Views on the WWW

Today is Sunday , May 11 th 2008, its 4:50 PM , and the best things in life are still free! (including the latest browsers)
The image above was created entirely in Adobe Photoshop and is not "real". You should see my virtual vacation pictures from my last visit to Mars! :)

Some things never change. I wrote my first column here in 1996, just as the new Netscape 3.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 had hit the market. I spoke a bit about the browser wars at that time between the big "2". Well, today the 4.0 versions of each browser have been on the market for awhile, and the war is still on. Just today, I read an editorial in the newspaper entitled "No need to attack Microsoft for market mastery", in which the author, Donald Kaul, tells the story of the introduction of Microsoft IE 4.0. He goes onto tell that after the programmers thought they had it ready to introduce, they drove to Netscape headquarters at 1:30 in the morning and left a 16-foot "E" on the front lawn, with an insulting note. " I'm going to make their stock options worth nothing," one IE developer was heard to mutter. So it looks as if the war is far from over. Some good has come from this battle however, browser technology has increased by leaps and bounds over the past several years, and pricing has remained free. You don't believe me? Then click on over to browsers.com to download the latest browser, and you can thank me later.

I love the web, I've grown up here and its my second home, but as in every home there are a few annoyances one has to put up with. For starters, there's the fact that there are so damned many variables that can affect the way one views the web. Not only do the various browsers "see" web pages differently, but user's computers can be set to different preferences allowing the web to look far different than the web developer intended. Various things such as default fonts and font size, color settings, and screen resolutions all play an important factor in the way web pages appear. As a designer, one of the most difficult and time-consuming things we do (good designers should do) is trying to create a site that looks good with every major browser in use, and with any screen setting. Font and color settings are beyond our control so we just have to hope that the majority of users maintain the factory default font settings and set their color setting to true color. Let's face it, not much looks good with only 256 colors. It is my hope that someday what you see on the web will be the same as what I see. Maybe someday everyone will have a graphics card capable of displaying true color, operating systems will have a default button for systems settings, and browsers will become standardized. I hope I live that long. :)

The Future

Wouldn't a crystal ball be nice? The Internet has to be the most rapid paced industry ever. As a viewing experience, it's evolved from gray pages with straight text and occasional graphics to a multimedia production in just a few short years. The web has grown from 130 sites in 1993, to over 90,000 in January `96. Over 50% of those sites are commercial. Statistics show there are currently over 50 million pages on the web!

As far as the future of the web sites themselves, interactivity and the ability to access data on demand, is moving business sites in the direction of database integration. Having a database to draw information from gives sites the ability to create "custom" pages on the fly, keeping sites current and allowing users to select only the information they wish to view. Maintenance and changes to these d-base driven sites is also easier for the webmaster to administer.

What's Next?
So what's next? If I had to make a prediction, I would say the next major step will be changes in the way we link to our ISP's. Cable TV lines, ADSL telephone lines, and satellite should be the next likely mode of Internet access and I would guess within 2 years super fast connects through local cable companies, and phone companies, will be available in almost every community, with rates similar to what most of us are paying now. This will relieve the burden on the telecommunication lines and make the Internet a much more pleasurable surfing/shopping experience. When high speed Internet reaches the masses, home shopping will thrive and business with their foot already in the door will have the competitive edge.