How the web started

The internet that we know now isn’t what was planned to be when it was first conceived. Tim Berners-Lee, a young software engineer at a particle physics laboratory in Switzerland called CERN, saw that scientists from all over the world who uses the company’s accelerators struggle hard to share information. He saw the dire need to create a language that will be understood by all, accessible anytime, anywhere in the world. He later found himself creating the foundation of what we know now as the Internet.

By the end of 1990, Berners-Lee had created the very first web browser and web server. In 1991, Berners-Lee selflessly released the breakthrough out of his hands, and into the world, making it available to everyone on a royalty-free basis, forever.

Internet has evolved since then. With the creation of the World Wide Web Consortium in 1994, web standards were established, making web development and online experience consistent and enjoyable. Among these standards include the three foundation of the modern-day web: HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

The building blocks of web development

Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) was first conceived in 1990 as the building blocks of all websites. They are a series of codes that generate web contents in its raw form. It was created by Tim Berners-Lee and was improved continuously by World Wide Consortium (W3C). HTML versions 1-4 were created all throughout the 90s. In 2004, Web Hypertext Application Technology (WHATWG) was created to further improve HTML. In favor of the cause, major web browsers gave support to the working group as the web evolves to a more dynamic environment. In 2008, WHATWG released the draft for HTML 5. Six years later, the official HTML 5 recommendation was released by W3C, who took over its development in 2012.

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), the language that styles HTML codes, was not utilized until 1994. Berner-Lee’s team did not think of styling HTML as they were more concerned on using web as its employee’s directory. Instead, different developers conceived of this breakthrough, the most notable was the one created by Håkon Wium Lie from Norway. In its early formation in 1996, users can create simple design modifications such as changing the font style and color. This later improved with CSS 2. Its latest version is CSS 3 which was completed in 1999. This improvement gave developers full control over the web page’s design and visual appearance while making sure that the pages will load as fast as possible an all browsers.

Despite of HTML and CSS creating a big impact on web technology in the early 90s, developers felt that these improvements were not enough. Netscape Communications Corporation, the creator of the first commercial-like browser, saw the need to make web pages dynamic and interactive for users, hence, the creation of JavaScript. Along with Sun Microsystems (the creator of Java, a language application for creating smart applications), Netscape launched JavaScript to the world in 1995. Since then, JavaScript has been the most popular scripting language for the web.

Looking forward to the future

Front-end development has been a work in progress since the day it started. But unlike the old days, it has evolved in ways that allowed web developers to create complex designs using emerging libraries and frameworks. The web standards were also improved with semantic elements being the most important feature of HTML 5. Because of these standards and improvements, the world wide web, once a lawless environment, now becomes more regulated with rules that guide front-end developers to create web pages that will work on all platforms and browsers. In addition, digital product users have drastically changed over the years. Consumers are becoming more and more intolerant of slow, and complicated websites. They are more driven into a much simpler interface, with the desire of getting what they want real time. This is called intuitive design. Web experts think that, more than a trend in web development, intuitive design is the direction, the future of front-end development.

Conclusion

Web development has evolved tremendously from its creation in the early 90s. Web technologies have been emerging non-stop to meet the industry and consumer expectations, especially at this day and age where users desire faster and improved web experience. Thus, addressing the core users’ needs and desires is important in creating a user-centric web experience.

References

https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/

https://www.fasthosts.co.uk/blog/websites/look-back-html5

https://hackr.io/blog/difference-between-css-css2-and-css3

https://blog.bitsrc.io/a-brief-history-of-javascript-from-netscape-to-frameworks-74bf4774eeef

https://dzone.com/articles/the-past-and-future-of-front-end-development

UX Principles to bear in mind for creating the best online user experience

Over the years, the concept of a good web design has changed as web designers understand the importance of a pleasant online experience for their users. They have learned that the best website is not just about the aesthetic value of the webpage, but the simplicity and functionality of the entire web experience.

There are a number of principles that need to be considered to craft the best website and they all center in creating the best online experience for the users.

