Evolution of a Home Page

This article shows the evolution of WebReference.com's home page over time. Unlike other user interface studies it shows the actual pages, not screen shots. Versions are shown at key dates when major changes were made. The intent is to give a peek into the site's design and architectural process, and the choices that were made. Along the way, I'll explain what happened and why. My hope is that you can learn something here you can use on your own home page.

This article has morphed into a webmaster's log, where I highlight recent changes and improvements on WebReference.com. Where possible, the actual scripts and techniques we use are provided, as open source code.

Note that all the links within each page point back to this page. I did this due to past and future site-wide changes. The pages are shown exactly as they appeared on the date shown. Long-time users will remember many of these designs. I enjoyed seeing how our logo evolved over time.

Contents

• 1995
• 1996
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2001
• Conclusion