Web Evolution — History on the Web
Our technology is rapidly advancing every day. What we see yesterday changes by tomorrow, and so on. It is constantly changing to make navigating the internet easier and more enticing. What we thought was unbelievably advanced 10 years ago now looks archaic and old when we reminisce. For my assignment, I chose a website that constantly changes with the new news: CNN. I selected this because I know that news outlets constantly seek ways to advance the mediums in which they present the daily news to the public. They seek to make it easily navigable so that the public can stay up to date without a hassle. More and more people everyday slowly move away from getting their daily news from the television and switch to websites on a desktop and on their mobile phones or tablets. I mostly attempted to look at election years, as I have noticed that they present new and amazing ways to follow live or see the results. I also looked at a few other dates just for a reference of significant world events or advancements in technology.
August 15, 2000
This was the earliest available date to view CNN.com. The news was primarily watched on TV or a physical newspaper and being able to read headlines online was for the privileged with a real, thick, dinosaur-esque computer.
During an election year, I expected the website to be teeming with graphics of Al Gore and George W. Bush. I got one. This version of the website was extremely aesthetically unpleasing. Links were underlined in blue as if you were looking at a Microsoft Word document. It looked as if I had coded it doing our Command Line Interface homework. There was not a single video on the website — I am unsure if this was impossible at the time or if the website was just dull.
September 11, 2001
During the attack of 9/11, I was looking to see if CNN had been doing anything regarding a live breaking news report — there was none. Although, they transformed the homepage into a special report dedicated to it, it was not giving a live feed of important news and information. The website had not changed much besides some difference in color and less wording with their links.
November 6, 2004
Yet another election year, and I was presently surprised with the advancements CNN had made to their homepage. The graphics are becoming much more three-dimensional and vivid. They added a search bar. They added video streaming. Reading the news on this website definitely is more enticing towards the reader. They even added a few more pictures to click on — I would use it efficiently now.
December 24, 2008
Things seem to be organized in a much clearer and are moving away from a list formation. Their search engine is now powered by Google instead of Yahoo. They made an addition of link to watch the CNN news broadcast live, as well as watch the stock market live.
November 6, 2012
There is a significant increase in the use of graphic appeal. The color contrast is more significant and there is a larger array of color. Links are no longer obnoxious and blue and it is easily navigable. Someone reading this could also change it to different languages.
February 16, 2017
Modern day CNN. This website allows us to watch live stream news coverage, elections, and other things. It has an array of fonts and colors and extremely vivid photos and advertisements. It’s somewhat like looking at a masterpiece in comparison to the website in 2000 with the amount of detail at the same time as it being extremely navigable and simplistic.
