By Louis Lazaris

Not many of us will have the opportunity to attend or participate in a live web-related event, conference, or presentation. But that doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from the information exchanged at such events. Many of the sites associated with those events provide supplementary information, summaries, presentation slides, plus audio and video footage from the presentations given.

In this article I’ve assembled a short but diverse list of presentations related to design and development that I think everyone will find both informative and entertaining. I’ve included a brief description of each presentation, along with some notable quotes and related links. The final presentation in this list is a tongue-in-cheek performance that is a must-see for anyone involved in web development for the past 5 or 6 years.

CSS Frameworks: Make the Right Choice

Speaker: Kevin Yank

This presentation was recorded on October 9, 2009, at Web Directions South in Sidney, Australia.

Kevin Yank of SitePoint discusses what CSS frameworks do, how to choose a CSS framework, along with some of the pros and cons of four types of CSS frameworks: CSS resets, grid-based frameworks, “pre-fab” frameworks, and frameworks that use CSS abstraction.

Notable Quote:

“By the end of this session, you might just decide that the right framework for you is no framework at all.”

Further Information:

• Presentation Slides and Session Description

JavaScript: The Good Parts

Speaker: Douglas Crockford

This talk took place on February 27, 2009 as part of the Google Tech Talks Web Exponents series.

The presentation is based on Crockford’s book and reveals the good and bad parts of JavaScript, along with an audience Q&A.

Notable Quote:

“JavaScript is the only language that I’m aware of that people feel they don’t need to learn before they start using it.”

Further Information:

• JavaScript: The Good Parts on Google Code Blog

Search User Interfaces

Speaker: Professor Marti Hearst

This talk took place on November 23, 2009 as part of the Google Tech Talks series, and is based on Professor Hearst’s book Search User Interfaces.

The discussion covers specific chapters in the book and presents “the state of the art of search interface design, based on both academic research and deployment in commercial systems.”

Notable Quote:

“The paradox of web search: Why is designing a search interface difficult? Why is it easy?”

Further Information:

• Read the book Search User Interfaces online

Design Inspiration

Speaker: Fabio Sasso

This presentation by the owner of Abduzeedo, took place at Front End Design Conference on July 31, 2009.

Sasso discusses his personal sources of design inspiration and includes some interesting comments on the challenges facing Brazilian designers in today’s market.

Notable Quote:

“For me, the only way to come up with a good design is to try.”

Further Information:

• Front End Design Conference on Abduzeedo
• Interview with Fabio Sasso of Abduzeedo

Panel Discussion from FOWD Conference

Speakers: Andy Clarke, Josh Williams & Jeffrey Zeldman

An older presentation from Future of Web Design 2007.

A very funny, and thought-provoking panel discussion covering a number of topics including the recent trend of developers working more on personal projects, plus some thoughts on web standards, web design education, dealing with clients, and more.

Notable Quotes:

“If you say you’re going to talk about web design, reporters aren’t interested. It’s web, so it’s kind of bad design, isn’t it? My kid can do it.”

“We have bad clients who say ‘Is that three pixels wide? Shouldn’t it be four pixels wide?’ They’re clients, so ‘Where did you go to art school?’ is not an approriate answer. So you say ‘That’s interesting, four pixels. We hadn’t thought about that.’

Further Information:

• Future of Web Design NYC 2007 Recap

A More Tangled Web

Speaker: Eric Meyer

This presentation by Eric Meyer took place on November 5, 2009 at Build Conference.

Meyer discusses universal uses for HTML and CSS, the death of the browser plugin, and shares an interesting viewpoint on the proposed completion date of 2022 for HTML 5.

Notable Quotes:

“The advancement of CSS is really a lot like a marathon, complete with the staggering dehydrated people at the end of the 26 miles, that you just want the medics to pull them off the course, and they keep waving them off, and it’s really sort of sad and pathetic. This is kind of what CSS development is like now.”

“The really big shift that is happening… is the shift to the web becoming a client-side computing platform.” (Tim Berners-Lee)

Further Information:

• Speakers and Summaries from Build Conference 2009

How to Bluff Your Way in Web 2.0

Speakers: Andy Budd & Jeremy Keith

This presentation took place in March 2007 at SXSW Interactive.

This is an absolutely hilarious and well-prepared presentation by two of the most notable names in web development. A must-see video covering web 2.0 buzzwords, design, fonts, web 2.0 bingo, and more. The hour closes with a serious summary of the impact of web 2.0, what it really means, and what direction it should go in.

Notable Quotes:

“Web 2.0 is a state of mind. It’s a zen thing. The sound of one hand clapping.”

“In this design, what’s important are the reflections; lots and lots of reflections. Everything’s wet in web 2.0 — wet floor, wet ceiling. So this is a great example of the web 2.0 design style.”

“And remember, Ajax is more than sliding, moving, and fading stuff. It’s an acronym, and that acronym stands for Accessibility Just Ain’t Xciting.”

“It’s all about community. Because none of us are as dumb as all of us.”

