History

The first web designer was Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web and put the first web site online in August 1991. Lee was the first to combine Internet communication (which had been carrying email and the Usenet for decades) with hypertext (which had also been around for decades, but limited to browsing information stored on a single computer, such as interactive CD-ROM design.

At first, web design utilized a simple markup language, called HTML, that included some formatting options and the ability to link pages together using hyperlinks. It was this feature that distinguished the Web from other communication media and Web design from other design disciplines. The unique characteristics of the World Wide Web and the unique behaviour it encouraged in users made Web design would unlike any other form of design before.

As the Web and Web design progressed, the markup language used to make it, known as HTML, became more complex and flexible. Things like tables, which could be used to display tabular information, were soon subverted for use as invisible layout devices. With the advent of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), table based layout is increasingly regarded as outdated. Database integration technologies such as server-side scripting (see CGI, PHP, ASP.NET, ASP, JSP, and ColdFusion) and design standards like CSS further changed and enhanced the way the Web was made.