An Overview of Web Development and DesignAccording to World Wide Web pioneer Timothy Berners-Lee, the initial purpose of the World Wide Web was to provide "an interactive world 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 way for Dr. Berners-Lee and some of his distant collaborators to work on particle physics projects . He designed a linking method that all computers could use, and hypertext was the language; we know it as http. Thanks to its knowledge-sharing capabilities, the invention of the Web quickly spread to universities and scientific research communities around the world. Because it was mostly used for text, actual web design in these early days wasn't particularly significant. During the same period, researchers at the National Center for Super Computing Applications at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana also worked and researched on web technology. In 1992, only 26 hosts served websites. The real boom in the use of the Web and the Internet began in 1993, when Marc Andreessen developed the first graphical browser called Mosaic. Capable of displaying images and text, the graphical browser made multimedia possible. Together with http, Internet access has become easier and more attractive for use by the general public. In 1994, Andreessen created his own company to commercially distribute a newly developed version of the browser, Netscape Navigator/Communicator. It became a very successful browser and produced huge profits for the company. Web architecture continued to evolve during this time, and as it did, Web Design began... middle of paper... 545 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139 USA http://www.w3.org) Capron, H.L. Computing tools for an information age. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2000.Marine, Larry. "Success on the Web in 10 Simple Steps." Catalog age. April 2001: 16-17.Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. Future Trends of the World Wide WebNielsen, Jakob. Designing the Usability of the Web. New Riders Publishing, May 4, 2001. (online version of the book) Web Developers Virtual Library: http://wdv1.internet.com/Authoring/Design/Usability/Nielsen, Jakob. "In short: the future of web design told by those who know it." http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/approfondimento/short033001.htm(Jakob Nielsen was a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems and holds 55 patents, he was a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems until 1998)Whittaker, Jason . Producing for the Web. New York: Taylor & Francis Books Ltd, 2000.