Further Information:

• Slides from the presentation

Related Resources

• 17 Hours of JavaScript From the Masters
• Voices That Matter Conference Podcasts
• Google Tech Talks YouTube Channel
• Web Conferences Roundup: Events From Around the Globe
• Front-End Design Conference ‘09 Wrap-up

About the Author

Louis Lazaris is a writer and freelance web developer based in Toronto, Canada. He has 9 years of experience in the web development industry and posts articles and tutorials on his blog, Impressive Webs. You can follow Louis on Twitter or contact him through his website.

Go to Source

It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s going on out there!

<!–break–>

We want to give a big thanks to our sponsors:
Wix, ShutterStock, Taste of Ink Studios, W3-Markup, P2H.COM, Harvest, VectorStock™, 2large2email, Billings, Theme Snack and SiteGrinder. A special mention to Media Temple for the excellent service and support with Abduzeedo!

You can send me your suggestions via Twitter twitter.com/FabianoMe or twitter.com/abduzeedo, and include #abdz_best in the message.

Friday 12/25

Centauro Concept Store / AUM Arquitetos

Avatar Is Killing The Box Office – Nearing 400 Million So Far

How to Destroy Writer’s Block and Unleash Your Creativity

Klipsch headquarters walkthrough: behind the scenes and between the ears

best and worst logos of 2009

ReadWriteWeb Interview With Tim Berners-Lee, Part 1: Linked Data

Friday Fix Dec 21 – 25

Tools And Techniques To Manage Creative Projects On Your Mac

137 Housing / H Arquitectes

Thursday 12/24

Portrait Photography by Tom McKenzie

Schumacher: O Campeão Voltou

Google Voice Is Coming Back To The iPhone Via The Browser, Thanks To VoiceCentral

Yummy! Free Food and Cakes Icon Set

Staying Productive During the Holiday Break

HHF architects: kunstmuseum basel proposal

WEdnesday 12/23

The Miller Hull Partnership, Public Works

Galeria de fotos: a evolução dos mouses da Apple

More Exclusive Icons for the Holidays: “Xmas Festives”

107 Dazzling Christmas Lights.

Peter Daniel Frazier’s minimalist office escape

Snowy scenes

Five Last-Minute Digital Gifts

The Rumors Are True: We Spend More And More Time Online

Cinco Studio

Colorize

Motorola Droid and Dell Adamo latest to get Gorilla glass

Most Popular Firefox Extensions and Themes of 2009 [Best Of 2009]

Twitter acquires Mixer Labs to push location, location, location

2009’s 15 Sexiest Gadgets

Tuesday 12/22

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2009

SANY Beijing / Perkins and Will

Chapter I // Poster series

What’s Under Your Mask? That’s the question…

Design Something Every Day!

Feliz Navidad

Victoria’s Secret | One Gift. A Thousand Fantasies

foster and partners: dream hub yongsan IBD masterplan – sam-taeguk

35 Awesome Vector Illustrations

The App Store Forgets It’s Not The Android Market, Temporarily Sells NES Emulato

Bamboo Fashioned Bam!

Another Google Nexus One sighting, this time a wee bit more clear

How Passion and Focus Will Rock Your Career

Monday 12/21

Most Popular Repurposing Tricks of 2009 [Best Of 2009]

Youtu.be: Because YouTube Needs Its Own URL Shortener Too

68 Social Housing by Magén Arquitectos

Nokia N900 and the case of the best unboxing ever

The Most Popular DIY Projects of 2009

Nerrot Is the Simplest, Least Spammy Torrent Site You’ll Ever Use [BitTorrent]

Isaora Clothing Reel

Seesmic’s new release: Android NEARLY has a perfect Twitter app

Firefox 3.5 Inches Past IE7 As World’s Most Popular Browser [Web Browsers]

Interface Design Inspiration | 30 Impressive Ways to Design Sign-Up Page/Form

BlackBerry Curve 8530 impressions

Design Classic: Ferrari Modulo, 1970

40 Incredible Images Taken at Night

Scribd positioning self to become Amazon competitor, sell books on Kindle?

World Map Of Social Networks Shows Rise Of Facebook

Best of 2009 in the Creative Industry

Rebranding Playboy: Book Production

Christmas Giveaways for 2009: Marketcircle and ThinkGeek!

About the author

I’m from Brazil, co-founder of Zee with Fabio. Nowadays I like to play with Fireworks, Photoshop and improve my skills in CSS. If you wanna request some posts, please feel free to contact me or follow on Twitter.

Sponsored Links:

Go to Source

While the language itself is almost fully baked, HTML5 won’t fully arrive for at least another two years, according to one of the men charged with its design.

“I don’t expect to see full implementation of HTML5 across all the major browsers until the end of 2011 at least,” says Philippe Le Hegaret, interaction domain leader for the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), who oversees the development of HTML5.

He tells Webmonkey the specification outlining the long-promised rewrite of the web’s underlying language will be ready towards the end of 2010, but because of varying levels of support across different browsers, especially in the areas of video and animation, we’re in for a longer wait.

