Since 1995, the realm of the internet has experienced changes that few people ever dreamed were possible. From beginning to end, here are some of the biggest changes and internet options that have
happened since.
1995
- Microsoft Internet Explorer arrives (and dominates the browser landscape for many
years to come, though it’s received many upgrades since release and barely
resembles its initial form these days) - SSL cryptography (and information flow becomes relatively safer; it’s still in
use, after all) - HTML 3 (Oddly named, because it’s not actually the third version; it was a
prototype) - JavaScript (An object-based scripting program, in an early form)
1996
- Java (Somewhat related to JavaScript, this ubiquitous programming item got its
start and quickly spread all over the place) - Flash (As did this one, frequently used for website graphics, games, and other
interactive media) - Pocket Internet Explorer (Mobile browsing has been around much longer than many
people think!) - XML (Rules that help make documents readable to machines, which can be very important
when dealing with Operating Systems that do the same things in different
ways)
1997
- HTML 3.2 (The full version of HTML3. Pretty quiet year otherwise, but they didn’t
seem to like it very much, because…) - HTML 4 (They released the next one in December)
1998
- CSS 2 (The newer version of this web style sheet was introduced, and web pages began
to look even nicer)
1999
- AJAX (AJAX brought together various elements of web design to help with making things
more interactive) - Web Fonts (Among other things, people could now download and display fonts from
online and even start to use them in other programs, which is wonderful
for people looking to get that unique look instead of, say, Times New
Roman)
2000
- Y2K did not destroy the internet alongside all of modern society, but maybe it
frightened some of the internet companies, because little happened this
year except for some patches.
2001
- SVG (Related to XML, this set out techniques for two-dimensional vectoring of
graphics)
2002
- Not much of interest happened this year, other than the web browsers getting more
updates and patches.
2003
- Safari (A new, widespread web browser appears! And fails to overthrow Internet
Explorer, but hey, at least it tried. Mind you, people are still using it
even now.)
2004
- Canvas (A part of HTML5 arrives, dealing with dynamic and script-friendly rendering
for a variety of images) - Firefox (Unleashed by Mozilla as a more open-source web browser; it still didn’t really
overthrow Internet Explorer, but it did chip away at market shares and
give internet companies something else to consider as an option)
2005
- Opera Mini (Mobile web browsing was enhanced again with this option for the Opera web
browser, which came out even before IE )
2006
- XML HTTP Request 2 (This technology integrated scripts with servers and
allowed requested information to be put into a script after a server
request, reducing the need for human effort)
2007
- Safari 3 Mobile (Released on the iPhone, this was a major step forward for this
particular browser and put Safari into the hands of more people than
before)
2008
- Drag & Drop (A method of copying and pasting information with minimal
coding was implemented; great for text quotes and pictures) - HTML 5 (The next major step forward in coding techniques)
- Web Cache (A method of saving web pages and allowing them to be viewed while
offline) - Register Protocol Handler (A way of registering websites to allow them to mesh well
with particular coding protocols) - CSS3 2D Transforms (A way to modify elements of a web page without changing the
overall layout… very useful for things like translation software!) - Google Chrome (Another major browser option arrives)
- Geolocation (With the user’s consent, sites monitor their location to help give
customized feedback)
2009
- CSS3 Animation, Transitions, Gradients, and Flexbox (Many, many updates that
helped to smooth things out) - Web Workers (Computation-intensive tasks run in the background, without
bothering the user)
2010
- Date/Time options (Enhanced, to help with things around the world)
- File System API (Allowed things to be sent to a “sandbox” and stored
safely on a drive)
2011
- Content Security Policy (User protection significantly enhanced)
- Many graphical enhancements (Lots of little things)
2012
- Full Screen (Much better now)
2013
It’s only just started!
This post was written by Denielle . A writer who is always willing to take on extra tasks and does so with a smile. She enjoys spending time with her family as much as possible and loves hosting BBQ’s for everyone to get together.
