The history of the web browser

History of the web browser
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The history of the web browser is crucial to answering questions about modern web design. In this article, we'll explore the answer to the question: can you design websites as resilient as the world wide web itself? We dive into the history of the world wide web to find out.

Amazingly, you can browse websites made today in a browser that was made three decades ago. There won't be any styling. There won't be any scripting. Neither CSS nor JavaScript existed at the birth of the web, and they certainly didn't use the best web design tools around today. But if a website has been built in a robust way (perhaps by using a top website builder), it will still make sense even when viewed in an ancient web browser.

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Keith lives in Brighton. He is one of the founders of the splendid design agency Clearleft. He has written various books, including HTML5 For Web Designers and, most recently, Going Offline.

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