Web design: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:29, 24 March 2010

Revision as of 21:17, 24 March 2010

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'''Web design''' is the skill of creating presentations of [[web content|content]] (usually [[hypertext]] or [[hypermedia]]) that is delivered to an [[end user (computer science)|end-user]] through the [[World Wide Web]], by way of a [[Web browser]] or other Web-enabled software like [[Internet television]] clients, [[microblogging]] clients and [[RSS reader]]s.

The intent of web design<ref>[http://www.usefulref.com/referencetopics/webdevelopment/Web_design.html Web Design Development Guide]</ref> is to create a web site—a collection of electronic files that reside on a web [[server]]/[[servers]] and present content and interactive features/interfaces to the end user in form of Web pages once requested. Such elements as text, [[Bitmap|bit-mapped images]] ([[ Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]]s, [[JPEG]]s) and forms can be placed on the page using [[HTML]]/[[XHTML]]/[[XML]] tags. Displaying more complex media (vector graphics, animations, videos, sounds) requires plug-ins such as [[Adobe Flash]], [[QuickTime]], [[Java (software platform)|Java]] run-time environment, etc. [[Plug-ins]] are also embedded into web page by using [[HTML]]/[[XHTML]] tags.

Improvements in browsers' compliance with [[W3C]] standards prompted a widespread acceptance and usage of [[XHTML]]/[[XML]] in conjunction with Cascading Style Sheets ([[CSS]]) to position and manipulate web page elements and objects. Latest standards and proposals aim at leading to [[web browser|browsers]]' ability to deliver a wide variety of [[Digital media|media]] and accessibility options to the client possibly without employing [[plug-ins]].

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== History ==

[[Tim Berners-Lee]] published what is considered to be the first website in August 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4132752.stm |title=Berners-Lee on the read/write web |publisher=BBC News | date=2005-08-09 | accessdate=2010-03-24 | ___location=London}}</ref> Berners-Lee was the first to combine [[Internet]] communication (which had been carrying [[E-mail|email]] and the [[Usenet]] for decades) with [[hypertext]] (which had also been around for decades, but limited to browsing information stored on a single computer, such as interactive [[CD-ROM]] design). Websites are written in a [[markup language]] called [[HTML]], and early versions of HTML were very basic, only giving a website's basic structure (headings and paragraphs), and the ability to link using [[hypertext]]. This was new and different from existing forms of communication - users could easily navigate to other pages by following [[hyperlink]]s from page to page.

As the Web and web design progressed, the markup language changed to become more complex and flexible, giving the ability to add objects like images and tables to a page. Features like tables, which were originally intended to be used to display tabular information, were soon subverted for use as invisible layout devices. With the advent of [[Cascading Style Sheets]] (CSS), table-based layout is commonly regarded as outdated. Database integration technologies such as [[server-side scripting]] and design standards like W3C further changed and enhanced the way the Web is made. As times change, websites are changing the code on the inside and visual design on the outside with ever-evolving programs and utilities.