The Evolution of Websites: How 10 Popular Websites Have (And Have Not) Changed

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: All pictures can be clicked on to view a larger size.)


Apple Today / 5 Years Ago / 10 Years Ago
Apple has always championed solid design and simplicity and their websites have followed these axioms. 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, ample use of Helvetica, and gridlike simplicity.









Amazon Today / 9 Years Ago
Amazon has changed very little over the years, perhaps because they made sure it was right the first time. Amazon has always pioneered customer experience and although they have the least-updated design of any website here, it's probably because it works. Because in website design (especially in the retail world), a website's first concern is not a "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 links and information first) and as a creative company (large pictures and imaginative layouts). I think their current design does both well. It's interesting to see that the early site has as many images as it does in a time when 56k modems were "blazing fast."











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 (like web video), you'll see how much better the current website is. (Granted, it looks like the oldest version here might be missing its CSS, but it's still lagging behind in design.)









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 uses almost all 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 straighter lines, more uniform typography, and easier-to-manage content (via DHTML tabs). Also note that among all these sites, the last few years have really helped the design quality of websites. I wonder if that's because more great designers are now being educated and entering the field of website design whereas before, many sites were designed by "techies."











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 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.









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). Now if only the audio on their current site wouldn't autoplay...







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 that good use of CSS and actual text has all but eliminated the kind of sites where the entire front page was sliced images.







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 regret it all the more in the years ahead (flannel shirts anyone?). It's hard to believe that they had a Java version of their site and even harder to believe that they 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.










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 2008 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...

Thanks: Written by Samuel in Website Building