Things move quickly these days, even more so now that we’re all connected through the internet.

One of the industries in which this is most apparent is web design. The international network of developers and designers passing on tips, tricks and cool new designs means that trends can arise overnight leaving your company website looking old and dated. The last thing that you want is to be left behind the curve, chasing to catch up (hello AOL).

What’s the secret to keeping ahead of the curve? Well aside from having an excellent designer you need to focus on functionality and accessibility. If you always take style over fashion then at least you’ll always have a website that works, but remember that you can always tweak it later. Take a look below to see what some famous companies first websites looked like:

Yahoo in 1994

The evolution of Yahoo has been through several stages, but it all started here. A classic grey background with blue links roots this website firmly in the nineties, a sharp contrast to their current slick website.

Google in 1997

Keeping it plain and simple as they always have with their now famous (and widely copied) minimalist branding. The exclamation mark is taken from Yahoo by the way.

Facebook in 2005

Until it was made famous by The Social Network not many people would have seen Facebook in its original The Facebook state. Unless you bothered to read its Wikipedia page that is.

Wikiepdia in 2001

And talking of Wikipedia here’s what it looked like in 2001. No pictures at this point, just streams of information.

If you need a new look website designed then why not submit a brief on the Creative Services Exchange.

Tags: design, Facebook, Google, website, yahoo
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