Ethan Marcotte published the article, “Responsive Web Design”, which outlined how to optimize content based on resolution or display size. Five years later, not only would having a responsive website improve your Google ranking, but Google would penalize you for having a non-responsive website.
Flat Design
(2010 to Present)
Over time, web design has adapted to user needs. The 2010s saw a shift from rich design (shadows, depth, colour gradients, textures, flashy animated gifs, etc.) to flat design (clean, minimalistic, bright colours, 2D icons, san-serif typography, etc.).
Prior to flat design, the skeuomorphic qualities in rich design had provided a “real-life” or 3D feel, but the added design complexity meant slower loading times and added busyness and noise to the page. The transition to flat design gave a distinctly “digital” feel and delivered a more clear and efficient user experience.
Both Microsoft and Apple pioneered the shift to flat design. Microsoft did so through Windows Media Center, and Apple transitioned with iOS 7. The change in design is best illustrated by comparing the app icon design of the iPhone 5 to iPhone 7.