Based on Wikipedia, a design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb to design expresses the process of developing a design.
Design is the process of changing a concept, idea, or theory into a drawing, plan, specification, or model to achieve some objects. In other terms, it is the process of creating objects, vehicles, interactive systems, and buildings. It helps designers to improve the visual appearance and function of messages and information.
Now in 2021, the design has become the skin and beauty of the world, and you can see it in people’s lifestyles in different forms and shapes. Today, design is taking the world as fast as a storm and has become a must in the world. The 21st century is the design century, and people need to know about it in order to find lots of job opportunities. Nowadays, there are millions of design schools all over the world that can help you know everything you need to know about design.
Design is a complicated profession with lots of branches, tips, and tricks. One of these branches is Web Design which has its own characteristics, tricks, and difficulties.
What is Web Design?
Web design is the process of designing websites on the internet and usually focuses on the user experience (UX) design rather than software development. Web design works on the appearance, layout, and sometimes the content of the website. Better to know that before the mid-2010s, web design used to focus on desktop websites, but then it started designing websites for smartphones.
Based on Wikipedia, Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design, user interface design, authoring, including standardized code and proprietary software, user experience design, and search engine optimization (SEO).
History of Web Design
The world wide web era began with the development of CERN, the first website, in November 1992. This very first website was 100% text-based, and the only splash of color was the default blue hypertext.
In those days, the only way to add structure was through <table>, though it had so many limitations, and many of the early websites were basic.
Web designers used these tables to create site structure, but these structures were fragile and difficult to maintain.
Then in November 1993, just two years after the introduction of world wide web, ALIWEB ( Archie Like Indexing for the Web) was launched for business. ALIWEB is considered to be the first search engine providing users with links to the web’s best content. Its goal was to help users find helpful information by using a colored background that drew eyes to the most important content of websites.
Then we had the birth of the landing page with the launch of the MTV website, an early adopter of landing pages, in 1993. The study of MIT researcher Matthew Gray says that there were 623 websites by the end of 1993, and the internet and design were taking off.
In 1994, Hotwire, now known as Wired, added the world’s first banner ad into its website’s header. This web page had more design elements to engage the user than text.
Then in 1996, CNN presented an iconic web page, CNN’s 1996 year in review. It was a balanced website design with text, images, and ads. Also in this year, the number of websites grew from 25,300 to 257,601.
With the introduction of Flash, designers were able to create any shape, add animation, and develop more engaging websites for the first time. Flash changed the landscape of web design and gave a wast ability to web designers. But the problem was that not every web user had a Flash plugin and Flash sites took much more time to load.
In September 1998, Google Beta was launched and made the internet look more like the internet we see today.
With the growth of website users and the creation of speed issues, CSS or Cascading Style Sheets made a big revolution. It separated content and presentation by putting the content of the site in HTML and coding the style of the site in CSS.
By the launch and taking off of Paypal, the leading online payment company, in 1999 and 2000, the online economy has begun. This was also a golden year for web development as more and more businesses went online. By the start of online businesses, having a good-looking website became a desire for every big or small business
Then we have the launch of WordPress, the world’s leading content management system (CMS) in 2003. Approximately 2000 blogs installed WordPress as of May 2003, and as of January 2015, more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites use WordPress.
Then we have the launch of Facebook in 2004, but it was reserved only for college students and needed an EDU email address to get access.
Then in 2006, Facebook went public and changed social media. It gave a simple, consistent look throughout the network and was easy to use.
In June 2007, Apple showcased its brand and started the mobile revolution by introducing its first iPhone. Apple started the new era of web design with its smart and simple design.
With the growing online economy, businesses needed more fresh ways to interact with customers and attract leads. In 2014, marketers found a new way to advertise brands and businesses. They created inbound by offering advice and engaging prospects with their website.
Then in 2016, social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Youtube, and Pinterest have become popular and functioned as search engines like Google and Yahoo. This is also the year where the use of internal and external backlinks increased to help Google understand the website’s content and authority.
From then till now, web design has a great improvement, and every day is a new revolution in this era.
Web design is a wast branch of design with lots of details, tips, and tricks and needs great concentration to learn.
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