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By Samuel Ryan
Website Building
Comments
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I was in high school in the mid-nineties when I first encountered the ever-expanding world of websites. At the time, I didn't realize that my future career would rely on this industry -- one which did not exist when I was in elementary school. Now in the year 2008, having created websites for over half my life, I look back and see how much websites have changed in the last decade and a half. At the same time, I can see how little they've changed as well, and I've realized that the internet as we know it today is only a teenager, with many years of growth still ahead. So in the vein of change, let's look at ten popular websites and their evolution throughout the last many years. (Note: Click on pictures to view larger size.)
Apple Today / 5 Years Ago / 10 Years Ago
Apple has always championed simplicity and their websites have followed this axiom. Except for their early websites which (like everyone else) utilized the upper-left logo and left-aligned website, all their websites in recent memory have employed center-top navigation, consistently clean layouts, and gridlike simplicity.


Amazon Today / 9 Years Ago
Amazon has changed very little over the years. Amazon has always pioneered retail shopping ease and although they have the least-updated design of any website here, it's probably because it works. In Amazon's case, their first concern is not "cool design," but fulfillment of its purpose (in this case, maximum sales).

Adobe Today / 5 Years Ago / 9 Years Ago / 12 Years Ago
Over the years, Adobe has had the difficult task of portraying themselves as a software company (product information) and as a creative company (imaginative design). It's interesting to see that even their early site have a large amount of images.



CNN Today / 5 Years Ago / 8 Years Ago
At first glance, it seems that a news site like CNN hasn't changed much, but when you look at the layout, typography, and inclusion of new media, you'll see how much cleaner and easier to navigate the current website is.


Nike Today / 5 Years Ago / 8 Years Ago
As you can see below, even their early sites strove to be hip with consumers. The second image shows how in the last several years, most larger websites require international compatibility and like many other companies, Nike requires new visitors to pick a locale. Nowadays, Nike lots of Flash in their site and they continously win Flash awards for these sites.


Yahoo Today / 4 Years Ago / 8 Years Ago / 12 Years Ago
Yahoo defined the gateway/homepage concept and they've always had a text-heavy front page. In recent years, they've really cleaned up their design to incorporate a cleaner grid, uniform typography, and easier-to-navigate content.
Microsoft Today / 5 Years Ago / 10 Years Ago
Microsoft has always been a technology company with a strong audience among technologists and programmers. As you can see, their past sites have always followed this demographic, disseminating content efficiently as possible. Only in the past couple years has Microsoft's website tried to appeal more to end users as well.
ESPN Today / 8 Years Ago
ESPN has always followed a simple formula: Show the main stories on the front page, supplement them with links to other popular stories, and then have easy-to-find linkage for every sport they cover. As the years have gone on, they've continued to find more ways to utilize Flash, javascript, and asynchronous technologies to deliver more information in better ways (like the rotating scoreboard in their current site).
Starbucks Today / 7 Years Ago
Although their website from seven years ago looks dated, it's still much "cooler" than what you would expect from 2001. Furthermore, you can see how it was common for sites to used sliced graphics for their home page back then.

MTV Today / 5 Years Ago / 10 Years Ago / 11 Years Ago
The problem with trying to cater to current trends of culture is that you may regret it in the years ahead. It's hard to believe that they had a Java version of their site and even harder to believe that they once sported a "Best Viewed with IE" badge. In the second image, they seemed to swing too far in the "news" direction, but nowadays, have settled down nicely with their brand. 



In Conclusion
Although it's easy to laugh at the past designs of many of these websites while praising current designs, remember that you are a contemporary of today and five years from now, you might think that even these current sites are a mess. Overall, I'm sure most would agree that design standards have been raised over the last decade, and it will be exciting to see what the next ten years hold...


just found your blog 2 days ago and added it to my Google Reader right away. Great post to start with here :-) Keep it up!
Kai


http://www.neatorama.com/2008/02/07/the-evolution-of-tech-companies-logos/


I enjoy watching how these sites evolved from all having similar beginnings to seeing how they target their audience more and more.
Another thing to notice is how these sites used to use the .com in their logo and seeing it drop off as they improve. I never understood why sites felt the need to include the .com in the logo.



Thanks for the article again.

