The history of web design is fairly recent; however its impact is seen from a technological standpoint linking it other tech areas such as graphic design and user interface. In the two decades or so since the Web made its debut, it has greatly impacted everyday lives; can you imagine the Internet without graphics, music and interactive language?Autumn Yan sad-alisamma

In the early 1980s, Tim Berners-Lee, an independent contractor employed with CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research came up with the idea of a project based on a concept known as 'hypertext' - the term 'hypertext' refers to the display of text on a computer screen or any other electronic device with linked references to further text that can be revealed level by level progressively depending upon the readers requirement - which would facilitate information to be updated and shared among colleagues and fellow workers. The prototype he made was called 'Enquire'. A moderately successful user experience followed and opened the door to a world of opportunities.暗戀是傷心的童話

In 1989, Berners-Lee seized the opportunity of merging hypertext with Internet; lo and behold, the Worldwide Web came into existence although it took a further two to three years before viewing of information or web pages was made possible by a line-mode browser.

In 1996, Microsoft came up with its first browser, a competitive usability tool with its own tags and features. The world woke up to terms like HTML mark-up, plug-ins, widgets, midgets, motion graphics and many, many more.有夢就有藍天

The Browser wars

Intense competition between Netscape and Microsoft peaked during the 1990s. Open Source Licenses allowed thousands of web developers to write codes to improve software programs creating the Web Standards Project and browser compliance with HTML and CSS standards. In 2000, when Microsoft came up with Internet Explorer, it was the world's first to have standards compliance supporting HTML 4.01 and the PNG Image Format. Around this time, AOL bought over Netscape Navigator and Microsoft has had virtual monopoly ever since.最浪漫的事

The New Era

The 21st century brought in significant changes in web usage and the way people utilized the web; more user friendly capabilities have modified the way websites are designed today. The end of the 'browser war' brought new elements into focus. Open Source Software that is more adaptable and suitable to the new standards makes development faster and these new options are increasingly being considered to be better in some aspects than Internet Explorer.無處不樂

Job opportunities

The two primary job categories involved in website creation are Web Designer and Web Developer. The job specifications for each vary between organizations and the functions that are required; overall, designing and programming responsibilities include coloring, content, layout, typography, along with knowledge of programming languages like CSS, Flash, HTML, JavaScript, PHP and others.