What architecture can teach us about web design
🕰 The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine holds over 866 billion web pages dating back to 1996. A few highlights: twttr.com five months post-launch (tagline: “you’ll never be bored again…E V E R !”); aol.com in its heyday; and jumptheshark.com before it was sold to TV Guide.
Also today: Swimming through the Manhattan Project, how to send good emails, and the value of imperfection
By Harris Sockel
“You never forget the first time you get paid for doing something you love.” That’s Ka Wai Cheung reminiscing on his career as a web designer beginning in 1999 (when being a “web designer” meant coding what you designed). His design journey parallels the evolution of the web over the last 25 years, which reminds me of another excellent Medium post: entrepreneur Mike Sall’s look at web design history through the lens of western architecture.
Sall explains that both web design and architecture share key attributes: they’re places where people go; they’re engineered for pragmatic purposes; they are constrained by the limits of technology; and yet, they’re art forms. Over time, Sall argues, they’ve evolved in similar ways.
Let’s take a look at a few distinctive eras in architecture and their digital parallels…
The Neolithic Era (simple, limited structures)
In this era, Sall writes, “it was a feat just to get something in place.”
The Romanesque Era (thicker forms, rounded edges)
This era is defined by thick, clearly defined rounded forms. Some believe this type of web design (epitomized by Apple.com in the early 2000s) was motivated by a desire to soften websites in ways that made them feel more approachable.
The Gothic Era (ornate and mesmerizing)
“CSS and Flash were the stained glass of web design,” writes Sall. Many designers believe Adobe Flash (which gave web designers the ability to create intricate animations) gave rise to the web’s most creative and whimsical period.
If Sall’s predictions are correct, we should be in the Neoclassical Era of web design by now — a time when websites are becoming simpler and more retro (a ’90s web renaissance, if you will). He may be right: Vintage color palettes and skeuomorphism are (in some circles) making a comeback. Here’s the website of one of the leading new ad agencies right now. Notice anything familiar?
What else we’re reading
This story is unlike anything I’ve ever read: it’s infuriating, revealing, and brutally honest. Swimmer Erin Swenson grew up training for the Olympics in a pool located a few miles from Coldwater Creek near St. Louis, Missouri, which was contaminated with nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project. Swenson swam in that pool for hours every day, and at 36 found herself dying of pure red cell aplasia (a lack of red blood cells) and smouldering myeloma (bone marrow cancer). It took years for her to trace these illnesses back to the toxic waste she swam through in the ’80s. The New York Times just published an expose featuring those who, like Swenson, ended up fighting for their lives because of the U.S. government’s negligence — and are now asking Congress to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
This line hit me hard: “I always knew water was my defining element. I always knew it was the ‘spine’ to my story. I never thought my love and need to be in water would take me to the center of an American government coverup regarding our biggest nuclear defense project.”
🍎 From the archive: How to send the perfect email
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week in the U.S. In honor of that, I want to share one of my all-time favorite Medium posts, relevant for students (and humans!) of all ages: “How to email your professor (without being annoying AF).” As with any email, the trick is to “get in and get out, while remaining courteous.”
Your daily dose of practical wisdom: about practical imperfection
“A perfect solution no one uses is inferior to a practical solution that lasts.” — Amanda Swim, Strategy & BizOps leader, in Code Like a Girl
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Edited and produced by Scott Lamb, Jon Gluck, & Carly Rose Gillis
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com