Most web pages are currently written in HTML version HTML 4.01, which has been around since the late 1990s. The web was mostly made up of static pages when HTML was born, and it has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Now, we favor complex web applications written in JavaScript like Gmail and Facebook, we stream videos in high-definition, we consume news in real-time feeds and generally push our browsers as far as they’ll go. These developments have left HTML drastically outdated, and web authors have resorted to using a variety of hacks and plug-ins to make everything work properly.

HTML5 — which is actually a combination of languages, APIs and other technologies to make scripted applications more powerful — promises to solve many of the problems of its predecessor, and do so without the hacks and plug-ins.

We’re already close. All the major browsers are providing some level of support for HTML5.

“There’s strong support already in Firefox and Safari. Even Microsoft IE8 has some partial support,” says Le Hegaret, referring to some code within HTML5 that enables the browser to pass information between pages.

Browser makers are approaching support incrementally, adding features little by little with every subsequent release. Some, like Mozilla, can build new features into the next release in a matter of months. For others, like Microsoft, it takes much longer.

Google Chrome is maturing extremely quickly and already supports most of HTML5. This is mostly because Google didn’t start from scratch — the company chose to use the open source Webkit rendering engine, the same one used by Safari. Still, this doesn’t mean both browsers support HTML5 equally.

“Video support between Safari and Chrome, despite the fact that they are both using the same underlying engine, is totally different because video support is not part of the Webkit project at the moment,” says Le Hegaret.

It’s actually this very issue — support for playing videos inside the browser — that continues to be one of main factors blocking the broad adoption of HTML5.

The way the specification is written now, website authors will have the ability to link to a video file as simply as an image file. The video plays in the browser without using a plug-in, and the author can create a player wrapper with controls.

But browser vendors are stuck arguing over which video format to support. Mozilla, Google and Opera are interested in the open source Ogg Theora video format. Apple has substantial investments in its Quicktime technology, so it’s pushing for the Quicktime-backed H.264 format. Microsoft wants people to use its Silverlight plug-in, so Internet Explorer isn’t supporting native video playback in the browser at all.

Google has voiced support for Ogg, but it has also recently made a bid to purchase On2, a company that makes a competing video technology. Rumor has it Google might release On2’s video technology under an open source license once the sale is complete.

Until these issues are sorted out, consumers and content providers alike are forced to rely on plug-ins. Le Hegaret says that while these plug-ins have certainly helped the web arrive where it is today, they continue to be a burden on the user.

Setting up any browser to support both H.264 and Ogg Theora requires at least one plug in, which harms the user experience.

“It’s hard today to ask people to install a plug-in unless the payoff is huge,” he says. “What’s driving the most successful plug-in, which is Flash, is video support. If you can’t see YouTube, your life on the web is pretty miserable. You’re missing a lot.”

Plug-ins aren’t just harder on web users, but they’re hard on web developers, too.

“Building with Flash or Silverlight in a way that lets you share information between the content appearing inside the plug-in and the rest of the page presents some challenges,” says Le Hegaret.

Unlike its predecessor, HTML5 has been designed with web applications in mind. The current HTML5 specification includes a media API that makes it easier to connect animations or video and audio elements — things traditionally presented within a Flash player — with the rest of the content on the page.

“You get a smoother application if you use HTML5. You’re not crossing a software layer. It’s all part of the same application.”

Unfortunately, the YouTubes of the world aren’t going to make a baseline switch from Flash to HTML5 unless they know there’s strong support for it in the browsers.

But they are testing the waters: Wikipedia is experimenting with HTML5 video support by serving Ogg Theora video to browsers that can handle it, and Flash to everyone else. YouTube and the video site Dailymotion have also set up special demo pages using this technique.

Le Hegaret says we’ll be in this period of transition — a dual-experience web where content sites serve HTML5 video along with a Flash fall-back — for a while.

“Web developers will continue to have to understand that not everyone is using the latest generation web browser, and that’s OK in the short term.”

As far as being able to make the switch to a pure HTML5 web altogether, Le Hegaret says that’s only possible once browser vendors sort out their differences.

Once that day arrives, the final switch to HTML5 will be in the hands of the content providers. It’s up to them to begin coding for HTML5 standards and ditching support for old browsers.

“There are still a significant amount of people out there using IE6,” says Le Hegaret. “As a developer right now, you can’t really ignore it. Hopefully, in two or three years, you will be able to start ignoring IE6.”

See Also:

• Tim Berners-Lee Sees Promise, Challenges in HTML5
• W3C Drops Audio and Video Codec Requirements From HTML 5
• Adobe Fights Off HTML5 Threat With New Flash Player 10.1
• Mozilla Pushes the Web Forward With Firefox 3.5

The great promise of HTML5 is that it will turn the web into a full-fledged computing platform awash with video, animation and real-time interactions, yet free of the hacks and plug-ins common today.

While the language itself is almost fully baked, HTML5 won’t fully arrive for at least another two years, according to one of the men charged with its design.

“I don’t expect to see full implementation of HTML5 across all the major browsers until the end of 2011 at least,” says Philippe Le Hegaret, interaction domain leader for the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), who oversees the development of HTML5.

