In the early 2000s, Web 2.0 prompted new web standards, HTML5 and CSS3. Developers used 'shims' and 'polyfills' for browser compatibility, fostering innovation. The post Filling gaps with a polyfill appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Reading the original text of ‘Information Management: A Proposal’, the initial proposal from the internet’s inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, doesn’t really put you in the moment. Until now thanks to an insane quest by John Graham-Cumming to take the original file created by Berners-Lee … | Continue reading
The indie web may be back. But if is, it is likely in a way we least expect. The post We’ve been waiting 20 years for this appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
In 2011, early Facebooker John Hammerbacher was quoted as saying: The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks Given Facebook (sorry, I mean Meta’s) latest statement about artificial general intelligence, an all the enthusiasm poured … | Continue reading
If it's the early 2000s you might make a dire decision: it's time to block IE6. The post How to Block IE6 appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Today I’m looking at the work of Faruk Ates, who created the first version of Modernizr back in 2009. With the help of several other developers in a remarkably short period of time, Ate’s initial prototype transformed into a fully-featured library that empowered developers worldw … | Continue reading
The internet's openness, championed by pioneers like Tim Berners-Lee, as well as concerns over its limitations, are explored in a retrospective on the history and future of the open web. The duality of its freedom – a gift and a constraint – points to the need for a more inclusiv … | Continue reading
I am a bit distressed about the web. Sometimes, I panic about it. And it’s why I look back so often to try and capture the long view. But when I peak up to loo around a lot of what I see—or rather, what is surfaced to me by broken down algorithms that hides beneath the […] The po … | Continue reading
How this one small browser quirk turned into a tool used by countless people for decades. The post Wait, what’s a bookmarklet? appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
When the Allaire brothers were looking for a way to build websites, nothing stuck out. So they built their own and called it Coldfusion. The post Building Coldfusion for the web appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
It occurs to me that, much like the web, what’s absent from the next wave of AI tools are any sort of concept of transclusion. Translcusion would have the sources of data traveling along the same pipes as that data itself, and make attribution actually possible. Can you imagine i … | Continue reading
I was reading about the latest experiment from Google, an AI-powered research tool called NotebookLM and I came across the name Steven Johnson. After doing a bit of digging I found that it was the same Steve Johnson who co-founded Feed magazine and wrote many books, including Int … | Continue reading
There are a lot of stories about companies or tech scenes that spawned really intricate web pedigrees as former employees made their way into the world and started new companies that had lasting impacts. The PayPal Mafia is the most cited example, but Silicon Alley also comes to … | Continue reading
I’ve been interested in Coldfusion for a while, as this language that was (and in some ways still is) very popular, but never quite made the headlines. I like what its creator, JJ Allaire, had to say about his goal when he created it though: We built a language that had as its at … | Continue reading
It used to not be all that common for some teenager to be borderline (internet) famous for just totally killing it at web dev. I’ve written about Lissa Explains it All and then recently came across this post about Nick Heinle, who wrote a book about JavaScript for O’Reilly when h … | Continue reading
I just learned that Molly Holzschlag has passed. She was a tireless advocate for the principles of the open web. […] The post Remembering Molly: one of the greats appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
In 1994, Ted Leonsis was the head of the new media marketing firm he created, Redgate Communications, spun out six […] The post AOL Pretends to be the Internet appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
I was reading over a 1997 article in the Economists about the current state of what was still being called Electronic Commerce and I was struck by how simple its goals were: And since a shopper’s every step through a Web site can be traced, an online merchant can quickly put toge … | Continue reading
On July 28, 1993, a group of web pioneers met in a small room for a few days. For many, it was the first time they had ever met. The post When the wizards of the web met appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
The Crash When the pieces began to fall in the early months of 2000, it happened quick. “It was the […] The post The crash that ended it all appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
As the dot-com hype began to rise, entrepreneurs and ordinary investors got swept up in the fervor. The post The Dot-com surge appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
The Flatiron building is one of the most instantly recognizable buildings in New York City. Built at the beginning of […] The post From the valley to the alley appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
I got a bit caught up this month, so I had to delay a couple of things, but I’ll be […] The post The web’s most important decision appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Chapter 11: Dot-Com is live! Part 1 at least. I’m going to be sending out this chapter over the next couple […] The post Dot-Com Part 1: Burning up appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
There is a lot out there about the dot-com bubble, and its subsequent burst. I tried to limit the scope […] The post Reading about the dot-com era appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Jay has gathered his ten (and counting) chapters on the history of the web into one site. There’s also a podcast feed of all ten chapters, narrated by yours truly. adactio.com/links/19884 | Continue reading
This is it! As of today, I’ve put all of the chapters I’ve written up on it’s own site. I’ve also […] The post History of the Web, the First 10 Chapters appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
The Mosaic browser was released thirty years ago. It’s credited with a lot of firsts. When I wrote about Mosaic […] The post Mosaic in the rear view appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
The Mosaic browser was released thirty years ago. It’s credited with a lot of firsts. When I wrote about Mosaic […] The post Mosaic in the rear view appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
I started this newsletter over five years ago. It started with a timeline and a single post. As I dug into research, I […] The post Maybe we change things up a bit? appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
I started this newsletter over five years ago. It started with a timeline and a single post. As I dug into research, I […] The post Maybe we change things up a bit? appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
The history of JSON is the history of the people that created it, and what they set out to do with the software they wrote. The post AJAX without the X: The History of JSON appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
The history of JSON is the history of the people that created it, and what they set out to do with the software they wrote. The post AJAX without the X: The History of JSON appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Has the web become more productized? The post Web Products Everywhere appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Has the web become more productized? The post Web Products Everywhere appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
On the early web, some content pioneers experimented with interactive, community-fed, literate smut. The post “Playboy’s body with the New Yorker’s brain” appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
In the mid to late 80’s, a group of undergrads met at Brown University. They were immersed in the liberal […] The post “Playboy’s body with the New Yorker’s brain” appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
News used to be behind a paywall, or not. But then a publication figured out how to do both. The post It’s Time to Pay the Meter appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
News used to be behind a paywall, or not. But then a publication figured out how to do both. The post It’s Time to Pay the Meter appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
There's a word for what you're feeling. It's anemoia. And it's completely made up. The post This is what you’re nostalgic for appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
There's a word for what you're feeling. It's anemoia. And it's completely made up. The post This is what you’re nostalgic for appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Way before social media, listservs acted as a glue that held the web community together. The post Spiderwoman, Wise-Women: Listservs to connect appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Way before social media, listservs acted as a glue that held the web community together. The post Spiderwoman, Wise-Women: Listservs to connect appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
Believe it or not, there was a time before search engines. Discovery on the web was far more difficult. It was easy to get lost. That is, until a few different people created a map. | Continue reading
You have a few options. How much time you got? The post It’s 1997 and you want to build a website appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
You have a few options. How much time you got? The post It’s 1997 and you want to build a website appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
When the iPhone was released, two apps rushed to market in a battle over geolocation that would come to be briefly known as the "location wars" The post Gowalla, Foursquare and the (very) brief history of the Location Wars appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading
When the iPhone was released, two apps rushed to market in a battle over geolocation that would come to be briefly known as the "location wars" The post Gowalla, Foursquare and the (very) brief history of the Location Wars appeared first on The History of the Web. | Continue reading