Web Design – An Insight

Ever since its inception in the 1990s, the art of designing a web page has come a long way. It initially started off with hard-core geeks coding away massive HTML files in Notepad, and eventually gave way to WYSIWYG editors like FrontPage and Dream weaver in the mid 90s. In this decade, however, this form of art has seen a move more towards its roots, with HTML editors replacing WYSIWYG ones, and traditional design becoming more mainstream in enhancing a web page.

The web was once the playground for the rich. Now it has been thrown open in recent years to anyone and everyone with a working computer. During the 1990’s it used to cost someone over thousands of dollars to start, design and operate a working website.

But in contemporary times it costs around a few hundred dollars, and at times not even that much. With the tumbling price of entry into the web, innovation has come pouring in into this still new medium of art and expression.

While in the 1990s, only a handful of geeks could code complex websites in the still nascent HTML language, using tables for design, recent work has opened up the field and handed web authors powerful tools to express themselves. Cost does not seem to be a significant barrier anymore. Artists of all kinds and discipline have come pouring into the web, bringing with them their art and creativity. In recent years the Web has become a melting pot of art, design, and cutting edge technology, and the results are clearly showing. The Internet is swarmed with innumerable websites of top quality design and interactive interfaces that instantly attracts users.

With the beginning of the new century, what emerged was the need for greater interactivity in a web page. Users are no longer content with just clicking links on websites and letting the webmasters guide them through it. They want a greater control of the whole thing. Users are constantly looking for an interactive, impressive experience that brings them closer to the site, and makes them enjoy it. It is all about how the user relates to a website.

Through the advent of Flash media, and also with the integration of audio, video and other forms of moving art media, the web has successfully transformed itself into an engrossing medium. The Web now transports users into a completely different world and makes web surfacing an enjoyable experience.
Web: The early days

Since its inception in 1989 by English Physicist Tim Berners-Lee, the World Wide Web, now commonly referred to as the Internet, has been a place where expenses mattered. Back then modems were costlier than computers, and computers costlier than we can possibly imagine today! The web was a restricted place, available to the select few, rich enough to afford a computer and a modem. And the speeds connecting to the web, of course was extremely slow. A mere 2kbps modem line was considered a luxury in those days. So it is not hard to believe that most (the handful that were) websites were mainly text only, catering to slow speeds, and with limited graphical element in them.

The first graphics capable browser did not come on until 1993. From then on, slowly and steadily, small graphical elements were introduced. Web Design was, at that time, just a way to display the text on the page more pleasingly to the users. Without WYSWYG editors, the development of websites and the maintenance of them was the domain of a few skilled developers, capable of hand coding HTML pages in Notepad, or some other text editors.

Gradually with the introduction of slightly faster modems, and the falling of prices of modems and computers in the mid to late 90s, the web started becoming more accessible and was not a stronghold of a selected few. With such rapid developments, came tools such as Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dream weaver. Then appeared a revelation in the field of web design, and with that came up browsers like Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. They were designed to handle images and texts with panache.

Website design started to be taken more seriously, with people using “tables” to spread out web pages and display them properly and in accordance with some design principles. It was not until the advent of “broadband” and it’s entry into the worldwide market that the web began to emerge as something greater than just a collection of images and text into something more profound and complex.

The changing and developing face of the web.
Web design, as something more than merely the process of having text and images laid out, did not occur till the advent of broadband. In the early days of broadband, web authors suddenly came to realize that a lot more power had been handed over to them and that they could now transfer more data to serve each web page. With this realization, the web took its next big leap with the start of using images as more than just aides for the text. Images were now being used as helpers in designing a website, with actual design precipitating from mainstream media.

In the mean time, Macromedia had also released Flash which had previously been used to provide a slightly more graphical version of the website, if, albeit at the cost of time taken to load the site. With broadband, Flash really hit the mainstream, and designers used it to create more and more interactive web sites. Flash was suddenly everywhere on the web, and with Flash enabled browsers, web sites were able to incorporate more graphics rich web sites which catered to their users.