He tells Webmonkey the specification outlining the long-promised rewrite of the web’s underlying language will be ready towards the end of 2010, but because of varying levels of support across different browsers, especially in the areas of video and animation, we’re in for a longer wait.

Most web pages are currently written in HTML version HTML 4.01, which has been around since the late 1990s. The web was mostly made up of static pages when HTML was born, and it has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Now, we favor complex web applications written in JavaScript like Gmail and Facebook, we stream videos in high-definition, we consume news in real-time feeds and generally push our browsers as far as they’ll go. These developments have left HTML drastically outdated, and web authors have resorted to using a variety of hacks and plug-ins to make everything work properly.

HTML5 — which is actually a combination of languages, APIs and other technologies to make scripted applications more powerful — promises to solve many of the problems of its predecessor, and do so without the hacks and plug-ins.

We’re already close. All the major browsers are providing some level of support for HTML5.

“There’s strong support already in Firefox and Safari. Even Microsoft IE8 has some partial support,” says Le Hegaret, referring to some code within HTML5 that enables the browser to pass information between pages.

Browser makers are approaching support incrementally, adding features little by little with every subsequent release. Some, like Mozilla, can build new features into the next release in a matter of months. For others, like Microsoft, it takes much longer.

Google Chrome is maturing extremely quickly and already supports most of HTML5. This is mostly because Google didn’t start from scratch — the company chose to use the open source Webkit rendering engine, the same one used by Safari. Still, this doesn’t mean both browsers support HTML5 equally.

“Video support between Safari and Chrome, despite the fact that they are both using the same underlying engine, is totally different because video support is not part of the Webkit project at the moment,” says Le Hegaret.

It’s actually this very issue — support for playing videos inside the browser — that continues to be one of main factors blocking the broad adoption of HTML5.

The way the specification is written now, website authors will have the ability to link to a video file as simply as an image file. The video plays in the browser without using a plug-in, and the author can create a player wrapper with controls.

But browser vendors are stuck arguing over which video format to support. Mozilla, Google and Opera are interested in the open source Ogg Theora video format. Apple has substantial investments in its Quicktime technology, so it’s pushing for the Quicktime-backed H.264 format. Microsoft wants people to use its Silverlight plug-in, so Internet Explorer isn’t supporting native video playback in the browser at all.

Google has voiced support for Ogg, but it has also recently made a bid to purchase On2, a company that makes a competing video technology. Rumor has it Google might release On2’s video technology under an open source license once the sale is complete.

Until these issues are sorted out, consumers and content providers alike are forced to rely on plug-ins. Le Hegaret says that while these plug-ins have certainly helped the web arrive where it is today, they continue to be a burden on the user.

Setting up any browser to support both H.264 and Ogg Theora requires at least one plug in, which harms the user experience.

“It’s hard today to ask people to install a plug-in unless the payoff is huge,” he says. “What’s driving the most successful plug-in, which is Flash, is video support. If you can’t see YouTube, your life on the web is pretty miserable. You’re missing a lot.”

Plug-ins aren’t just harder on web users, but they’re hard on web developers, too.

“Building with Flash or Silverlight in a way that lets you share information between the content appearing inside the plug-in and the rest of the page presents some challenges,” says Le Hegaret.

Unlike its predecessor, HTML5 has been designed with web applications in mind. The current HTML5 specification includes a media API that makes it easier to connect animations or video and audio elements — things traditionally presented within a Flash player — with the rest of the content on the page.

“You get a smoother application if you use HTML5. You’re not crossing a software layer. It’s all part of the same application.”

Unfortunately, the YouTubes of the world aren’t going to make a baseline switch from Flash to HTML5 unless they know there’s strong support for it in the browsers.

But they are testing the waters: Wikipedia is experimenting with HTML5 video support by serving Ogg Theora video to browsers that can handle it, and Flash to everyone else. YouTube and the video site Dailymotion have also set up special demo pages using this technique.

Le Hegaret says we’ll be in this period of transition — a dual-experience web where content sites serve HTML5 video along with a Flash fall-back — for a while.

“Web developers will continue to have to understand that not everyone is using the latest generation web browser, and that’s OK in the short term.”

As far as being able to make the switch to a pure HTML5 web altogether, Le Hegaret says that’s only possible once browser vendors sort out their differences.

Once that day arrives, the final switch to HTML5 will be in the hands of the content providers. It’s up to them to begin coding for HTML5 standards and ditching support for old browsers.

“There are still a significant amount of people out there using IE6,” says Le Hegaret. “As a developer right now, you can’t really ignore it. Hopefully, in two or three years, you will be able to start ignoring IE6.”

See Also:

• Tim Berners-Lee Sees Promise, Challenges in HTML5
• W3C Drops Audio and Video Codec Requirements From HTML 5
• Adobe Fights Off HTML5 Threat With New Flash Player 10.1
• Mozilla Pushes the Web Forward With Firefox 3.5

Go to Source

If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that you spend a fair amount of time online. However, considering how much of an influence the Internet has in our daily lives, how many of us actually know the story of how it got its start?

