Websites have changed a lot since the internet was opened to the public in 1991. There is so much more we can do now. A lot of the code that we depend on today hadn’t even been invented yet.
The first website I coded (in 1995) was not for business but for fun, it was a geocities site that I wrote in notepad and was amazed I could put pictures and layout onto a website just by entering some simple lines of HTML code. Back then my accomplishments were amazing to me, now the design is embarrassing. Like being caught in 1995 fashion would be. Even the screen capture of my old website the left here is a bit embarrassing, but lets just consider this a throwback for thursday, even thou today is monday.
I was lead down nostalgia lane when a customer send me a link to this Business Insider article. I remember some of these sites from back then, and admire at how far they have come.
While I applaud the evolution of sites like JC Penny’s (see below) I have to stop and shake my head at Pepsi.(also below) The design of their site might look strange now, but that is a site that filled up your screen but you didn’t need to scroll for more content. It was a frame site with everything you needed in the center. Perhaps they had a slide show there or maybe even a video. In 1996 that kind of design was far ahead of it’s time, it was revolutionary. Many sites ended up opting for this design (without the crazy background, but that was all the rage in the 190s, trust me) and stuck with it for years.
These sites would be flash sites, a new thing that everyone said would be the wave of the future in website design. I remember rallying against Flash as a basis for a website, or insisting that you also have a link to a HTML site too. My reason was mostly not everyone has flash installed and many people at work can’t add new programs without calling in IT. My words fell on deaf ears and my piers told me I was crazy. Yet her we are, in a time when most sites are completely flash free, iphones never could support it and there are no updates for androids with flash nor do new android phones have flash. We all know how sites must be viewable on our phones or they are deemed a failure now.
Look at Pepsi’s site now though, instead of being forward thinking it just looks like a mess. It looks like a throwback to the early days of myspace. I don’t know where to look, the pictures change, it’s clunky, the top doesn’t line up with the bottom and it just looks sad and outdated. It’s sad that a site who was ahead of their time now look horrible dated. Sure it has a good color scheme and the pictures are nice, but most web visits take less than five seconds to decide if they will click around your website to learn more or skip on to the next hit in their web search. Sites need to use composition to help the viewers eye find the information they need, and the links to other pages to keep them on the site.
What about your website? Does it look modern or like it’s stuck in the 90s? Does it look crisp and clean? Does make good use of the space it has on your screen? Is it compatible on all platforms? Can you use it through your phone? If you’re missing any of this, let me know and maybe we can work on it for you.
