Website History and Revolutions

A website is a collection of web pages which are documents written in HTML that are accessible over the web. All website that are available for public or private use exist on www or World Wide Web. Every webpage has a unique web address called page URL.

A website can be dedicated to an individual, a business or an organization or to a particular topic or purpose. Websites have come a long way from being a static webpage to an interactive, robust and design superior web pages. Due to the evolution of web 2.0, website are now more dynamic than ever. In earlier websites, the users could only browse through web pages and get desired information. But today, users can share data, promote and sell their products and much more.

Evolution of websites

In the beginning the websites were created as static HTML webpages which only allowed one way transfer of information which was from website to visitors as they can only read the pages and get the information they were looking for.

Introduction of scripting languages like PHP and Perl etc was a revolution. The webpages transformed from static to being dynamic and allowed user interaction. Now the users can communicate with web servers. Scripting enabled reproduction of common elements of web pages like header, footer and navigation which can be modified easily even for thousands of pages. Creating web pages in this way was becoming a bit cumbersome as the websites grew and became more complex and oriented. The content and presentation were so fused together that modification in one required modification in the other. Advent of CMS Development or Content Management Systems gave un-parallel edge to web development. CMS is an application for managing, organizing, editing and publishing web content. Using CMS even a user with little or less technical knowledge can change the content and even the presentation of the website.

Nowadays, there are a number of advanced tools at the disposal of web developers that enable them to create websites that implement interactive portfolios, motion graphics, multimedia and much more to make the website engaging for the visitors.

These days, the websites developed also focus on the portable devices such as smart phones and tablets. This has ridden the visitors of the need to use a computer to visit the websites as they can access the websites through their handhelds and this enhancement has provided an edge to the websites for their promotion.

However, there is no specific standard that dictates to the web designers to design the website in a particular way. The web designers are free to design the website however they see fit and using whatever technology and tools they have or are good at. They just focus on the objective that the website should fulfill the purpose intended.