Web Design Basics

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The Web is all about the exchange of information for both human and machine.

To understand web design as it is today, you must first have a basic understanding of where the Web came from and what it is.

Let's begin with:

Design 101

Who Invented the World Wide Web (WWW)?
Tim Berners-Lee (TimBL) was the guy who wrote the original proposal as well as the software that started the World Wide Web. He also wrote the first web browser and web server. I recommend a look at "A Little History Of The World Wide Web". For a wider spectrum of information, try a search on "Who Invented The Word Wide Web?", Oh, and he's currently the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
The concept of "what the Web is" started around 1930 with Vannevar Bush's "Memex" project.
I highly recommend a peek at "Internet Pioneers", by Scott Griffin. Scott covers both the development of the Internet and the Web. He includes great in-depth information on what he refers to as "ten individuals whose work has contributed significantly to the development of the Internet".
And finally, Tim BL's presentation "How It All Started", given at the W3C10 Celebration in December of 2004.
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What exactly is the World Wide Web?
Here... take a look at one of the original descriptions "About The World Wide Web", published in 1992 just before the WWW started to change the world! Go ahead, don't be afraid - it is in plain English.
For some heavier reading into the concept, try Vannevar's 1945 publication "As We May Think". There is an eerie resemblance of the desktop computer in Section 6.
For what the Web is today, grab several large caffeinated beverages, schedule a two week vacation - and see www.W3C.org!
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What was the first web page?
Straight from Tim Berners-Lee's Reference, coincidently the first public web page was titled "World Wide Web" and was designed at the end of 1990! It's important to note that the actual first web page was located on Tim's computer and designed when he was developing the World Wide Web Project.
Want to get technical? If one was to think to a time before the Internet, one could debate that the first "Web Page" was with the advent of Vannevar's Memex for microfiche ... or, Douglas Engelbart's On-Line System (NLS).
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What was the first Web browser?
It was developed in 1990, yes, by Tim, and it was called "WorldWideWeb". Be sure to take a look at the photos (screen-shots), my favorite! Has the Web, as you think you know it, accomplished its goal?
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What is HTML?
HT is the first basic idea of HTML, "Hypertext", which is the ability to create "links" from one piece of information to the next, and back. The way hypertext works today was invented by Tim Berners-Lee. However, it was not the first time hypertext was used in an electronic medium.
ref: "A Little History Of The WWW"
ML is Markup Language, which could be said to have started at the dawn of printing. However, the Web's Markup Language is based on SGML.
ref: "A Gentle Introduction to SGML"
The language of HTML was, and still is today, the basic foundation of Web Design. However, the original concept of hypertext was thought of by Vannevar Bush , around 1930. Vannevar wanted to apply "hyperlinks" between documents in microfiche. He referred to it as "rapid selection between banks of microfilm".
The above is only a very condensed explanation of HTML! If you want to get serious about good web design then you have to start with some very basic, but technical, information about SGML: Note: you don't need a degree in SGML to build your first web page (hypertext document).
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Basic Style - A Web Design Prerequisite
Ok, now that you have a fair understanding of Web History, you're ready to purchase the latest Web Design program. Right? Wrong! There's this little prerequisite called "Style Guide For Online Hypertext", published in 1992 and written by Tim Berners-Lee himself. While this document was written at the dawn of the Web, most of its concepts still apply today and is a must before getting into modern HTML concepts.
You'll then want to peruse another archive called, "Putting Information On The Web"
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Pub: 2005.03.01 - Document Status: Working Draft 1.11
Last Revised: 2007.02.28

This document is a working draft and considered incomplete. More resources are forthcoming and will be added over time.

Valid HTML 4.01! Valid CSS!

For now, I hope this document helps you on your journey to better understand the concepts of the World Wide Web.
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World Wide Web History

Table Of Contents

"With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain." -Vannevar Bush
- As We May Think Sec.6 - The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945

"The basic ideas of the Web is that an information space through which people can communicate, but communicate in a special way: communicate by sharing their knowledge in a pool. The idea was not just that it should be a big browsing medium. The idea was that everybody would be putting their ideas in, as well as taking them out. This is not supposed to be a glorified television channel." --Tim Berners-Lee; LCS 35th Anniversary celebrations, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1999/April/14

"...web standards are about a lot more than validation. Web standards are about all the processes involved in publishing information over IP." --Mike Davidson "March to Your Own Standard - 2004/June/12"

Web History Facts

  1. 1930: Vannevar Bush conceives the concept of "hypertext", called Memex.
  2. 1945: Vannevar publishes the concept "As We May Think". The description of the Memex is in Section 6.
  3. 1960: J.C.R. Licklider publishes "Man Computer Symbiosis" setting the stage for the Internet. 3
  4. 1960: Doug Engelbart begins his protoype version of hypertext.
  5. Doug Englebart invents the Mouse to aid in what we now know as web browsing.
  6. 1962: Douglas Engelbart publishes "Augmenting Human Intellect".
  7. 1965: Ted Nelson coined the term "hypertext".
  8. 1968: Douglas Englebart demonstrates Online System (NLS). 1
  9. 1980: Tim Berners-Lee's builds his first hypertext system. It was called Enquire and he used it for his personal record of people and modules.
  10. 1989: Tim Berners-Lee writes the first proposal to CERN for the idea of the World Wide Web. He was told to note it "Vague - But Exciting".
  11. 1990: Tim BL begins development on the first Web browser. 2
  12. 1992: Marc Andreesen and Eric Bina developed "Mosaic" making hypertext (the link) user friendly as you know it today. Mosaic later became know as Netscape - now owned by America Online (AOL).

More Web Facts at Wikipedia!

Tim Berners-Lee's First Web BrowserPhoto of Tim Berner's Lee's First Web Browser

Obtained from Tim Berners-Lee's Q&A's

Why I wrote this document...

I do not claim rights over the information contained in this document. If you gain a piece of knowledge that you didn't have before, then I will be happy.

Most of the information was found through the W3C and Google searches. This document was inspired by "The founders' visions of the concept" and their mission;"Leading The Web To It's Full Potential".

I am very passionate about the exchange of information as it is today. I became very distraught over the "mainstream" idea of "Web Design", and I compiled these resources to help provide a better understanding of how the concept of the Web came to be and what it means today.

"If the effort is not made, there is much greater risk that the Web will devolve into a proprietary world of incompatible formats, ultimately reducing the Web's commercial potential for all participants." --W3C Introduction To HTML 4, "2.2.1 - A Brief History Of HTML"

~ Greater Fall River, MA and Greater New Bedford, MA ~
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