Anyone up for a big laugh should really check out the McDonalds website in the wayback machine. The worst! LOL



3/18/2008 1:50:13 PM
Nice article, want more of these :) "
I agree, except I want much,much less...
The article was ruined for me with ludicrously ridiculous comments as
"Microsoft has always been a technology company with a strong audience among technologists and programmers. As you can see, their past sites have always followed this demographic, disseminating content as quickly and efficiently as possible. Only in the past couple years has Microsoft's website really begun to appeal to consumers in a fun way. Many feel it's a bit pretentious, but Microsoft really does need to adjust to a world where "look and feel" has become so paramount to computer users.
"
A patently false and totally illogical statement.
This definitely is not your finest work

As a long-time Microsoft programmer, I agree with your assessment (there are obviously many other facets to MS, but unless you're writing a book, you'll never cover them all).
And as for the steve guy, I've always wondered why such intelligent and lucid commenters don't start their own blog -- *sarcasm*






I had Google on my list for inclusion but I figured that most people already know the site has not changed much since its inception. Honestly, as much as people say the above sites have really changed, I would almost argue the opposite when considering the last 5 years of many major site.


What this article remind me:
- Big companies change their websites between 3-5 years (in general)
- Nike website (as a user experience) suck
- Adobe and Apple have the best websites.
- Going to grid is essential
- As always be simple...


You got all these sites from the wayback machine! You are stealing content!! Ok, I'm just busting your chops. Great article. I remember when almost every website had a Flash and non flash version. MTV's Decaf / Java site makes me laugh. Remember frames / non frames? Oh the humanity!! Man the technologies sure have come a long way.






But it's getting harder and harder to tell what to click to actually get somewhere. At least in the days of lists of underlined links, I didn't have to stick my cursor over something to see if it might be a link or not.
/Bill

I agree with your comment about what is to come.
I look at it from the point of view that the old desings were simple mainly because the bandwidth just wasn't there - 18.8 dialup?- to support anything better. Less was better on the pages. Now we have video streaming ads opening up on our pages.

Also very noticeable the comments here that talk about the inability to know *where* to navigate on some of the more up to date sites. While Flash based sites have improved on accessibility, there's a big difference between adherence to basic accessibility standards and genuine useability, and I think a lot of corporate sites still fall down on this. Possibly even more so than in older...simpler times.

I've battled this for a long time, but over the past few years, design has begun to get is due.
Keep it up.



great post.


I'm surprised (like one of the commenteres above) that you didn't also include Google. Mainly that they are incredibly successful, and will continue to be, with utter simplicity.
http://www.joyfuldigesting.com/




google.com
simply the best. nuff said.

@ all the other haters: Why be cynical? Were you raised this way? They're were only three or four comments in this category. But if you have nothing nice to see–or words to add to an intelligent discourse–then say nothing at all. Hold the tongue... or in this case fingers.
Or like one poster pointed out: start your own blog.

1996: http://web.archive.org/web/19970428002851/http://www.bbc.co.uk/
1997:
http://web.archive.org/web/19970428002851/http://www.bbc.co.uk/
1998:
http://web.archive.org/web/19990128045212/www.bbc.co.uk/home/today/
2002: (dunno which muppet came up with BBCi):
http://web.archive.org/web/20020124121058/http://www.bbc.co.uk/
2008:
http://www.bbc.co.uk




what does the bottom half say? "You've already been assimilated"?


At least two of these sites (yahoo and mtv, use Drupal).







CNN's website was really ugl :)
P.S. Great article!






the logo is back in the top center.



sotec

http://wwwkishoreblog.com


once again, thanks Samuel!


Fun to see the companies want the same website but just more contemporary designs.



visit them at www.alternativebusinesssolutions.biz




You guys might also like to check out my web reviews blog :)
http://www.rich-page.com
Its for web analyts and fans of the web :)
Rich




Similar to the Way Back Machine - www.archive.org

it's cool to see the older styles of websites !


So nice to see all the old urls.
Users tend to foget easily, so is good to compare the new with the old websites. Is remarkable how usability and accessibilty standards have transformed some of them as yahoo.comand amazon.co.uk !!!
Marianna


However, I do think that Samuel is too generous in some cases. I passionately believe that Amazon AREN'T maximising their sales because they overload each page with superfluous content and clumsy and excessive cross-selling. I use Amazon as a last resort for this reason. It may not be comparing apples with apples, but I believe Google pwned Yahoo for similar reasons.
Enjoyable article and I look forward to seeing an update in 8 years' time... Take care everyone.


