How Web Design Has Changed in The Last 20 Years
The
first website was published in 1991. It was the creation of Tim Berners
Lee. Macromedia also introduced Flash in
1996. Dynamic design language PHP also gained a lot of popularity with the 1998
PHP release. But that’s about it for the 20th century. Let’s move on
to the 21st, when the foundation for web design as we know it was
laid.
In
the year 2000, Microsoft IE-5 became the first web browser to attain more than
99 percent support for CSS-1. The same year, JS was released by W3C and within
two years, all browsers were supporting it. In 2007-2008, mobile access ruled
the internet and web 2.0 was born. Now web design is primarily responsive and mobile first.
Close to 75% of cell phone users access the email or web from their device.
2004-2006
The
middle of the 2000s was when standard website layout and design we now apply
was born. Websites were designed with a left bar and top navigation categories.
This is because pages with a huge amount of text were not acceptable. Website
designers understand that browsers would be more interactive if the information
was categorised for these. Scrolling became unpopular as web pages shortened
and narrowed. Colours used were multiple, though monochrome and darker shades
were more popular.
Websites
were also written in Flash due to the fact that HTML was limited, Flash
permitted the designers a wider latitude of functioning HTML simply could not.
Flash met its end with the advent of the iPhone and iOS which was incompatible
with this Macromedia software. During this time, the first content management
systems came online, permitting website owners to edit content and make changes
to different aspects of the website.
2010-2015
It
was during this period that drop down menus became the norm on desktop
websites. Web design was more well known in terms of the colours selected and
everything on the colour spectrum being used carefully. Widespread design of
mobile-first sites and add on websites that were to be managed and designed
separately came about. Further magazine type layouts with narrow textured
columns rather than a single solid colour background gained in trendiness.
Infographics were also stressed on, using digital imagery to organize
information.
2016 Onwards
Over
the past few years, responsive websites have gained currency, as these change
as per the device on which they are viewed. This has replaced mobile site
phenomenon of 2010-2013 which is a massively important development. This
heralded the end of home pages with lengthy text. Additionally, there were
unconventional panels for navigation and massive rotating banners. Information
was broken into slides and preset in a more readable format with large sized
font headings and titles to stand out, in any browser type.
Additionally,
there is emphasis on large-sized, high resolution images described as an end of
the fluff that dominated the screens as recently as five years ago. Icons are
now everywhere as fonts have become flattened and websites are more
streamlined.
As
time passes, the aesthetic appeal of the site becomes as important as its
functionality. More simple, minimalist websites are on the scene within the
coming years. The web design story is a long and evolving one. With growing
complexity of technology, website design changes and businesses that want to
grow must simply keep up.