1995 begins with web designers creating cinematic experiences using images and browser tricks, and ends with the arrival of table support in Netscape Navigator — giving true control over layout.

Although the Web is technically limited in 1994, it is a fast-growing network and so curation quickly becomes a design problem. Enter Glenn Davis and his website, Cool Site of the Day.

1994 marks the Web’s shift into a publishing medium. As site authors seek control over formatting and design, the WWW-Talk mailing list hosts an early debate over style sheets and presentation.

It's difficult to apply design to a website in 1993, but that doesn't stop O'Reilly & Associates from launching an 'online magazine' called GNN. Suddenly Jennifer Niederst, a book designer, has a new ...

Mosaic adds an image tag for HTML and becomes the first modern web browser in 1993. Soon after, MTV VJ Adam Curry builds one of the world's first commercial websites — not that his bosses care.

Introducing Cybercultural's history of web design, from the grey web pages of 1993 to the colorful, mobile-centric web designs of 2012. A celebration of the peak years of personal websites and blogs.

From 2004, BowieNet enters a long period of stasis. When David Bowie unexpectedly returns with a new album in 2013, his website is reactivated — but he declines to join social media.

Online music and blogging were two key trends in the first decade of digital culture. In 2003, they combine in the form of MP3 blogs. Together with Pitchfork, they revolutionize music journalism.

Blogging goes mainstream in 2003; and with the launch of Google AdSense, pro blogs emerge too. Also the iTunes store debuts, social networks ramp up, and Flash websites are everywhere.

In 2003, the read/write web becomes a reality when blog software enables anyone to write to the web. Meanwhile, RSS Readers like NetNewsWire and Bloglines bring distribution to the blogosphere.

Flash websites reach their peak in 2003, becoming almost the default for creative design on the web. David Bowie is on top of this internet trend and commissions a full Flash redesign of BowieNet.

Social networking becomes a trend in 2003, thanks largely to Friendster and a copycat called MySpace. But only one of these sites attracts the newly influential 'digital native' users of the internet.

With Flash websites and CSS designs, the broadband-fueled 2002 internet is full of creativity. Meanwhile, online music is the wild west and the blogosphere points the way to a more social web.

The blogosphere becomes a trend in 2002 — a growing ecosystem of weblogs interconnecting via feeds, comments and a new feature called trackback. We also see the debut of RSS 2.0 and Technorati.

With its revolutionary 'touch wheel' and double the storage, Apple's 2nd gen iPod is the state of the art in digital music in 2002. But the future is online streaming, which Steve Jobs struggles to ac...

Following in Amazon's footsteps, two student projects independently use 'collaborative filtering' to bring recommendations and social networking to online music; soon they will join forces.

Even in the middle of the dot-com bust in 2001, there are rays of hope: Wikipedia and the Wayback Machine launch, digital music turns legit with iTunes and the iPod, and blogging goes mainstream.

After September 11, 2001, an influx of warblogs shakes up the blogosphere. It's part of a year-long transition in which blogging shifts from personal journaling to a more journalistic approach.

In October 2001, Brewster Kahle demonstrates a new time machine from the Internet Archive called the Wayback Machine. It will become a vital link between the Web's past and its present.

With the announcement of iTunes in January 2001, Apple CEO Steve Jobs ushers in the legal digital music era. It also marks the beginning of Apple's renaissance as a Silicon Valley pioneer.

In 2000, Flash websites proliferate, blogging expands, social news sites like Slashdot gain influence — all of this while the dot-com bubble slowly deflates and Napster dominates headlines.

Old articles and blog posts too often get removed from the web or neglected, left to rot on broken pages. Replanting lets you migrate legacy content to your current site so it can thrive again.

Napster's legal woes intensify in 2000, even as creator Shawn Fanning is celebrated on MTV and on magazine covers. Meanwhile, Apple acquires a startup called SoundJam and turns it into iTunes.

By 2000, Slashdot's pioneering karma system is helping other online communities — like BowieNet — moderate user contributed content. Meanwhile, Google and Amazon enjoy good karma over 2000.

In 2000, the blogroll becomes a trend as bloggers increasingly link to each other. Meanwhile, RSS bifurcates into two opposing formats: Dave Winer's RSS 0.92 and the RDF-based RSS 1.0.

The AOL-Time Warner merger in January 2000 triggers a slow deflation of the dot-com bubble, starting in March. Meanwhile, the Web's golden boy Marc Andreessen returns with a new startup.

By 1999, Microsoft had vanquished Netscape in the browser war, Google was starting to show up competing search engines, and Napster and Blogger had arrived to shake up our culture.

The launch of Blogger in August 1999 signals the arrival of weblogs into mainstream web culture. At the same time, web syndication formats are being worked out — starting with Netscape's RSS 0.90.

Napster launched in May 1999 and soon there were millions of pirated songs online. Not even David Bowie, who released an album via digital download that year, could foresee Napster's future influence.

After seeing the movie 'The Matrix', Philip Rosedale started a dot-com company and attempted to build a full-body virtual reality rig. He soon pivoted to creating a virtual world on the Web.

Continuing his exploration of virtual personas, in 1999 David Bowie played two 3D characters in a game called 'Omikron: The Nomad Soul'. The songs he contributed were later added to his album, Hours.

Exploring different personas on the web was a widespread trend in the late-1990s. Later, Facebook would neuter online identity, but in 1999 you could invent virtual characters on sites like BowieWorld...

Like Morpheus in The Matrix, Google gave web users a stark choice in 1999: take the red pill and experience a new world of search quality, or choose the blue pill and stick with the bloated world of p...

It's 1998, the middle of the dot-com boom. Portals are advertising on TV, web developers are fighting browser companies, Microsoft and Amazon are gaining power, and Netscape is going open source.

Google makes the transition from Stanford project to company over 1998, but it is portals like Yahoo! and portal-wannabes like AltaVista that feature in Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch that year.

At the start of 1998, CDnow and Music Boulevard were the leading online CD shops. Then in June, Amazon branched out from books and began to sell music on its fast growing e-commerce website.

When BowieNet launched in 1998, it became the default online community for David Bowie fans. It also anticipated the social networks that would emerge in the 2000s, like Facebook and Reddit.

1998 was the year of the portal: Excite, Netscape Netcenter, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and others all competing for eyeballs and trying to be sticky. But with so many portals, some inevitably failed.

In 1997, the first browser war began amid new internet trends like 'push' and DHTML. Meanwhile, instant messaging apps like ICQ and AIM became popular and GeoCities achieved 1 million users.

MTV's website in 1997 was a hodgepodge of technologies: Java, JavaScript, frames and more. The quality of your user experience depended on which browser you used: Netscape or IE.

With the rise of Flash and CSS in 1997, three web design philosophies emerged. David Siegel advocated for 'hacks', Jakob Nielsen kept it simple, while Jeffrey Zeldman combined flair with usability.

During 1997, video streaming came to web browsers through plug-ins like RealVideo, VDOLive and Microsoft's NetShow. David Bowie even attempted to 'cybercast' one of his concerts that year.

In July 1997, N2K and Liquid Audio announced a way to sell digital songs online for 99 cents a pop. Soon after, Duran Duran became the first major label artist to release an online single for sale.

In 1996, the internet became an integral part of society. Web portals were all the rage, e-commerce matured, web designers got new tools (like CSS and Flash), and web applications began to appear.