An Overview of Web Development and DesignAccording to World Wide Web pioneer Timothy Berners-Lee, the original goal of the World Wide Web was to provide "a world interactive system of shared information through which people could communicate with each other and with machines” (1996: p 1). Originally developed at the European Nuclear Energy Center (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, the Web emerged in 1989 as a means for Dr. Berners-Lee and some of his far-flung associates to work on nuclear projects. particle physics. He designed a method of linking that could be used by all computers and hypertext was the language; we know it as http. With its knowledge sharing capabilities, the invention of the Web quickly spread to universities and scientific research communities around the world. Since it was mainly used for text, web design in its early days was not particularly important. Around the same time, researchers at the National Center for Super Computing Applications at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana were also working and studying web technology. In 1992, there were only 26 web hosts serving websites. The real boom in web and Internet usage began in 1993, when Marc Andreessen developed the first graphical browser called Mosaic. Capable of displaying images and text, the graphics browser made multimedia possible. Coupled with http, access to the Internet has become easier and more attractive for the general public. In 1994, Andreessen formed his own company to commercially distribute a new version of the browser, Netscape Navigator/Communicator. It became an extremely popular browser and generated huge profits for the company. Web architecture continued to evolve during this time, and as it did so, web design began... middle of paper...... 545 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139 United States http://www .w3.org)Capron, HL Computing Tools for the Information Age. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2000. Marine, Larry. “Web Success in 10 Easy Steps.” Catalog age. April 2001: 16-17. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. Future Trends in the World Wide Web Nielsen, Jakob. Designing web usability. New Riders Publishing, May 4, 2001. (online version of the book) Virtual Web Developer Library: http://wdv1.internet.com/Authoring/Design/Usability/Nielsen, Jakob. “Short take: the future of web design from the guy who knows it.” http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/degree/short033001.htm (Jakob Nielsen was a Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer and holds 55 patents, he was a Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer until 1998) Whittaker, Jason . Produce for the Web. New York: Taylor & Francis Books Ltd.., 2000.