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LEARN MORE ABOUT WEB 1.0

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Web 1.0 refers to the first stage in the World Wide Web, which was entirely made up of web pages connected by hyperlinks. Although the exact definition of Web 1.0 is a source of debate.

 

 

 

It is generally believed to refer to the web when it was a set of static websites that were not yet providing interactive content. In Web 1.0, applications were also generally proprietary.

Exactly where Web 1.0 ends and Web 2.0 begins cannot be determined as this a change that happened gradually over time as the internetbecame more interactive.

During the stage known as Web 1.0, websites were marked by the following typical Web 1.0 characteristics:

  • Static pages: Pages didn’t offer interactive features that changed based on website visitor behavior. At that point websites were largely informational.

  • Website content stored in files: Virtually every modern website makes use of a database to store the majority of website content. During Web 1.0 this was not the case and most website content was stored directly in the website files, not in a separate database.

  • Combination of content and layout: Good web design practice today dictates the separation of webpage markup and styling. Virtually every modern website makes use of external style sheets to determine the look and layout of webpages. During Web 1.0 most styling was built into the page markup itself, often by misusing HTML elements such as tables.

  • Proprietary HTML tags: During Web 1.0 browsers attempted to stand out by offering support for proprietary tags, creating significant incompatibility problems between websites that

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        used these tags and site visitors using unsupported browsers.

  • Guestbooks: Website visitor comments were usually added to a Guestbook page rather than attached directly to content pages.

  • E-mailing of forms: Web hosting servers during the Web 1.0 phase rarely offered support for server-side scripting, which is required to use the web server to submit a form. As a result, during Web 1.0, when the Submit button was clicked on most forms the website visitor’s e-mail client would launch, and the visitor would have to e-mail their form to an e-mail address provided by the website.

The transition from Web 1.0 to 2.0 took place over time as servers were upgraded, average connection speeds increased, and developers learned new skills and techniques. The transition began in the last year or two of the 1990s and Web 2.0 features had made strong headway by 2006, although there are still vestiges of Web 1.0 with us today in quiet corners of the web.

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