Web1.0

Web 1.0 is a [retronym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retronym) referring to the first stage of the [World Wide Web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web)'s evolution, from roughly 1991 to 2004. According to Graham Cormode and Balachander Krishnamurthy, "content creators were few in Web 1.0 with the vast majority of users simply acting as consumers of content". [Personal web pages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_web_page) were common, consisting mainly of static pages hosted on [ISP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Service_Provider)-run [web servers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_server), or on [free web hosting services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_web_hosting_service) such as [Tripod](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripod_(web_hosting)) and the now-defunct [GeoCities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoCities). With Web 2.0, it became common for average web users to have social-networking profiles (on sites such as [Myspace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace) and [Facebook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook)) and personal blogs (sites like [Blogger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogger_(service)), [Tumblr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblr) and [LiveJournal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveJournal)) through either a low-cost [web hosting service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_hosting_services) or through a dedicated host. In general, content was generated dynamically, allowing readers to comment directly on pages in a way that was not common previously. Some Web 2.0 capabilities were present in the days of Web 1.0, but were implemented differently. For example, a Web 1.0 site may have had a [guestbook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guestbook) page for visitor comments, instead of a [comment section](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comment_section) at the end of each page (typical of Web 2.0). During Web 1.0, server performance and bandwidth had to be considered—lengthy comment threads on multiple pages could potentially slow down an entire site. [Terry Flew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Flew), in his third edition of *New Media,* described the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 as a "move from personal websites to blogs and blog site aggregation, from publishing to participation, from web content as the outcome of large up-front investment to an ongoing and interactive process, and from content management systems to links based on "tagging" website content using [keywords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyword_(Internet_search)) ([folksonomy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy))." Flew believed these factors formed the trends that resulted in the onset of the Web 2.0 "craze". Characteristics Some common design elements of a Web 1.0 site include: * Static pages rather than [dynamic HTML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_HTML). * Content provided from the server's [filesystem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system) rather than a relational database management system ([RDBMS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDBMS)). * Pages built using [Server Side Includes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Side_Includes) or [Common Gateway Interface](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Gateway_Interface) (CGI) instead of a [web application](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application) written in a [dynamic programming language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_programming_language) such as [Perl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl), [PHP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP), [Python](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language)) or [Ruby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_(programming_language)).\[*[clarification needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify)*\] * The use of [HTML 3.2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML_3.2)-era elements such as [frames](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_(World_Wide_Web)) and tables to position and align elements on a page. These were often used in combination with [spacer GIFs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacer_GIF).\[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*\] * Proprietary [HTML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML) extensions, such as the [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_element) and [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquee_tag) tags, introduced during the [first browser war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Browser_War). * Online [guestbooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guestbook). * [GIF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF) buttons, graphics (typically 88×31 [pixels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel) in size) promoting [web browsers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser), [operating systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system), [text editors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editor) and various other products. * HTML forms sent via [email](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email). Support for [server side scripting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_side_scripting) was rare on [shared servers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_server) during this period. To provide a feedback mechanism for website site visitors, [mail to](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mailto) forms were used. A user would fill in a form, and upon clicking the form's submit button, their [email client](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_client) would launch and attempt to send an email containing the form's details. The popularity and complications of the mail to protocol led browser developers to incorporate [email clients](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_client) into their browsers. \