Here’s a brief history of the Internet, including important dates, people, projects, sites, and other information that should give you at least a partial picture of what this thing we call the Internet really is, and where it came from.

While the complete history of the Internet could easily fill a few books, this article should familiarize you with key milestones and events related to the growth and evolution of the Internet between 1969 to 2009.

1969: Arpanet

Arpanet was the first real network to run on packet switching technology (new at the time). On the October 29, 1969, computers at Stanford and UCLA connected for the first time. In effect, they were the first hosts on what would one day become the Internet.

The first message sent across the network was supposed to be "Login", but reportedly, the link between the two colleges crashed on the letter "g".

1969: Unix

Another major milestone during the 60’s was the inception of Unix: the operating system whose design heavily influenced that of Linux and FreeBSD (the operating systems most popular in today’s web servers/web hosting services).

1970: Arpanet network

An Arpanet network was established between Harvard, MIT, and BBN (the company that created the "interface message processor" computers used to connect to the network) in 1970.

1971: Email

Email was first developed in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, who also made the decision to use the "@" symbol to separate the user name from the computer name (which later on became the domain name).

1971: Project Gutenberg and eBooks

One of the most impressive developments of 1971 was the start of Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg, for those unfamiliar with the site, is a global effort to make books and documents in the public domain available electronically–for free–in a variety of eBook and electronic formats.

It began when Michael Hart gained access to a large block of computing time and came to the realization that the future of computers wasn’t in computing itself, but in the storage, retrieval and searching of information that, at the time, was only contained in libraries. He manually typed (no OCR at the time) the "Declaration of Independence" and launched Project Gutenberg to make information contained in books widely available in electronic form. In effect, this was the birth of the eBook.

1972: CYCLADES

France began its own Arpanet-like project in 1972, called CYCLADES. While Cyclades was eventually shut down, it did pioneer a key idea: the host computer should be responsible for data transmission rather than the network itself.

1973: The first trans-Atlantic connection and the popularity of emailing

Arpanet made its first trans-Atlantic connection in 1973, with the University College of London. During the same year, email accounted for 75% of all Arpanet network activity.

1974: The beginning of TCP/IP

1974 was a breakthrough year. A proposal was published to link Arpa-like networks together into a so-called "inter-network", which would have no central control and would work around a transmission control protocol (which eventually became TCP/IP).

1975: The email client

With the popularity of emailing, the first modern email program was developed by John Vittal, a programmer at the University of Southern California in 1975. The biggest technological advance this program (called MSG) made was the addition of "Reply" and "Forward" functionality.

1977: The PC modem

1977 was a big year for the development of the Internet as we know it today. It’s the year the first PC modem, developed by Dennis Hayes and Dale Hetherington, was introduced and initially sold to computer hobbyists.

1978: The Bulletin Board System (BBS)

The first bulletin board system (BBS) was developed during a blizzard in Chicago in 1978.

1978: Spam is born

1978 is also the year that brought the first unsolicited commercial email message (later known as spam), sent out to 600 California Arpanet users by Gary Thuerk.

1979: MUD – The earliest form of multiplayer games

The precursor to World of Warcraft and Second Life was developed in 1979, and was called MUD (short for MultiUser Dungeon). MUDs were entirely text-based virtual worlds, combining elements of role-playing games, interactive, fiction, and online chat.

1979: Usenet

1979 also ushered into the scene: Usenet, created by two graduate students. Usenet was an internet-based discussion system, allowing people from around the globe to converse about the same topics by posting public messages categorized by newsgroups.

1980: ENQUIRE software

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (better known as CERN) launched ENQUIRE (written by Tim Berners-Lee), a hypertext program that allowed scientists at the particle physics lab to keep track of people, software, and projects using hypertext (hyperlinks).

1982: The first emoticon

While many people credit Kevin MacKenzie with the invention of the emoticon in 1979, it was Scott Fahlman in 1982 who proposed using after a joke, rather than the original -) proposed by MacKenzie. The modern emoticon was born.

1983: Arpanet computers switch over to TCP/IP

January 1, 1983 was the deadline for Arpanet computers to switch over to the TCP/IP protocols developed by Vinton Cerf. A few hundred computers were affected by the switch. The name server was also developed in ‘83.

1984: Domain Name System (DNS)

The domain name system was created in 1984 along with the first Domain Name Servers (DNS). The domain name system was important in that it made addresses on the Internet more human-friendly compared to its numerical IP address counterparts. DNS servers allowed Internet users to type in an easy-to-remember domain name and then converted it to the IP address automatically.

1985: Virtual communities

1985 brought the development of The WELL (short for Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link), one of the oldest virtual communities still in operation. It was developed by Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant in February of ‘85. It started out as a community of the readers and writers of the Whole Earth Review and was an open but "remarkably literate and uninhibited intellectual gathering". Wired Magazine once called The Well "The most influential online community in the world."

1986: Protocol wars

The so-called Protocol wars began in 1986. European countries at that time were pursuing the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), while the United States was using the Internet/Arpanet protocol, which eventually won out.

1987: The Internet grows

By 1987, there were nearly 30,000 hosts on the Internet. The original Arpanet protocol had been limited to 1,000 hosts, but the adoption of the TCP/IP standard made larger numbers of hosts possible.