I'not in your field, I arrived by searching for photoshop options...
I don't know if evolution biologists have taken to your field, but what you perceive as images being shaped by field pressures is very interesting
JF



Thank you for all information, wakeuplater!!!
I live your unburdened and useful articles about webdesign!
Nout van Deijck, Blog <3.14 /> (about (web)design, typography, science and news.
=>www.noutweb.com/blog
















I think Google homepage would be one, which has same look and feel since last 10 years.


AWESOME





And I like: "Be a good person. Don't take other people's content."
http://uggerholt.com




I won't spoil it for everyone else though :)






Yeah, the new sites look great.


1. The overwhelming majority of voters don't make principled votes, where ever they lie on the political spectrum, so it's hardly surprising that western voters are as concerned with subsidies they benefit from as the libertarian prinicples they may hold. I think this is often lost sight of by bloggers and commenters because most of us are in that small fraction that does.
2. In close races, even small amounts of votes matter. Kerry probably picked up around 2% from libertarian-positioned (as opposed to self-identifying, which is probably smaller) voters' disillusionment with Bush compared to '00. Making small concessions or even emphasizing areas where liberals and libertarians agree may help swing a few elections, especially in more libertarian-orientated areas.
On a more philosophical note, in On Liberty Mill drew a distinction between what we should as individuals do our best to persuade a person not to do and what a government should prevent a person from doing. Mill assigned social and commercial ostracism by private actors to the first category but not the second - I think one of the major differences that is between liberals and libertarians that is often overlooked compared to the spilt on social welfare is that libertarians believe there are more issues that should be approached in this way. The consequence of this is often that differences of means are often mistaken for differences of values.





I was hoping you might be developing a version with comments. Is it now dead?

many of their technologies were bought when they acquired othr co.s i.e. their killer alogorithms (for search) came with an acquisition of a co. in santa monica several years ago....i forgot the name.
i am very familiar with both google and yahoo. what most people don't realize about google is that every one of their technologies/products that they developed in-house has flopped in terms of genertating any revenue. or, they haven't been able to develop a revenue model for it. yahoo may be less sophisiticated technoogically, but that at least have multiple revenue streams. too bad for them that goog's search algorithims were better and they ran off with the show.
however, my friends at yahoo say the game has not ended and they are working toward to returning to their technology roots





Ultimately, I think it is a good call. You (Lessig) have always had your eye on the bigger picture, on the long-term struggle and I am glad we have you fighting on our side. Looking forward to participating in the Change Congress movement. Thanks for everything.

Speaking as someone who hails from the UK I would still like to add my voice to the Change Congress movement but, as it stands, it seems that it will be limit to those that can vote in the US (the need to enter a US zipcode on the site). Will there be "affiliate membership" for those who wish to take part but don't happen to be US citizens?
Thanks.

I think one of the major differences that is between liberals and libertarians that is often overlooked compared to the spilt on social welfare is that libertarians believe there are more issues that should be approached in this way.
The consequence of this is often that differences of means are often mistaken for differences of values.

(A quick google search will guide a reader to see most hybrid motors range from 144 volts through to 650 volts).
Myself, I'd go for a Smart car, and try to reduce via real reduction, rather than a techno-fix. Techno-fixes aimed at giving you a workaround with no behaviour modification tend to solve the primary problem, but introduce smaller (hopefully!) secondary problems :) ! That being said, members in my family drive a Prius, and love it (2nd one is being bought this weekend!).



In spite of my english trouale,I am trying to read and understand your writing.
And i am following frequently.I hope that you will be with us together with much more scharings.
I hope that your success will go on.



nice article :)

in the past with self-publishing which has led to his books being
published in 20 languages and 27 different countries. Jump into it
full force and correct course when necessary. You will have to because
Google keeps changing the rules of the game.



I had some problems with my css. Thanks for the article!






You can make an online memorial and tell the world what a great person has gone from us.

I was hoping you might be developing a version with comments. Is it now dead? .














