We use the web every day as if it has always existed.
We open sites, shop online, book hotels, search restaurants — all in seconds. But few people wonder: how did it all start? Who created the first website? When did the Internet as we know it today come into being?
The answers are more fascinating than you think. And understanding that story isn't just interesting reading — it helps you understand why a quality website is so important to your business today.
It all started with one physicist and one idea
The year is 1989. Tim Berners-Lee, a British physicist working at the Swiss research center CERN, has a problem. Thousands of researchers around the world share information, but each computer speaks a "different language" — there is no single way to exchange data.
His solution? A template for a system he called "World Wide Web". It wasn't the Internet — the Internet (a network of computers) had existed before, since the late 1960s, in the form of the military ARPANET. But the web — a system of documents interconnected by hyperlinks — was a revolution.
The exact date August 6, 1991 The first website in history was published. It was a modest document at info.cern.ch that described what the World Wide Web is and how it works. No pictures. No fights. Text and links only. And yet — it was that moment that changed everything.
Web 1.0—Reading without Talking (1991-1999)
The first ten years of the web are now called Web 1.0 — the era of static pages. The pages were simple HTML documents. Users could read but not participate. There were no comments, forums, shopping carts or social networks.
1993 — Mosaic opens the door to the masses
Everything changed in 1993 with the appearance of Mosaic browser, the first to display images within text. Suddenly, the web ceased to be an exclusively academic tool and began to attract ordinary people.
1994 — The modern web industry is born
In the same year, Tim Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an organization that sets standards for the web to date. At the same time, companies like Yahoo and Amazon are starting to build the first commercial websites.
1995 — JavaScript changes the game
Netscape introduces JavaScript — the programming language that gave websites "life". Suddenly, buttons could react to clicks, forms could check input, animations became possible. In the same year, he appeared CSS, which gave designers control over the layout of the pages.
1996 — Flash era of short fame
Adobe Flash It has enabled spectacular animations and interactive games on the web. For a short time, it was a fad — every serious company had a Flash intro on the site. But Flash was slow, insecure, and inaccessible to search engines. His era lasted only fifteen years.
The dot-com bubble and the great awakening (1999 — 2003)
At the end of the nineties, there was euphoric optimism. Every idea with a ".com" in the name attracted millions of investments. Startup culture has flourished like never before. Companies spent astronomical sums on web presence without a clear business model.
And then, in 2000, the balloon burst. Thousands of companies went bankrupt in a year. The Nasdaq index lost 78% of its value. Many have declared the web a "scam".
But they were wrong. What broke was the irrational euphoria — not the web itself. While the weak players disappeared, the strong ones remained and grew. Google, Amazon, eBay — they all survived and came out stronger.
The crisis has actually cleaned up the industry in a healthy way and forced developers to get back to basics: što korisnik zaista treba?
Web 2.0 — The Web That Talks to You (2004 — 2012)
Around 2004, a new era began called Web 2.0 — web participation and cooperation. Users are no longer passive readers. They create content, comment, share, and build communities.
2003 — WordPress changes who can have a website
It is safe to say that WordPress, launched in May 2003, democratized website building. Suddenly, you didn't need to know how to program to publish content online. Bloggers, small businesses, associations — all of them could have a professional web presence.
Today WordPress Launches More than 43% of all websites on the Internet. This is no coincidence. Flexibility, a huge community, thousands of plugins and themes have made it a global standard. Widget D.o.o. builds all websites on WordPress for this very reason.
2004 — Facebook and the era of social networks
Mark Zuckerberg is launching Facebook 2004 from the Harvard dormitory. Until 2006, it is available to everyone. Suddenly, the web isn't just a space for searching for information — it's a space for building relationships.
YouTube (2005), Twitter (2006), Instagram (2010) soon followed — and the very concept of "digital marketing" takes on a whole new dimension.
2007 — iPhone and the Mobile Revolution
In 2007, Steve Jobs iPhone And it changes everything. Suddenly, millions of people started using the web on small screens. Websites designed for desktop computers looked terrible on mobile phones.
The industry had to respond — and it responded with Responsive design. Nowadays, the mobile-friendliness of a website is the absolute minimum, and Google prioritizes mobile pages in rankings. Without responsive design, there is no visibility on Google.
Web 3.0 — Semantic, Personalized, Ubiquitous (2012 — Present)
The modern web is intelligent. Algorithms understand the context of your search, not just keywords. Google knows that when you search for "strawberries," you're looking for fruits, not plants. Personalization is ubiquitous — each user sees a different web based on their behavior.
SEO is becoming a complex discipline.
Whereas in the early days SEO was simple — insert a keyword as many times as you can and you'll rank — Google has advanced drastically. Today, the algorithm analyzes hundreds of factors: content quality, page speed, security, user experience, domain authority, backlinks, and much more.
That's why professional SEO is no longer an option — it's a necessity for any business that wants to be found online.
E-commerce is exploding
Amazon, Zalando, Shopify — online shopping has become the norm. The Croatian e-commerce sector is experiencing steady growth, and the pandemic in 2020 accelerated digitalization by at least five years. Companies that didn't have a webshop learned a bitter lesson — they either went digital or lost part of the market.
Speed and safety become crucial
In 2010, Google confirmed that page loading speed affects rankings. The security protocol HTTPS (SSL certificate) has become mandatory — sites without it are marked as "not secure" in browsers. Backup, protection from hackers, and regular updates have become a standard part of taking care of a website.
Where Are We Today —And What's Coming?
Today, the web is ubiquitous. More than 5 billion people Use the internet. Every minute, thousands of new websites are loaded, millions of messages are posted on social networks, and hundreds of thousands of online purchases are made.
Trends that shape the present and future of web development:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) — from AI assistants that write content to algorithms that personalize the user experience in real-time.
Voice search — More and more users are searching with their voice through smart speakers and mobile assistants. The SEO strategy must adapt to the natural language of the query.
Core Web Vitals — Since 2021, Google has been measuring specific user experience metrics (LCP, FID, CLS) as a direct ranking factor. Technical optimization of the site has never been more important.
Augmented reality (AR) — ikea has had an AR app for years that shows you what furniture looks like in your home. Soon it will be the standard for webshops.
What does this mean for your business?
Thirty-five years after the first web, one thing remains constant: A web presence equals business credibility. Each era has brought new rules, but the basic logic has always been the same — companies that were present online and invested in quality, grew. Those that hesitated lost market share.
We at Widget D.o.o. monitor every wave of changes in the web industry and apply them to our clients. Our expertise in WordPress development, SEO optimization, Google Ads campaigns, e-commerce solutions, and digital marketing is based on an understanding of this very evolution — from text-only pages in 1991 to ultra-fast, AI-optimized solutions today.
Your business deserves a website that is up to modern standards — fast, secure, visible on Google, and designed to convert visitors into customers.
Are you ready for the next step?
Whether you're just starting out or your old website needs a serious overhaul, Widget D.o.o. is here. Call us for a free consultation and together we will build your digital presence — on the foundations laid by a physicist from Geneva in 1991.
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