1988: IRC – Internet Relay Chat

Also in 1988, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was first deployed, paving the way for real-time chat and the instant messaging programs we use today.

1988: First major malicious internet-based attack

One of the first major Internet worms was released in 1988. Referred to as "The Morris Worm", it was written by Robert Tappan Morris and caused major interruptions across large parts of the Internet.

1989: AOL is launched

When Apple pulled out of the AppleLink program in 1989, the project was renamed and America Online was born. AOL, still in existence today, later on made the Internet popular amongst the average internet users.

1989: The proposal for the World Wide Web

1989 also brought about the proposal for the World Wide Web, written by Tim Berners-Lee. It was originally published in the March issue of MacWorld, and then redistributed in May 1990. It was written to persuade CERN that a global hypertext system was in CERN’s best interest. It was originally called "Mesh"; the term "World Wide Web" was coined while Berners-Lee was writing the code in 1990.

1990: First commercial dial-up ISP

1990 also brought about the first commercial dial-up Internet provider, The World. The same year, Arpanet ceased to exist.

1990: World Wide Web protocols finished

The code for the World Wide Web was written by Tim Berners-Lee, based on his proposal from the year before, along with the standards for HTML, HTTP, and URLs.

1991: First web page created

1991 brought some major innovations to the world of the Internet. The first web page was created and, much like the first email explained what email was, its purpose was to explain what the World Wide Web was.

1991: First content-based search engine

Also in the same year, the first search engine that examined file contents instead of just file names was launched, called Gopher.

1991: MP3 becomes a standard

Also, the MP3 file format was accepted as a standard in 1991. MP3 files, being highly compressed, later become a popular file format to share songs and entire albums via the internet.

1991: The first webcam

One of the more interesting developments of this era, though, was the first webcam. It was deployed at a Cambridge University computer lab, and its sole purpose was to monitor a particular coffee maker so that lab users could avoid wasted trips to an empty coffee pot.

1993: Mosaic – first graphical web browser for the general public

The first widely downloaded Internet browser, Mosaic, was released in 1993. While Mosaic wasn’t the first web browser, it is considered the first browser to make the Internet easily accessible to non-techies.

1993: Governments join in on the fun

In 1993, both the White House and the United Nations came online, marking the beginning of the .gov and .org domain names.

1994: Netscape Navigator

Mosaic’s first big competitor, Netscape Navigator, was released the year following (1994).

1995: Commercialization of the internet

1995 is often considered the first year the web became commercialized. While there were commercial enterprises online prior to ‘95, there were a few key developments that happened that year. First, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption was developed by Netscape, making it safer to conduct financial transactions (like credit card payments) online.

In addition, two major online businesses got their start the same year. The first sale on "Echo Bay" was made that year. Echo Bay later became eBay. Amazon.com also started in 1995, though it didn’t turn a profit for six years, until 2001.

1995: Geocities, the Vatican goes online, and JavaScript

Other major developments that year included the launch of Geocities (which officially closed down on October 26, 2009).

The Vatican also went online for the first time.

Sun Microsystems launched the Java and JavaScript programming languages in 1995. ActiveX was launched by Microsoft the following year.

1996: First web-based (webmail) service

In 1996, HoTMaiL (the capitalized letters are an homage to HTML), the first webmail service, was launched.

1997: The term "weblog" is coined

While the first blogs had been around for a few years in one form or another, 1997 was the first year the term "weblog" was used.

1998: First new story to be broken online instead of traditional media

In 1998, the first major news story to be broken online was the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal (also referred to as "Monicagate" among other nicknames), which was posted on The Drudge Report after Newsweek killed the story.

1998: Google!

Google went live in 1998, revolutionizing the way in which people find information online.

1998: Internet-based file-sharing gets its roots

In 1998 as well, Napster launched, opening up the gates to mainstream file-sharing of audio files over the internet.

1999: SETI@home project

1999 is the year when one of the more interesting projects ever brought online: the SETI@home project, launched. The project has created the equivalent of a giant supercomputer by harnessing the computing power of more than 3 million computers worldwide, using their processors whenever the screensaver comes on, indicating that the computer is idle. The program analyzes radio telescope data to look for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.

2000: The bubble bursts

2000 was the year of the dotcom collapse, resulting in huge losses for legions of investors. Hundreds of companies closed, some of which had never turned a profit for their investors. The NASDAQ, which listed a large number of tech companies affected by the bubble, peaked at over 5,000, then lost 10% of its value in a single day, and finally hit bottom in October of 2002.

2001: Wikipedia is launched

With the dotcom collapse still going strong, Wikipedia launched in 2001, one of the websites that paved the way for collective web content generation/social media.

2003: VoIP goes mainstream

In 2003: Skype is released to the public, giving a user-friendly interface to Voice over IP calling.

2003: MySpace becomes the most popular social network

Also in 2003, MySpace opens up its doors. It later grew to be the most popular social network at one time (thought it has since been overtaken by Facebook).