With the access of broadband, even normal HTML started to grow and evolve. And with CSS version 2, a new way to style and design web pages were born. This allowed web designers a better opportunity to design more and more complex websites with an entire library of layout techniques came up at their disposal, and with images now firmly being used as aides in design. HTML also expanded itself to support video and audio, and together with Flash, formed the foundation of what was to become the design form of the new century.

With the breakthrough innovation of a communication system like the Internet, what emerged for website designing was phenomenal. Based on a brilliant principle of interconnectivity of computer networks worldwide, the Internet became an indispensable tool in the modern day and age. The gradual emergence of the Internet as such a powerful device was crucial in defining and shaping the process of website designing.

What attracted many of the designers to innovate and come up with groundbreaking ideas was a quick and effective system by which everyone remained interconnected. From the 1990’s onwards the Internet became more accessible to the public, the World Wide Web and its plethora of millions of websites created an immediate demand for website designing.

Website designing is to a great extent about the aesthetic aspect. This aspect received a considerable impetus with the emergence of Adobe Photoshop. This graphic editing software created ripples in the world of computer technology and today everything related to visual design is usually always associated with Photoshop. What began as the brainchild of Thomas Knoll, carried forward by his brother John Knoll became new age phenomena for the world of visual art. Still considered the best graphic editing software, despite its quite steep price tag, Photoshop made things relatively easier for web designers.

No discussion on the evolution of website designing can possibly be complete without the mention of Adobe Fireworks also referred to as Fw. Adobe Fireworks gradually became an absolute essential when working on vector editing. Fireworks came fully loaded with a hoard of special features that made web designers sit up and take notice. While there is some skepticism over the use of Fireworks by devoted followers of Photoshop, it is difficult for anyone well versed with the process of web designing, to not appreciate its specialty in the field of vector editing.

With developments of such epic proportions in the field of computer technology it became more and more apparent to companies all over the world that the World Wide Web could be used as an exceptionally powerful medium to showcase their products. There came about a mad rush for setting up all kinds of websites, what emerged was a whole range of ideas that could be molded into creating stunning websites.

Like advertisements that have become an essential feature for marketing products, the Web has become a powerful tool where ideas can be sold and bought in seconds. Companies from across the world realized that a website can become their identity, their way of reaching out to millions all over the world. Soon enough there was a shift of emphasis to website designing.

Pros in the business keep harping that a website is nothing like an advertisement although it is wrongly conceived so. They are right because even though a website is a powerful marketing advice it has a lot more to it than a mere marketing strategy. When website designers recognized this factor they come up with faster and better innovative ideas to take designing to a whole new level. As the best minds got to work what emerged was a distinct division of websites that relied heavily on its textual content and those that valued its graphic content. Most designing honchos today still believe that too much graphics and flashy images are difficult on the eye. While many prefer a simple style of design, with effective backgrounds and crisp content, there are a host of websites with little information but a lot of flashy image and content.

Going back to basics has become the new mantra with more and more people preferring to hand code their website in HTML. The process of development of website designing has been extremely enriching. People learnt from their mistakes and were ready to acknowledge the loopholes in their work.

The extensive spread of fast immerging websites gave designers ideas on what works and what does not. It was soon established that a website must speak to its reader. That it is much more than just a virtual experience. Designers began to realize the importance of incorporating some simple but workable aspects into their design. They got rid of too much cluttering and crowding; well-spaced sites that are not over crowded are examples of websites that work. For a long time now, website designers have been harping on the need to create proper navigation systems on websites.

The best in the business keep saying, make your websites user-friendly, for, that is the key to a successful website design. Earlier websites often packed in too much information and the user was left confused about the purpose of the website. If it takes a person too long to figure out the purpose of a website, chances are the website designer’s career is heading for a major crash.

Today a beginner in the world of website designing can find a multitude of links, tips, blog posts, and advice on what is right and what is wrong in the art of designing a website. While it might be extremely difficult to get it perfectly right at the very start, quick online guides can prove to be effective in taking the first few steps to launching a website.

After plenty of debates and discussions on what to do and what not, a more or less common consensus has evolved over the last few years on the basic principles to follow while designing a website. It seems that it has become essential to keep a website simple. Pop-up windows and flashy animated images flying around randomly in a web page have been recognized as common nuisance.

