The evolution of web design - 1990 - 2020

"The current architecture of Web design reflects the place of the Web in the digital age.

Web design today is nothing like it was in its early days in the late 1990s. A paradigm shift took place at the turn of the century, and while some people saw this as a positive evolution in web design, others bemoaned the disappearance of classic forms such as long-form content and the introduction of 'hand-made' websites.

A notable transition

The biggest change was probably the emergence of JavaScript. Given that HTML and CSS were originally written in the early 1990s, experience of using and accessing the tools available at the time meant that they were largely adapted to Microsoft's Windows operating system. In the 2000s, as the emergence of the web gave developers access to rich technologies to produce more fluid and intuitive websites, designers increasingly turned their attention to user experience: UX / UI design. In order to achieve a design that can be used on multiple devices, with small screens and slow internet speeds, developers have increasingly adopted functional web design practices that rely on JavaScript and AJAX technologies to extract relevant data and display it in a user-friendly way.

Javascript and Ajax

JavaScript, AJAX and their associated technologies were adopted and integrated into the design process, and the experience of browsing the Web changed radically: pages could now react "intelligently" to the user's action when clicking, hovering or even moving the mouse over an element!

Originally relatively static in design, the arrival of Javascript has encouraged web designers to incorporate interactive elements such as sliding navigation bars and/or contextual menus to give users quick access to the information they want.

The turn of the 20th century

A new concept began to take root at the beginning of the 21st century: the production of pages could require not only technological skills, but also graphic design experience. Since the late 1990s, CSS2 has become widespread, enabling the essential principle of separation between "appearance" and "matter". This gave page designers much greater control over the placement and appearance of any element.

Web designers eventually realised that too much content on one page or too much text in one uninterrupted block was a burden on the reader. They began to divide content into several pages, with navigation menus and tables. The landing page became increasingly important, often to the detriment of the content, which was reduced, but to the benefit of a smoother user experience.

The greater availability of fast connections, higher resolution monitors and faster computers has created (and continues to create!) new opportunities for web designers. The craze for animations and adaptive graphics is a case in point.