During the 1990s, the World Wide Web underwent a transformative period of growth and development. It was a time when the internet was transitioning from a niche technology used primarily by academics and researchers to a global phenomenon that would revolutionize communication, commerce, and information sharing.
The web during the 90s was characterized by its simplicity, limited technology, and a sense of exploration and experimentation. Websites were predominantly text-based, graphics were minimal, and interactivity was limited. This era laid the foundation for many of the technologies and concepts that shape the modern web today. Let's dive deeper into the various aspects of the web during the 1990s and explore how it has evolved over time.
Imagine the internet without all the advertisements, complex websites and their layouts, social media platforms, web apps, games, the presense of big tech companies like Google and Amazon, mobile design, and even funny memes.
That was the internet of the '90s. It was slow, sometimes frustrating, and unsophisticated. You couldn't access through your phone because phones couldn't do that. You had to use a big clunky desktop computer that if it ran any of the apps modern computers come installed with, it would probably crash. Yet it was simple and excitement inducing. People at the time wondered and discovered the vast possibilities of such a frontier.
The World Wide Web, often referred to simply as the web, was created during the 1990s by a British computer scientist named Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee's vision was to develop a system that would allow researchers to easily share and access information across different computers and networks.
In 1989, while working at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland, Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for what would become the World Wide Web. His proposal outlined the concept of hypertext, a way of linking documents together using hyperlinks, and described the development of a system that would enable people to navigate and retrieve information stored on remote computers.
Berners-Lee's system consisted of three key components: HTML, HTTP, and a Web Browser, all topics covered later in this page. With these foundational elements in place, Berners-Lee and his team at CERN worked on implementing and refining the web protocols and tools. They gradually expanded the web's capabilities, enabling features such as images, forms, and the ability to display different media types.
In 1993, CERN made the World Wide Web technology freely available to the public, marking the beginning of its widespread adoption. This openness and accessibility played a crucial role in the rapid growth of the web during the 1990s, as developers worldwide embraced the technology and began creating their own websites and web applications.
Since the internet was during it's early stages of development there was not exactly much going on, but I can give you a list with some amount of explaination.
During the '90s the first search engines and web browsers would be developed and released for the public to use. If you don't know a search engine is a program that provided users with a way to search for specific content, websites, or resources based on keywords. A web browser is used the gateway for accessing and navigating the World Wide Web. They provide users a way to view web pages, follow hyperlinks, and interact with online content.
Some popular web browsers during the time included:
Some popular search engines during the time included:
As slow, imperfect, and inefficient these elements of the internet were, as said before, they would set up their modern day equivalents to be what they are today.
To say it was revolutionary is an understatement. The internet made revolutionized society in so many different ways at the time like:
HTML(HyperText Markup Language) was created to be the backup of the internet. While technically a markup language, many programmers consider it as the backbone of all websites. The language is unmistakable for it's syntax that mostly uses opening and closing tags to represent elements of a website. No matter what decade they were created in, all websites use some sort of HTML. During the 1990s, versions 1.0 to 3.2 of HTML would be developed and released to the public.
| HTML Version | Key Features |
|---|---|
| HTML 1.0 (1993) | Basic structure, Text formatting, Hyperlinks, Lists |
| HTML 2.0 (1995) | Tables, Images, Forms |
| HTML 3.2 (1997) | Frames, Text-level semantics |
| HTML 4.01 (1999) | Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Improved forms, Scripting |
| HTML5 (2014) | Semantic elements, Multimedia, Form enhancements, Offline and storage, Geolocation, WebSockets |
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is a protocol that governs the communication between web servers and clients, enabling the transfer of hypertext documents on the internet. It is the foundation of the World Wide Web and plays a crucial role in how information is requested, transmitted, and displayed on web browsers.
During the 90s, HTTP was an essential part of the internet infrastructure, facilitating the delivery of web content. It allowed users to access websites by requesting specific resources, such as HTML files, images, or videos, from web servers. HTTP defined a set of rules for how these requests and responses should be formatted and transmitted.
Hyperlinks, also known as links, are the clickable elements on web pages that connect one resource to another. They allow users to navigate between different web pages, websites, or sections within a page. Hyperlinks were a fundamental feature of the World Wide Web in the 90s, enabling users to explore and discover content across the internet.
In the 90s, hyperlinks were primarily text-based, typically displayed in a different color or underlined to indicate their clickable nature. When a user clicked on a hyperlink, their web browser would send an HTTP request to the linked URL, and the corresponding web page or resource would be loaded and displayed in the browser window.
Both HTTP and hyperlinks were instrumental in shaping the relevance and usability of the internet during the 90s. They allowed for seamless navigation between web pages, facilitating the interconnected nature of the web. This made it easier for users to access and share information, fostering the growth of online communities, the dissemination of knowledge, and the expansion of online services and businesses.
| Status Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 100 | Continue |
| 101 | Switching Protocols |
| 200 | OK |
| 201 | Created |
| 300 | Multiple Choices |
| 301 | Moved Permanently |
| 400 | Bad Request |
| 401 | Unauthorized |
| 500 | Internal Server Error |
| 501 | Not Implemented |
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a server-side scripting language that was highly relevant to the development of the internet during the 90s. It was specifically designed for web development and played a significant role in powering dynamic websites and applications.
During the 90s, the web was transitioning from static HTML pages to more interactive and dynamic content. PHP emerged as a popular scripting language that allowed developers to embed server-side code directly into web pages. This enabled the generation of dynamic content based on user input, database queries, and other server-side processes.
PHP provided a range of features and functionalities that were instrumental in the development of interactive websites during the 90s. It offered seamless integration with databases, allowing developers to retrieve and manipulate data dynamically. PHP also supported server-side form handling, session management, and the ability to create and manage cookies, enhancing the interactivity and personalization of websites.
Additionally, PHP had extensive support for server-side file manipulation, enabling developers to upload and process files, manage directories, and perform various file-related operations. This was particularly relevant for websites that involved user-generated content, such as forums, file-sharing platforms, and early social networking sites.
The simplicity and flexibility of PHP made it widely adopted by web developers during the 90s. It provided a server-side scripting solution that was easy to learn and allowed for rapid web development. PHP's open-source nature also contributed to its popularity, as it fostered a vibrant community of developers who created libraries, frameworks, and resources to further enhance PHP's capabilities.
Overall, PHP played a crucial role in the evolution of the internet during the 90s by enabling the development of dynamic and interactive websites. It provided the necessary tools and functionality for developers to create engaging online experiences, paving the way for the modern web we know today.
The internet during the '90s was a radically different place compared to what it is right now. But, it is clear that the nature the internet would first be used and developed would set-up to be what is today.
Check out the next page, The 2000s