A lot of importance has been placed on the Typography aspect of web design. How important can the font of a website possibly be? Extremely. It is a single most important feature in web designing that can make or break your site’s appeal. It seems that pros at work keep harping on the importance of using content that matters and dispelling with useless extra information that only confuses the readers. Not only does the font matter, its size and color are important aspects that need to be looked into. A clean, well-organized layout has been recognized as key factor in making websites successful and an instant hit with the average web surfer.

Impact of Social Networking on Web Design

Apart from technological developments another important 21st century emergence that has created an important impact on web design would certainly have to be the growth of social networking sites. Social networking is a new phenomena, that has helped increase communication between people from everywhere and helped individuals benefit from the process personally and professionally. Social networking sites aim at roping in individuals who can create public or semi public profiles and use the site as a platform for developing their work or strengthening personal relationships. Facebook, Orkut, MySpace and Bebo are just some examples of an online trend that has suddenly taken the world by storm.

The sudden rage of social networking led to the development of websites that began to be specifically designed to cater to groups of people who were looking for user friendly sites that could help to guide their networking ability in the right direction. A whole new generation of website designers came up with ideas that worked and designs that were built to become a hit. One of the most popular would have to be the photo management website Flickr.com that has become an example to aspiring designers all over to keep website design effective, simple and usable.

With millions of users working on their profiles everyday, social networking sites must be custom made to work twenty-four into seven. Frequent changes in the web design are also another healthy way by which social networking sites keep a hold on their subscribers.

Not only do social networking sites need designs that are attractive, but also those that work to deliver. Most of the networking sites enable their users to keep numerous friends, to display their profile publicly or otherwise, carry on a systemized mode of communication with their contacts, while have their privacy maintained and security guaranteed. The integration of so many features within a website obviously and without a doubt requires carefully planning and unique concepts of design. Its not easy being Mark Zuckerberg, obviously one has to have real talent to create such an online rage in the world of networking.

From the initial inception of what is considered to be the beginning of social networking site, which was called SixDegrees, social networking has certainly come an extremely long way. With the launch of MySpace in 2003 a new era of social networking had started. It appears that while expanding their hold everywhere these social networking sites experienced some difficulty, as it still does, often getting banned in some countries. However much credit must be attributed to the innovative designs of such social networking sites, which has opened up several new vistas for expanding work in the field of web design. Social networking most certainly created an extensive demand for a plethora of web pages that had to carefully designed and implemented to create websites that appeal to the masses.

Interacting with a Website
The gradual evolution of website designing has gone into making the website as something more than just a page on the Internet. The website can almost be described as a living, breathing aspect of everyday life. People use websites for all sorts of reasons. It is the fastest way to buy and sell ideas, and conceptions, to reach out to a large group of people or to just bring about change in a society that constantly wants something new. It can be safely said that a website, or the Internet, has become an integral aspect of our life. What makes the website work is its design. Therefore it can be considered to be an art form that needs mastery over a variety of skills. A website designer must be able to visualize, he has to be creative and ready to take risks that can turn into achievements, he must have more than just mere technical skill. A web designer is a package of several qualities, all put into one. He must create, design, visualize and implement. It is most certainly not an easy task, and there are so many points to keep in mind that it can become complicated.

However, website designing is not something to be feared. Over the last few years of it’s evolving, a lot of factors have become obvious to the ordinary designer. There are hundreds of tips and tricks to choose from, to perfect the design. And everyday new tools and features are being launched and introduced to make the designer’s work easier but more challenging. This is possibly the best aspect of design, it constantly challenges but the end result is undoubtedly very gratifying.

With technology and opportunity today, almost anyone and everyone can take the initial baby steps into setting up their own design, but the work requires dedication. What helps possibly, is the long process of development that website designing has seen over the last few years. Landmarks in its history as well as failures can go an extremely long way in teaching a website designer a lesson on the pros and cons of making decisions or taking risks with their design. With a brilliant line up of designers dedicated to the cause of enhancing the experience and process of website designing, it can be hoped that this form of design has a bright future ahead and has a long way to go.

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