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How has Web Development Evolved over the Years?

Author: Adam Mathewz
by Adam Mathewz
Posted: Jan 20, 2020

Web development has been one of the most prospective fields in the last decade. Even twenty years ago, it was a relatively new concept. But it has proliferated and changed so much in such a short time that quite often people argue whether it will soon become obsolete.

When websites first became popular, the philosophy was very different from what it is today. Extensive websites were considered as impressive. The more extensive a site is, the better. These websites were filled with images, videos and other elements to make them attractive. However, we do not see much of such websites today, which means there have been significant changes over time.

Here are some of the significant inventions in web development over the years: 1990: The first website is launched.

1992: The first Photoshop edited image is posted online. 1994: Netscape is launched and becomes the most popular browser in the world. 1995: JavaScript is introduced. 1997: ECMAScript, the language that was developed in only ten days gets standardised. 1999: Microsoft's invention of Ajax. It did not receive any acknowledgement from the developer community until six years of its development. JavaScript was already popular at the time, and Ajax slowly began to be used alongside JavaScript. 2004: Google releases Gmail for the first time. It was built on Ajax, and therefore it was highly responsive. It became widely popular in no time because its responsive nature was a new concept and caught the interest of a lot of people. 2005: YouTube comes in the market for the first time. The concept of online video was unknown to a lot of people, so it did not gain a lot of popularity in the first few years. 2006: John Resig invents jQuery programming language. It is one of the prominent languages today and is loved by developers. Resig is also considered as on the most influential developers today who revolutionised web development. 2007: Apple releases iphone for the first time. Around this time, the concept of cross-platform website and mobile-friendly development also comes in the scenario for the first time. 2008: Apple releases the now famous Apple Store. It opens a new avenue for developers who can now build and submit native application.2009: CoffeeScript is launched for the first time. It is developed as an alternative to JavaScript.2010: BackboneJS is developed. It becomes the first JavaScript framework to gain prominence. 2014: HTML5 and CSS3 revolutionise web development, and for the first time, we have modern web applications. 2016: ES6 becomes standardised. It is the next JavaScript version and pages the way for other languages.

With so much development and improvement, the demand for websites has increased drastically, and so has the philosophy that goes behind it. Also there has been a spike in demand to hire website developers. Human psychology has changed over time, and people no longer like to scroll through extensive websites. Too many features on a page are also no longer impressive or appealing.

Users now prefer to visit websites that are simple or minimalist. Aesthetically pleasing websites are also in trend. Users tend to come back to these sites where the interface is smooth, and interaction is given priority. Now we have web development frameworks that support all the features that make a site how it should be.

Web design has also emerged as an essential part of web development. It has helped to create a more personalised experience for users. Web development and web design combine to make websites that are more adaptive and accessible to people.

Previously, when website aesthetics first came to prioritised developers made sites that were pleasing or eye-catching. But quite often these websites were not accessible. Some of the commonly used features that made websites popular were: 1.Web pages divided into columns to separate information2.Use of graphic elements on the site 3.Scrolling marquees 4.Animated GIFs 5.Real-time visitor counts

With the development of CSS and other frameworks, developers can now make both accessibility and aesthetics a part of the design. The development of animations has also brought websites much closer to the people.

Today, even the process of web development has become easier and is accessible to more and more people. The craze for coding lead people to learn how to code, and this was crucial to developing a website. Now we have platforms like WordPress and SquareSpace that let people develop websites merely with the help of plugins and extensions. Coding is no longer essential, and developers can easily integrate coding with extensions to set up sites in half the time.

Developers and designer have to consider several additional factors to make a website stand out. Page load time and search engine optimization are two such crucial factors. While we already have a page less design, the page must also load quickly because users do not like to wait for a site to load when they need quick information or solution. A website must also be optimized for search engines so that it is visible to the users.

Website development has come a long way in only a few years. It still has immense potentials for major changes, and in this decade it is sure to go a long way. Also Read - Top web development frameworks for 2020.

About the Author

Adam Mathewz works as a Content Marketing Manager at Global Employees. Global Employees is a Offshore hiring solutions provider company. Global Employees let's you hire expert professionals for various technologies like web development, web designer,

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Author: Adam Mathewz

Adam Mathewz

Member since: Dec 09, 2019
Published articles: 15

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