The Evolution of Design
Much like everything else in the world, web design and development evolves a lot more frequently then you think. Yes, I’m sure all you keep hearing is the emergence of xhtml and use of css, but in fact the evolution is much more than that. Throughout this article will be hitting up some old versions of two popular sites - Neowin and Sitepoint. We’ll compare their old designs and coding to their current day states, and how exactly they’ve changed with the times.
Let’s Start at the Core
In order to survive on the net, it’s important to update your strategies and techniques to modern day versions of the same thing. If not, chances are you’ll start to lose visitors as your site ages and you stay trapped in the past. Don’t believe that design and development really evolve? Think again.
Using the lovely Internet Wayback Machine, we’ll travel back in time to 2001 and explore some of the most successful and well known design and tech related sites.
Neowin - 2001
Neowin has long been known as an excellent portal destination containing all types of tech related news and exclusive features. In 2001 Neowin only covered tech news with portal articles and a forum. The site design was simple and bland, but was right in line with many of the other forum based portals on the net. Let’s take a look at the Neowin design in 2001:
Note: Some images are missing due to IWBM not having them on file.
A look at the source reveals tables.
Sitepoint - 2001
Sitepoint has been around for a good 5+ years as well. As a designer and developer resource, it’s always been important for them to be setting the tone for fellow designer and developers. Here’s what sitepoint looked like in 2001:
Their source code also includes tables as far as the eye can see.
Sitepoint looked pretty good, but did you notice the code for both Sitepoint and Neowin? Tables! And the problem is - well, there is no problem, because at the time, putting together complex layout sites using tables were leading the way for up and coming developers.
On the next page we’ll show you Neowin and Sitepoint today, and how they’ve changed their ways to keep up with today’s standards.
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I like the comparison to how the sites were designed yesteryear and today. Perhaps another good evolution of design would be CNET.
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I appreciate the theme and spirit of this article, but I wished that designers & developers would redirect their focus from their fixation with the underlying technologies, towards the part that the user cares about… the end product. I admit excessive use of tables overly complicates the internal page structure, slows load times, and can create maintenance headaches… but after looking at some the webs most successful sites (craigslist, myspace, ebay, amazon, youtube, etc.) it is obvious that their use doesn’t equal to a site’s failure. Ripping a site apart for this is like criticizing a painter for his choice of canvas. It’s time to start looking at the frontend & functionality again.