I previously wrote an article about the origin of the World Wide Web and now I’m going to highlight some significant moments in the World Wide Web’s evolution from its introduction to the public in the early 1990s to its growth in mainstream popularity by the end of the decade.

1990

▪️Archie is introduced as the first web search engine. Discontinued in 1996.

1991

▪️The first web servers are switched on and the World Wide Web goes public.

▪️MP3 is introduced as a coding format for digital audio that was designed to reduce the amount of data required to represent recorded audio faithfully. It becomes the first popular audio format on the web.

1992

▪️Text-based web browser Lynx is introduced.

▪️JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is introduced as an image compressor that allows tradeoffs between storage size and image quality. It has since become the most widely used image compression standard on the web.

▪️Barney the Dinosaur makes his television debut on PBS and kicks off the trend of anti-Barney humor across the web.

▪️The animated short The Spirit of Christmas created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone becomes one of the very first viral videos. It would go on to form the basis for the animated series South Park in 1997.

1993

▪️Mosaic is introduced as the first widely available web browser and it helps popularize the World Wide Web as the go-to alternative to other internet services like Usenet and Gopher. Mosaic also integrated multimedia like text and graphics, and it was the first browser to display images inline with text as opposed to displaying text and images in separate windows. Mosaic’s popularity eventually wanes and it is discontinued in 1997.

▪️Cello is introduced as Microsoft’s first web browser. It is discontinued the following year.

▪️Adobe introduces PDF (Portable Document Format) filing.

▪️Web cams are introduced.

▪️Film database IMDb is launched on the web. The site was actually introduced earlier as “rec.arts.movies” on Usenet in 1990.

▪️The webcomic Doctor Fun by David Farley is released and it runs until 2006, making it not only one of the earliest webcomics but also one of the longest running.

▪️The Beanie Babies stuffed toy line is introduced and immediately becomes one of the first internet sensations.

1994

▪️Yahoo! is founded as the first popular online web directory. Yahoo! Search is launched the same year as the first popular search engine on the web.

▪️Netscape is founded and Netscape Navigator becomes one of the most popular web browsers of the nineties. Netscape eventually goes defunct and its browsers are discontinued in 2008.

▪️North Carolina radio station WXYC provides the first ever radio broadcast over the internet.

▪️NetBoy by Stafford Huyler makes its webcomic debut.

▪️Star Trek Generations becomes the first feature film to be officially promoted by a website with the backing of a major Hollywood studio (Paramount). That same year, startrek.com makes its web debut as the first official Star Trek fansite.

▪️The Simpsons Archive is launched as a fansite for the TV series The Simpsons.

1995

▪️The free and open-source web server Apache is launched and allows developers to handle requests for multiple HTTPs with cross-platform access on a single computer. It eventually becomes the dominant web server.

▪️Microsoft releases Windows 95 and introduces the web browser Internet Explorer. It is discontinued in 2022 in favor of its successor Microsoft Edge, which was introduced two years before then in 2020.

▪️The web browser Opera is introduced.

▪️The web programmer JavaScript is introduced.

▪️RocketMail is launched as one of the first major free webmail services. It is acquired a year later by Yahoo! and it eventually transforms into Yahoo! Mail.

▪️Google Search is introduced and differentiates itself from Yahoo! Search by allowing you to search the web using keywords and phrases.

▪️The search engine AltaVista is introduced. Discontinued in 2013.

▪️Online shopping emerges as a popular web activity with the launch of Amazon’s shopping site and the launch of eBay.

▪️Dictionary.com is launched.

▪️Classmates.com is launched.

▪️Online dating service match.com is launched.

▪️Online audiobook service Audible is launched.

▪️Craigslist is launched.

▪️User-generated content site Newgrounds is founded.

▪️Video game and entertainment media site IGN is founded.

1996

▪️Markup language and data filing format XML (Extensible Markup Language) is started.

▪️Microsoft introduces the free email service Hotmail. Renamed Outlook as of 2013.

▪️The answer engine Ask Jeeves is founded. Renamed ask.com in 2006.

▪️MapQuest is launched.

▪️Internet Archive is launched.

▪️The web archive Wayback Machine is founded. Introduced to the public in 2001.

▪️Satirical news site The Onion first begins publishing online.

▪️The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences introduces the Webby Awards.

▪️The Sega Saturn accessory Sega Net Link is released and the Sega Saturn becomes the first video game console with the ability to surf the web.

1997

▪️Yahoo! introduces the translation service Babel Fish. Replaced by Bing Translator in 2012.

▪️Fantasy football simulator Hattrick is introduced on the web.

1998

▪️Netscape introduces Mozilla.

▪️Google alters its logo with the first Google Doodle (as a celebration for Burning Man).

▪️Online money transfer system PayPal is founded.

▪️Encyclopedia.com is launched.

▪️Rotten Tomatoes is launched.

▪️”The Hampster Dance” is introduced and becomes one of the earliest internet memes.

▪️The multiplayer strategy game Utopia is introduced on the web.

▪️An antitrust lawsuit is filed against Microsoft after the company attempts to dominate the industry by bundling Internet Explorer into all Windows computers.

1999

▪️Employment website monster.com is founded.

▪️Shutterfly is founded.

▪️Blogger is launched.

▪️Urban Dictionary is launched.

▪️The comedy website Something Awful is founded.

▪️CollegeHumor is founded.

▪️Pico’s School is released on Newgrounds and kicks off the flash game craze of the early 2000s.

▪️The virtual pet game Neopets is released.

▪️The Matrix is released in theaters and introduces “red pilled” into the lexicon.

▪️SpongeBob SquarePants makes its television debut and the meme world is never the same.