Web design in the 21st century

Web design has come a long way since it’s inception in the early nineties. It has been a long, eventful journey to get where it is today. In fact the whole story of web design has been about people power, demand and ingenuity that is probably beyond compare in the whole of human history.

The stone age of web design – tables

From the very beginning when html tables were invented to display numerical and mathematical data, web designers were hacking and distorting the code to create something that would be pleasing on the eye. Tables were never meant to contain images and display layouts, but the ingenuity of web designers produced some beautiful looking designs from these most basic of building materials.

The Bronze age of CSS

Then came the day when web design really opened up with the development of CSS. CSS was a godsend to web designers and allowed ways to design far beyond the constraints of html tables. Separate CSS style sheets were introduced to make site wide design changes a breeze. Search engines became quicker as code become cleaner and web design entered a new golden age.

Enlightenment

Of course web designers are never content with what they have. They need to continuously push the boundaries and evolve. Maybe this is a credit to the amount of competition there is in the web design industry. Always needing to keep one up on the competition pushes humans to find new and innovative ways to develop and grow.

The Renaissance – Javascript

JavaScript was the next star to shine in this unfolding theatre we call the World Wide Web. Programmers and designers merged together in symbiotic splendor to create tools and scripts that displayed websites in unimaginable ways. From navigation, to analogue clocks and countless other widgets and coding, JavaScript injected a surge of excitement and glamour into our web designs.

The Messiah – Flash

Then along came the real star of the show, Flash. Flash media has the capabilities to wow us beyond all reasonable expectations. It took a long time to come to the forefront, as the power of Flash is way beyond what dial up Internet connections could afford us. It took fibre optics and broadband connections to deliver us the full potential of Flash.

The Future is Today

Now here we are in the 21st century, with 50Mb, and even 100Mb Internet connections (and rising fast), and Flash is about to deliver us to the Promised Land. Web design has entered a whole new era, and websites are now, and soon to be even more, truly amazing.

Flash video has pushed the envelope even further and soon we can expect not just websites, but mini TV shows delivered to us via our web browsers. Speech recognition, glorious animation and high definition web video mean exciting times are ahead for web design in the 21st century. Compare the early days of Hollywood and the silent movies to the Technicolor wet dream of the Star Wars trilogy and you might get an idea of where the Web is heading. Strap yourselves in, make yourselves comfortable, share a big bag of popcorn, and prepare to be amazed!

Thank you for reading