Know Your Users

Knowing and understanding your users is the first step to building a great website. It is important to have a deep knowledge of the users demographics, socioeconomic status, and educational background in creating the design elements as these are factors that affect the way they interact with the whole website. After all, the website is built for them, and so, their online needs and wants are paramount in creating the entire experience.

More importantly, the audience needs to have an emotional connection to the website. This is essential in order to create a deeper, more personal user experience. This can be done through careful selection of imagery, color palette, and interactive elements.

Creating a user-centric design means to involve users in each phase of the design process in order to create a product that is accessible and usable for them. It involves, not only creating a pleasing aesthetic lay-out, but carrying out an extensive research through investigative methods to understand the users’ needs. More than being user-centric, the design should also be goal directed. A goal directed design is one that focuses on the user’s behavior, past the product’s technical requirements, to create an experience that is meaningful and useful for the users. Putting both concepts together, a good digital product should be user centric and goal directed. More than its aesthetic value, the users need to grasp its significance and usability, otherwise, the product is not serving its purpose. Theories of interaction suggest that in order to build an interactive product, system, or services, the designer needs to consider the way the user thinks and make decisions, as well as the factors that elicit positive emotions (affective interaction).

Familiarity vs. Creativity

There is psychology behind crafting a website and it is dominantly related to a phenomenon called Mental Modes. As users jump from one website to another, they create a familiar interface in their minds which is retained to aid in convention. While this is vital to create a hassle free user experience, some creatives think that it ‘kills creativity’.

Therefore, a UX designer should find balance between user familiarity and creativity. Designers should be smart in using creative elements to establish emotional connection between the users and the website, but convention should not be sacrificed. Oftentimes, we possess a strong desire to channel our creative skills, adding elements one after the other so much so that we lose track of what our users feel and need. On the other hand, familiar elements without creativity is bland and boring.

Effective Landing Page using a minimalist approach

A website's landing page is described as a one-page website that propels users to visit for the purpose of directing the website's traffic. Companies use landing pages to highlight a specific product, service, or feature. Landing pages prove to be one of the most effective tools to boost a company's marketing online.

As a designer and artist, I always find that a simple and minimalist approach to a design project never goes wrong. I particularly like a landing page that uses a minimal design approach as it sends the message and purpose of the website directly to the users.

Over the years, designers have drifted away from the cluttered design approach to a more simple, straightforward design aesthetic. The use of meaningless complicated navigation systems, fancy backgrounds, and unnecessary features have been scratched off and reduced to its most basic form to aid on user satisfaction and ease of use, which has ultimately been the goal of designers, especially those that focus on UX/UI.

I have visited a few website with minimal landing pages and noticed that all of them has one purpose - to subscribe to or avail of a specific service. And, as simple as they look, I discern that all of the details have been carefully planned out and selected to create a specific feel and mood. One element either compliments or contrasts the other, which when put together, creates a bigger cohesive picture. This interesting mix drives users to avail of whatever service the website offers.

If we deconstruct a minimalist landing page, it goes down to three major elements: primary action, product/service overview, and alternative action. Webfx.com stressed out that to bring emphasis to these elements, designers must keep in mind the importance of visual hierarchy, effective use of color and typography, and minimal use of textual content.

Visual hierarchy refers to the strategic arrangement of contents in a way that the most important element is seen first. This can include the description of the service or the call to action buttons which when clicked, routes the user straight to the actual service.

Use of colors and fonts are also an integral to creating a minimalist design. For example, there are a strategic and universal way of using colors for call to action buttons - green is used for primary buttons, while blue is used for secondary ones. On the other hand, fonts and their size variation draw users eye and attention to the site's points of interests, which is essential on highlighting information to users.

Lastly, users patience in reading information can be short and so, textual elements have to be kept to a minimum. Information should be straightforward and direct.

In summary, landing pages have to be goal-centered. Apart from its sophisticated value, the use of minimalism in creating landing pages not only elevates the aesthetic appeal of the page, but it has proven to attract more users and thus, boosts the overall value of the product.