The evolution of the Web is a beautiful thing, especially when Vizzuality and Hyperakt combine all the latest in Web design into an interactive graphic that gives viewers a colorful array of Web history.
Debuted at Google I/O, the visualization uses color bands to represent the interaction between Web technologies and browsers, highlighting Web apps and the growth of technology. Viewable with two backdrops, 3-D effects, animations and panning and zooming capabilities help show just how far the Web has come, even without the historical information.
View the interactive graphic here.
“Over time, Web technologies have evolved to give Web developers the ability to create new generations of useful and immersive Web experiences,” the designers say on their website. “Today’s Web is a result of the ongoing efforts of an open Web community that helps define these Web technologies.”
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The graphic starts out relatively bare in 1991 with a small blue line depicting HTTP but starts getting crowded in the mid-1990s, when more technologies and Web browsers start to mix together. The graphic remains relatively steady until about 2008, when a new wave of technologies entered the fray, really helping to define the Web as we know it. By 2012, we can see just how vastly different the Web is from where it was, even just a few years before, let alone two decades prior.
The image gives you a chance to trace the history of a specific technology or browser or view them all in one fell swoop.