2003: CAN-SPAM Act puts a lid on unsolicited emails

Another major advance in 2003 was the signing of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, better known as the CAN-SPAM Act.

2004: Web 2.0

Though coined in 1999 by Darcy DiNucci, the term "Web 2.0", referring to websites and Rich Internet Applications (RIA) that are highly interactive and user-driven became popular around 2004. During the first Web 2.0 conference, John Batelle and Tim O’Reilly described the concept of "the Web as a Platform":  software applications built to take advantage of internet connectivity, moving away from the desktop (which has downsides such as operating system dependency and lack of interoperability).

2004: Social Media and Digg

The term "social media", believed to be first used by Chris Sharpley, was coined in the same year that "Web 2.0" became a mainstream concept. Social media–sites and web applications that allow its users to create and share content and to connect with one another–started around this period.

Digg, a social news site, launched on November of 2004, paving the way for sites such as Reddit, Mixx, and Yahoo! Buzz. Digg revolutionized traditional means of generating and finding web content, democratically promoting news and web links that are reviewed and voted on by a community.

2004: "The" Facebook open to college students

Facebook launched in 2004, though at the time it was only open to college students and was called "The Facebook"; later on, "The" was dropped from the name, though the URL http://www.thefacebook.com still works.

2005: YouTube – streaming video for the masses

YouTube launched in 2005, bringing free online video hosting and sharing to the masses.

2006: Twitter gets twittering

Twitter launched in 2006. It was originally going to be called twittr (inspired by Flickr); the first Twitter message was "just setting up my twttr".

2007: Major move to place TV shows online

Hulu was first launched in 2007, a joint venture between ABC, NBC, and Fox to make popular TV shows available to watch online.

2007: The iPhone and the Mobile Web

The biggest innovation of 2007 was almost certainly the iPhone, which was almost wholly responsible for renewed interest in mobile web applications and design.

2008: "Internet Election"

The first "Internet election" took place in 2008 with the U.S. Presidential election. It was the first year that national candidates took full advantage of all the Internet had to offer. Hillary Clinton jumped on board early with YouTube campaign videos. Virtually every candidate had a Facebook page or a Twitter feed, or both.

Ron Paul set a new fundraising record by raising $4.3 million in a single day through online donations, and then beat his own record only weeks later by raising $4.4 million in a single day.

The 2008 elections placed the Internet squarely at the forefront of politics and campaigning, a trend that is unlikely to change any time in the near future.

2009: ICANN policy changes

2009 brought about one of the biggest changes to come to the Internet in a long time when the U.S. relaxed its control over ICANN, the official naming body of the Internet (they’re the organization in charge of registering domain names).

The Future?

Where is the future of the Internet headed? Share your opinions in the comments section.

Sources and Further Reading

• A People’s History of the Internet: from Arpanet in 1969 to Today: A timeline of the Internet from guardian.co.uk.
• History of the Internet: An early timeline of the Internet, from precursors in the 1800s up through 1997.
• A Brief History of the Web: A series of videos from Microsoft to celebrate the launch of Internet Explorer 8.
• The History of the Internet – Tim Berners-Lee: A brief history of major developments associated with the Internet from About.com.
• Hobbes’ Internet Timeline – the definitive ARPAnet & Internet History: A very thorough timeline of the Internet, starting in 1957 and going up through 2004, with tons of statistics and source material included.
• Internet Timeline: A basic timeline of Internet history from FactMonster.com.

Related Content

• The History of Web Browsers
• Popular Search Engines in the 90’s: Then and Now
• 10 Revealing Infographics about the Web
• Related categories: Web Development and Infographics

About the Author

Cameron Chapman is a professional web and graphic designer with over 6 years of experience in the industry. She’s also written for numerous blogs such as Smashing Magazine and Mashable. You can find her personal web presence at Cameron Chapman On Writing. If you’d like to connect with her, check her out on Twitter.

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That from the chaos we got a workable — some would argue good — solution for creating the web is proof on some level that conversations and not abstracts, proposals and design by committee are the key to HTML’s success.

As Pilgrim writes:

HTML has always been a conversation between browser makers, authors, standards wonks, and other people who just showed up and liked to talk about angle brackets. Most of the successful versions of HTML have been “retro-specs,” catching up to the world while simultaneously trying to nudge it in the right direction.

You might be wondering, why did img succeed where other proposals, like an include or an icon tag failed? The answer is simple, because Marc Andreessen shipped code — Netscape Navigator — while those backing the other proposals, for most part, did not.

Of course that doesn’t mean that just shipping code is always good plan. Shipping code before a standard doesn’t necessarily produce the best solutions, as Pilgrim says. Or, put another way by a commentator on Pilgrim’s post, “shipping doesn’t mean you win, but not shipping means you lose.”

From those who shipped without the official blessing of a standard, we’ve come to have an img tag, the basis for AJAX, all of the HTML5 tools available in browsers today and much more.

Critics of HTML’s disorganized evolution will be quick to note that we’ve also come to have the blink tag, cross-browser rendering issues and other pains of web development.

