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The revolution of website design

In 1996, Microsoft released its 1st competitive web browser Internet Explorer, which is complete with its own characteristics and labels. It was also the first web browser that supports style sheets, at that point was seen as a method of creating dark. The HTML code for tables was first used to show layout information. However, web designers noticed the benefits of using HTML tables to create the complicated designs over several columns that would not have been practical. At this time, the design and good look and feel seemed to take importance over proper structure and little time was given to semantics and web accessibility. Internet sites were constrained in their choices of look, and even more so with previous versions of HTML. To create complicated layouts, many web designers chose to use the layout of tables and even use white or clear spacer GIF images to stop empty cells from collapse.

CSS was introduced in December 1996 by the W3C to support the layout and design of web pages. This permitted semantic HTML code.

In 1996, Flash (originally known as then Fledgling Futuresplash) was developed which allowed for a revolution in website design. At that time, the design toolkit for Flash content was quite simple compared to now, the use of basic design and Flash tools, a precursor to limited ActionScript, and a timeline of actions, but allowed the website designers to go beyond the point of HTML, animated GIFS, and JavaScript. However, because Flash requires a plug-in and search engines like Google do not understand Flash content, many website developers avoided using Flash for fear of reducing their website audience due to the lack of compatibility. Rather than use Flash, the website designers returned to animated GIF and JavaScript for widgets. The benefits of Flash did become quite popular with certain target users and with time it worked its way into the vast majority of  browsers, and powerful enough to develop entire sites. While Flash can make sites attractive or flashy, search engines can't read the content and won't realise the potential website visitors of a real website.