The History of the Web

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Can Directories Rise Again?

Published: May 21, 2025

With search getting worse by the day, maybe it’s time we rebounded in the other direction. The long forgotten directory.

Uncategorized

The innovative designs of 1995

Published: April 22, 2025

In 1995, a new industry was born, and design became a true practice.

Uncategorized

1995 Was the Most Important Year for the Web

Published: April 8, 2025

The world changed a lot in 1995. And for the web, it was a transformational year.

Web Future

Our Online Homes Need Infastructure

Published: March 25, 2025

A home online is about as essential as it gets. But we need to make that easier. Where are we heading to build this new web together?

Uncategorized

Expanding Access: The History of Ecommerce Part 1

Published: March 4, 2025

The earliest work with selling things online was all about reaching a shopping public ready to log on and start. But along the way, they found a whole new audience for shopping, which changed the way we think about commerce on the web..

Web Future

What happens to what we’ve already created?

Published: February 11, 2025

When we think about AI, we can’t only think of what it has generated. We need to think about what it does to what the world has already created.

Uncategorized

Would the internet exist today if the printing press didn’t come before it?

Published: January 28, 2025

The breakthroughs of the web are often compared to the printing press. But could the former exist without the latter?

Uncategorized

Progressive enhancement brings everyone in

Published: January 7, 2025

Early computers faced unexpected failures, and that gave us graceful degradation. But on the web, we needed something different. We needed progressive enhancement.

Publishing

Where did mainstream media come from?

Published: December 10, 2024

The term mainstream media is so common these days, we can forget where it came from. But it has an interesting connection with the web.

Web Future

The Free Web

Published: November 26, 2024

There is something you can do to help the open web. Put yourself on it.

Significant Websites

The Website that Predicted AI

Published: November 13, 2024

There’s a website developed with a personalized experience in mind. It touts major breakthroughs in predictive technology, driven by sophisticated algorithms that provide real-time recommendations. And it was launched in 1995.

Breakthroughs

It’s Lists All the Way Down

Published: September 25, 2024

When you get down to it, a lot of the web is just lists. And that’s kind of what it was meant for.

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The History of the Web is a project by Jay Hoffmann. Get in touch or Follow me on Mastodon.