Indeed we’re not suggesting that shipping features without at least engaging in the conversation is a good idea, but, when it comes to the future of HTML, if browser makers don’t ship HTML5 features before the standard is official we’ll be waiting until 2022 to use the new tools.

But while the future of HTML5 might be moving at a rather slow and convoluted pace. Pilgrim’s post is reminder that HTML has always progressed that way.

Perhaps the truly remarkable part is that, for all its flaws and convoluted evolution the core tech behind the web remains essentially the same now as it was then. “HTML is an unbroken line… a twisted, knotted, snarled line, to be sure… but still… Here we are, in 2009, and web pages from 1990 still render in modern browsers.”

See Also:

• How HTML 5 Is Already Changing the Web
• What HTML 5 is and What it is Not
• HTML 5 Won’t Be Ready Until 2022. Yes, 2022.

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Here’s my contribution for this Friday’s #followfriday: Tim Berners-Lee. Yes, the guy who pretty much invented the World Wide Web back in 1989 (has it been that long already?) has finally joined the omnipresent microblogging service.

Berners-Lee already has over 2,500 followers, but we don’t doubt this number will increase quickly, as he remains a very influential thinker and speaker. He won a Webby award for lifetime achievement this year, he got one honorary doctorate and awaits another only in 2009, and he spoke at the Web 2.0 Summit just yesterday.

So, what was his first tweet? Amazingly, he complained about a “confusing user interfxce,” but hours later connected his Twitter and Facebook accounts with identi.ca. Cheers, Tim, we wish you a lot of happy tweets!

[Image credit: Wikipedia]

Tags: Tim Berners-Lee, twitter, www

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Tim Berners-Lee at the Web 2.0 Summit.

(Credit:
Rafe Needleman/CNET)

SAN FRANCISCO–When Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, entered the room for the final interview at the Web 2.0 Summit, the audience stood up for him.

Appropriately so, since most of those present here Thursday owe their livelihoods to his invention. In an on-stage interview with Tim O’Reilly, the audience was listening to Berners-Lee not just for his perspective but his guidance. While not explicitly called out in the discussion, there was good advice in what he had to say. Here’s what I heard:

Don’t build your laws into the Web. “Technology shouldn’t tell you what’s right and what’s wrong,” Berners-Lee said. “The rule of law applies on the Web. It’s a platform for humanity.” He does not appear believe that it is appropriate to code local laws onto the global platform, preferring to leave enforcement to existing means–police and courts.

Fault-tolerance is vital. Responding to question from O’Reilly about the “404″ page being one of the critical inventions on the Web, Berners-Lee said, “It was a trade-off and a design choice.” But, he added, “The great thing is you can write a bunch of links and you don’t have to wait” for them all to work. Building a tight system where everything is guaranteed to work is possible in smaller configurations but not on a global scale.

If you want it everywhere, give it away. The Twitter founders must have heard this message before they built their product. When asked why Berners-Lee never thought about charging for the Web, the answer was practical and capitalistic. “Because we wanted it everywhere,” He said. “We wanted an URL for every page.” And he got it. Ubiquity would not have been possible with competing, paid hypertext systems.

Large companies are the enemy. I’m interpreting here, from this statement: “I’m worried about anything large coming in to take control, whether it’s large companies or government.” For example, he said that large social networks like Facebook end up with undue control over communications because they are not open to other systems. As he said, in the old days of e-mail, you could e-mail anyone, anywhere, from any system. They all interconnected. With large, closed systems, users cede control to the owners.

Small open companies can topple big closed ones. Berners-Lee believes that if you have small companies that connect to each other in an open way (for example, small social networks using a standard to connect their networks), then it’s possible that the lone, closed system, no matter how large, can fail.

Separate design from device. The growth of mobile devices is one example of how thinking about Web design for one size screen–a PC or laptop–can cut a product off from growth. Another: not considering the increase in the number of users with “huge screens” on which a design created for, say, and 800×600 Flash window, will appear tiny and weak.

Consider content as app. Thanks to HTML 5, which Berners-Lee calls a competing platform more than a content standard, Web pages can turn into widgets, and some apps won’t be distinguishable from Web pages.

Forge trust. Berners-Lee says, “One of the whole gating factors of getting the whole world of Web apps to take off is trust.” He says that when Web apps get data from different services and those services similarly reach out to others, how do users, customers, and companies ever learn to trust a single site? What’s the solution? He doesn’t know, but believes it’s an opportunity: “If we get a really good solution to the problem, then Web apps will be amazing.”

Make the Web work for more people. As Berners-Lee says, only 20 percent to 25 percent of humans uses the Web even though 80 percent “have signal,” that is, they could get on the Web where they are if they had the tools or desire to do so. He believes that one of the reasons use of the Web is lower than its availability is that much of the Web isn’t designed for all cultures. The World Wide Web Foundation is Berners-Lee’s platform for pushing for more Web access for the world. He puts the challenge this way: “It’s about figuring out what is the little thing we can tweak so that people can get online, 15 years before they would otherwise?” More people connected means more empowered people. Which, by the way, means more of a market for Web inventors.

Originally posted at Rafe’s Radar

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