The start of a new year has seen many people looking back through their diaries and reminiscing on a year gone by. This got a few of us here at Hypergurl chatting about some of the most memorable times in the history of the Internet that has made web design possible.
WWW started in 1991 with browsers that only supported text. Not long after in 1993 a browser called Mosaic started to gain popularity due to its support of images. Netscape 1 followed in 1994. Netscape was the first browser to support the "center" tag. In 1996 Netscape 2 supported javascript and frames followed by Netscape 3 a few month later which supported mouseovers. On the other hand, Internet Explorer 3 in 1996 did not support mouseovers. However Internet Explorer 3 was the first to support css. It was also the first free browser as up until this time Netscape still charged a fee their software. Over the years there was a battle between Netscape and Internet Explorer, each version supporting different design methods. This was frustrating for many web designs who needed websites to look exactly the same no matter what browser their visitor was using. This is still a problem today. For example, some javascripts will work in one browser and not another. Another example, is how Netscape and Internet Explorer both have their own unique standards for DHTML. These standards often clash with their own earlier browser versions.
A couple of other important times in the history of web design include:
1994 The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) started important work on developing web standards. It's mission includes: To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.
1995 found Java and Javascript being announced to the world.
1996 saw the introduction of Flash. Originally it was called FutureSplash until it was aquired by Macromedia. FutureSplash was first used to create an online website for the Simpsons television show. In 2005 Abobe aquired Macromedia products. Hence, it's now called Adobe Flash.
Makes you wonder what the future will bring doesn't it? One things for sure, in twenty years time we will most likely be using technology that hasn't yet been thought of.
 | Want to learn more about designing a website or improving an existing one? Subscribe to Website Design Tips today for free. |
Comments (1)
WOW!!! That has just highlightened me on a few things I had not known such as the WWW only starting in 1991...that makes it only 17 years old. That's an interesting fact to remember.
It's great to read about other interesting facts also to give you an insight of were it all began.
The possabilities are endless in regards to the WWW and our tech growing future.
Posted by Bindi | January 4, 2007 7:45 AM
Posted on January 4, 2007 07:45