apple.com - a web historiography
Channel: Ståle Grut
Date: 2017-11-17

A short documentary on the evolving design of Apple's website - prioritizing new media elements to communicate technology's aesthetics, rather than functionality.


Full text:

According to the Alexa web index, apple dot com is one of the most visited sites online. 

It is the virtual home of Apple. The world’s most valuable company, according to Forbes Magazine.

The value is almost double that of their competitor Google, the second company on the list.

Through the internet archive, it’s possible to access previous versions of Apple’s website, making it possible to create a web historiography of its development. Just like the company logo you saw in the start has changed, so has their website.

This video shows the 20 year evolution of Apple’s website, from 1996 till today.

In it, we will demonstrate a larger shift of focus for Apple, through its website. It’s a shift where the focus on functionality of technology is replaced by a focus on the technology’s aesthetics.

Let’s dive into the history. The first indexed website is from 22nd of October, 1996. As the design stays the same until 1997, let’s look at an indexed version from that year without broken image links.

As you can see, there’s a red menu bar filling the left side of the screen. Here you can find information about Apple's products, customer support, info for developers and an ‘about’ section. Further down you can manually select your location. Today this is done automatically via your IP address. Below it, you can locate retailers of Apple’s products - and even win prizes.

The company logo is featured in the top. Below is a selection of products. Underneath it there’s a ‘news section’ with sales pitches and company info.

In 1998, drastic changes occur.

Around this time, the ousted company founder Steve Jobs returned to the role of CEO. He gave designers, rather than engineers, responsibility for product development - and arguably the company’s web design.

The menu bar is moved almost to the bottom. The red, black and white color scheme from last year is gone forever. Instead the company logo and products are emphasised – and almost the only elements of color on the page.

They even added a gif of an iMac- with a humanized "hello" on the screen.

In 2000, the menu bar is moved to the top - where it remains to this day. However, it is given a sub menu, hinting about an abundance of information that is available if you click it.

In late 2002 we frequently see people - Apple users - front and center on the site.
When BMW again appears on the frontpage in 2004 - the logo is not at the center like it was in 1997. Now, a steering wheel conveys the notions of a car - not a company logo.

The first clear hint we see of today’s visual regime happens at the iPod nano release in 2005. It just features a big product image showing how small the device is.Focus lies on the product's aesthetics. There is minimal text and information about it’s price and functionality.

This is repeated two years later, with the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. But pay attention to the top menu as it changes. When the operating system Leopard is released, and this black theme returns, the submenus are gone.

As The Beatles is released on iTunes, a significant event for Apple, everything else is thrown out. This is repeated when other important events for the company occurs. This includes the passing of company founder Steve Jobs in 2011, info on how to donate to the Red Cross after natural catastrophes or Martin Luther King Jr. day. After Jobs's passing, the news ticker disappears.

Large product images are now dominating, and frequently filling the whole site. Text is scarce.

By 2014, pictures of people in situations where Apple products appear are commonplace. They also extends behind the navigation bar at the top. This bar now changes to a new, flat and minimalist one.

The four smaller news sections at the bottom of the screen are during 2014 reduced to just two.

Today, in November 2017, the iPhone X solely dominates the top of Apple's website. The website’s focus lies on the product’s aesthetics, putting functionality in the background.

These are the most significant periods of Apple’s website.

----

Student project - New Media and Digital Culture, University of Amsterdam