How has web design evolved in recent years?

Have you ever thought about how web design has evolved in recent times? In the world of technology, everything was constantly updated and renewed. And web design and development were no exception.

Since the first websites were created in the 1990s, web designers have been using different methods to change the way websites are viewed and used. Early website designs included mostly text and very few images. Also, they didn’t have an overly complex design aside from headings and paragraphs.

If you are interested in creating web pages and would like to take a tour of its different stages of evolution, be sure to read this article.

First, we’ll look at the definition of web design, then we’ll go through some of its key eras and end with some of the most successful web design trends. We will tell you about some important milestones that you probably did not know or did not remember! let’s get started

What is web design?

Web design is the visible and creative configuration of a site, taking into account the user experience and the brand image or the characteristics of the project in question.

Colors, typography, interactive components, and images are some of the elements used in web design.

According to a report published by Cliento, “48% of users have stated that the web design of a site is the first factor that determines credibility.” Therefore, if you want to dedicate yourself to this area, it is important that you know everything about web design.

History of web design

Web design has its origins in 1989, while an English scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, was working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

This scientist proposed a project that was supported by hypertext to facilitate communication between researchers. Thus, he and his team created the HTML language, the HTTP protocol and the object location system on the URL web.

What happened next was something that revolutionized the technology of that time: the World Wide Web was born. Thus, in 1992, websites began to be designed based on tables, which made it possible to organize the elements.

How has web design evolved in recent years?

Fortunately, from the creation of websites with tables, everything has evolved to the websites we know today. Let’s see!

Web design in 1990

With the appearance of JavaScript in 1995, some HTML problems began to be solved, and it was there that web design began to gain dynamism.

Then Macromedia Flash was released, promising a wide range of creative and animated options for designers.

In 1998, the PHP programming language appeared, as well as CSS, which allowed the creation of much more dynamic websites, while minimizing loading times. Thus, it was possible to stop using tables in web design, allowing more and better things to be done, with much less code.

Web design in 2000

Due to the increased speed of the internet in the early 2000s, a great emphasis was placed on new and innovative software and hardware solutions that contribute to web design.

2003 would be key in the history of web design: Facebook was born, which would completely revolutionize the concept of social networks, and WordPress, which would drive more than 35% of the websites on the internet by 2020.

Web design in 2010

Another important milestone would happen a few years later: the arrival of smartphones in the 2000s and their popularization in 2010. This introduced a new concept to marketing research: responsive web design.

By then and ever since, designers were already surrounded by high-end software, quality hardware, and loads of design tools, which allowed them to finally refine the style of a website like never before.

Web design in 2020

Over the last few years, responsive web design has taken center stage when creating websites. This is based on the number of mobile users in the world who use a mobile device to access the Internet.

In this context, the context of Mobile First gains strength: it refers to the creation of a website that “is first thought and made for mobile devices and then adapted for desktop”, according to Hostgator.

In addition, increasing browser support for CSS3 and HTML5 has allowed web designers to produce high-quality content.

Main web design trends

Now that you know what web design is and how it has evolved over the years, how about we briefly review the main trends in web design today? Take note:

• simple and direct text
• vintage aesthetic
• Glasmorphism and neomorphic
• 3D elements
• dark mode
• Split screen sites
• interactive scroll
• Large, interactive fonts