The man behind the Web

"I made the Web just because I needed it" --Berners-Lee

Ever thought about what the world would be like without the World Wide Web? Well if Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee hadn't been around, maybe we would still all be sending snail mail!

Tim Berners-Lee is credited for being the inventor of the World Wide Web, making the first proposal for what would change our world forever, in March 1989. He was eventually successful on December 25, 1990, to implement the very first communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet. Talk about a nice Christmas present!

Berners-Lee is now the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (see blog post 2) and the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation launched in 2009 to fund and coordinate ways to further develop the potential of the Web to benefit humanity.

For his valuable contribution to the way our world works today, Berners-Lee has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and honours such as The Order of Merit, The Webby Award and the rank of Knight Commander by Queen Elizabeth II.

The King of Usability

When it comes to web page usability, Jakob Nielsen wears the crown of the reigning guru. User advocate and president of the Nielsen Norman Group, Nielsen was a pioneer and founded the "discount usability engineering" movement in order to create faster and cheaper improvements for user interface. The inventor of several usability methods, including the heuristic evaluation, Nielsen hold approximately 80 patents in the U.S. on his discoveries of how to make the internet easier to use.

He has been author and co-author to many publications over the years discussing his well-known methods and strategies. Although there has been some criticism by graphic designers who say that Nielsen's strategies fail to balance the importance of other user experience considerations such as eye appeal, he continues to be one of the most respected and talented usability consultants in the business.

As a student learning how to create and design web pages, it is important to take Nielsen's findings into accord to determine what would be the most "user friendly" way to create and develop a web page. Internet users are quick to become frustrated when they cannot find the information they are looking for online, and will often simply give up if the site's design does not make it easy to use. Realizing and understanding this, as well as learning what makes a good web design, can ultimately help us creative effective web pages to give users what they want and need.

W3C

Imagine the world-wide web without guidelines or protocols, standards or consistency--it would be a world-wide mess! Founded in 1994, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was created to ensure compatibility and agreement among industry members in adoption of new standards. Led by web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, W3C's principle is to provide "web for all, [and] web on everything." The international community counts of the input of various member organizations, a full-time staff, and of course, the public to work together to create global standards for the world-wide web, in hopes to help further develop the web's potential.

My favourite blog

When I first started blogging about a year ago, I decided that in order to create my own successful blog, I should keep myself up to date with other popular local blogs to see what they were writing about, how they were writing about it and what made their particular blog interesting. I began to subscribe to blogs via Google Reader on a variety of topics from fashion and photography, to local news and politics. It was my random stumbling that had me one day land on Beyond Robson's blog.

Beyond Robson is a Vancouver-based blog written by who else? Vancouverites! They cover anything from music and arts, to local businesses and politics. Their mission? To showcase Vancouver's unique and diverse culture, and to inform those who live in our fabulous city, just how great it is. The site has six main contributors, as well as a resident designer, webmaster and publisher. The site is well designed and laid out for easy access to local event listings, restaurant reviews and city news. And although the site began as a simple run of the mill blog, it hardly looks like it anymore--perhaps adding somewhat to the websites' credibility and popularity. The blog also accepts post from guest bloggers who like to put in their two cents on local happenings. It is a good venue for writers who enjoy blogging, but perhaps do not want to bother with the maintenance of their own blog, to submit pieces for the public's viewing.

Another favourite blog is The Conveyor Belt. This fashion and lifestyle blog by Terri Portratz is the perfect turn-to blog when I'm looking for fashion world updates, news and beautiful photographs, and has even been featured in Lou Lou magazine as one of Canada's top fashion blogs. Check it out!

-Tanya