A world of change has come to web design since the first website was published over 20 years ago when websites were text-only. Here is a brief outline of the evolution of web design.
(Pixabay / nenadbnband)
In the early 90s, high-speed Internet connections were unheard of. People connected using dial-up modems. Web pages at this stage were built for slow connection speeds and consisted mainly of text. Design layout was still a distant dream. Subsequent improvements to HTML allowed for what were considered to be complex design capabilities, though by today’s standards they were still rudimentary.
The mid-90s was characterized by the evolution of web design in terms of appearance and structure. Table-based layouts allowed for greater creativity and flexibility. While animated .gif’s were a love affair, sites were still text-heavy, but they were divided into columns, rows, and other navigational elements.
The introduction of Flash in 1996 opened up possibilities that were not available with basic HTML.
Support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in the early 2000s allowed content to be separated from design, giving greater creative freedom to web designers and content developers. This period was the beginning of visitor-focused design, with important considerations to structure and navigation. The separation made website maintenance easier, more flexible, and faster to load.
Web 2.0 introduced interactive websites and was when the seeds of social media were planted.
Two decades after the first website was published, web design has become an indispensable component of marketing strategies. Web designers today enjoy all the advancements that have come along with the craft’s evolution. If you’re looking to update your website, web design companies in Salt Lake City’s greater area can help you make use of the most cutting edge features.
