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Web Design: The Evolution of the Digital World 1990–Today
The last three decades have marked an era of technological upheaval as frenetic and groundbreaking as there ever has been. From early desktop computers and mobile phones to virtual reality: the web is now virtually inseparable from all facets of human interaction and daily life. But it wasn’t always funny cat videos and sleek interfaces.
This collection is a visual journey through time, gathering the very earliest examples of what we today take for granted: the first website to use surround sound, the first drag-and-drop navigation, the first page-turn effect, the first website to use seamless video integration, the first viral site, the first parallax website, the first ‘upload-your-face’ website, the first site to incorporate a mobile phone, the first ever YouTube-like “website”, and many more.
It gathers more than 200 websites, and each comes with quotes and insights from the creators themselves—an invaluable peek into the minds of pioneers who paved the pixelized way for many to follow, including Jonathan Gay (Flash), Gabo Mendoza (Gabocorp), Yugo Nakamura (Yugop), Peter Van Den Wyngaert (NRG.BE), Joshua Davis (Praystation), and Eric Jordan (2Advanced).
This comprehensive visual history gathers 21 chapters that detail, for every year since 1998, the best websites and examples of hardware used at the time, and explore how user experience, usability, and technological milestones have influenced the development of the internet we use today. Year-by-year factsheets and smart Google insights orient the reader through major developments across such categories as world news headlines, highest grossing films, new soft and hardware, greatest website traffic, and many more.
For many, this collection will offer a virtual trip down nostalgia lane—but all generations will find a sweeping reference work as well as a celebration of how the earliest creative minds came to define the web, and eventually the world, as we know it.
This collection is a visual journey through time, gathering the very earliest examples of what we today take for granted: the first website to use surround sound, the first drag-and-drop navigation, the first page-turn effect, the first website to use seamless video integration, the first viral site, the first parallax website, the first ‘upload-your-face’ website, the first site to incorporate a mobile phone, the first ever YouTube-like “website”, and many more.
It gathers more than 200 websites, and each comes with quotes and insights from the creators themselves—an invaluable peek into the minds of pioneers who paved the pixelized way for many to follow, including Jonathan Gay (Flash), Gabo Mendoza (Gabocorp), Yugo Nakamura (Yugop), Peter Van Den Wyngaert (NRG.BE), Joshua Davis (Praystation), and Eric Jordan (2Advanced).
This comprehensive visual history gathers 21 chapters that detail, for every year since 1998, the best websites and examples of hardware used at the time, and explore how user experience, usability, and technological milestones have influenced the development of the internet we use today. Year-by-year factsheets and smart Google insights orient the reader through major developments across such categories as world news headlines, highest grossing films, new soft and hardware, greatest website traffic, and many more.
For many, this collection will offer a virtual trip down nostalgia lane—but all generations will find a sweeping reference work as well as a celebration of how the earliest creative minds came to define the web, and eventually the world, as we know it.
640 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2019
8 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Rob Ford
18 books3 followersRob Ford founded Favourite Website Awards (FWA) in May 2000, a recognition program for cutting edge web design which has since served over 200 million visitors.
Rob is a pioneer of internet awards and showcases, establishing processes and concepts that are now widely used around the world.
His work has been featured in numerous publications including The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, Financial Times, Penthouse, The Big Issue and many web related magazines. He has judged for most of the industry award shows, contributes regularly to other well-known web design sites and magazines (from all corners of the globe) and wrote a regular column in Adobe's flagship newsletter, Inspire (formerly "Edge") for 7 years.
He has four bestselling books under his belt, Guidelines for Online Success; The Internet Case Study Book; The App & Mobile Case Study Book; Web Design, The Evolution of the Digital World, 1990-today, all published by Taschen
In 2019 he also published The Little Trailblazers with Mendo books and Macaw Books, a children's charity book in aid of Unicef's work for children.
Rob secured collaborations with Adobe (via The Cutting Edge award) in 2012 and also with Google (via Google's Creative Sandbox) in 2013.
Rob is also a champion of mental health awareness and launched an interview series on FWA in 2018 to help bring the conversation around mental well-being in the industry out into the open.
Rob is a pioneer of internet awards and showcases, establishing processes and concepts that are now widely used around the world.
His work has been featured in numerous publications including The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, Financial Times, Penthouse, The Big Issue and many web related magazines. He has judged for most of the industry award shows, contributes regularly to other well-known web design sites and magazines (from all corners of the globe) and wrote a regular column in Adobe's flagship newsletter, Inspire (formerly "Edge") for 7 years.
He has four bestselling books under his belt, Guidelines for Online Success; The Internet Case Study Book; The App & Mobile Case Study Book; Web Design, The Evolution of the Digital World, 1990-today, all published by Taschen
In 2019 he also published The Little Trailblazers with Mendo books and Macaw Books, a children's charity book in aid of Unicef's work for children.
Rob secured collaborations with Adobe (via The Cutting Edge award) in 2012 and also with Google (via Google's Creative Sandbox) in 2013.
Rob is also a champion of mental health awareness and launched an interview series on FWA in 2018 to help bring the conversation around mental well-being in the industry out into the open.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 25, 2021
Rob Ford compiles a visual history of web design from 1991 through 2018 through a chronological presentation of two-page case studies (arranged by year). Each chapter is one calendar year of representative case studies from web designs, while each example is a two-page spread with both web site images and brief text descriptions--like a museum in a book. The text descriptions are in English, French, and German. While some readers seeking a scholarly history might be disappointed with the short accompanying text and while some readers seeking examples beyond North America and Europe will be disappointed by the unstated regional focus, other readers seeking a visual history of web designs should be impressed by the breadth of examples.
December 31, 2019
A thorough review of the world of digital communication from its esrly 1990’s to more recent times. The book captures an explosion of creative experiments that will likely not reoccur in such scale, some of them stupid, some gorgeous, idealist and disfunctional and for the most part driven by series of speculative bubbles that tried to make sense of the digital medium of the internet and its ability to transform relationship with customers.
While I am partial because this was partly my history I think Rob Ford has done an amazing job at capturing the synthesis of this period.
While I am partial because this was partly my history I think Rob Ford has done an amazing job at capturing the synthesis of this period.
December 9, 2019
The Internet is so damn amazing! A fascinating and stunning insight into the history of Digital Web Design. Well-considered and presented with clear bold graphics and illustrations. Very informative journey with the coolest creatives created by Flash and modern WEB technologies. Highly recommended for all designers.
July 6, 2023
I forgot to update this one one of the best taschen books ive gotten great information on the development of the internet with thorough timelines and breakdowns of significant companies and apps good pictures just a beautiful book
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews