{"id":22886,"date":"2011-04-17T17:34:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T16:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/?p=22886"},"modified":"2026-09-02T00:25:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T23:25:54","slug":"apples-influence-on-web-design-1996-to-present-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/17\/apples-influence-on-web-design-1996-to-present-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s Influence On Web Design, 1996 To Present Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apple\u2019s influence on web design is apparent, even today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pioneers of simplicity \u2014 and with the company\u2019s website currently ranked above those of other major corporations,&nbsp;<em>Apple.com<\/em>&nbsp;is today thought to have one of the most well-designed and desirable layouts the web has ever seen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But it hasn\u2019t always been this way \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_0711.jpeg\" class=\"wp-image-22885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_0711.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_0711-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Apple.com in 1996 &#8211; courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110508074259\/http:\/\/webdesign.tutsplus.com\/articles\/industry-trends\/how-apple-has-influenced-web-design-over-the-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">webdesign.tutsplus<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2026 as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110506002801\/http:\/\/webdesign.tutsplus.com\/articles\/industry-trends\/how-apple-has-influenced-web-design-over-the-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this<\/a>&nbsp;interesting article from&nbsp;<em>webdesign.tutsplus<\/em>&nbsp;recently highlighted, as it looks back at the web design layouts for&nbsp;<em>Apple.com<\/em>&nbsp;and how they have changed, often drastically, in appearance from&nbsp;<strong>1996<\/strong>&nbsp;to present day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"575\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_0710.png\" class=\"wp-image-22884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_0710.png 620w, https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_0710-300x278.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest feature of Apple\u2019s influential web design is its minimalism. Apple keeps it simple by using large areas of white space and big margins to focus on single areas of content.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apple\u2019s homepage normally features a large product shot with single tagline and some other pages linked under the fold. For example, at the time of writing, Apple features a large image of Apple\u2019s second-generation iPad with a large title and sub headline.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The assumed thinking behind this design choice is the Apple doesn\u2019t want to push everything onto you at once. Instead, they want you to click through to the individual product page where they can show off more information. Take this approach in contrast to Microsoft\u2019s homepage. Microsoft also has a large featured image but the page is cramped with multiple ads and the highlights at the bottom are even harder to read.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110506002801\/http:\/\/webdesign.tutsplus.com\/articles\/industry-trends\/how-apple-has-influenced-web-design-over-the-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">webdesign.tutsplus<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[h\/t @stephenou]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple\u2019s influence on web design is apparent, even today. Pioneers of simplicity \u2014 and with the company\u2019s website currently ranked above those of other major corporations,&nbsp;Apple.com&nbsp;is today thought to have one of the most well-designed and desirable layouts the web has ever seen.&nbsp; But it hasn\u2019t always been this way \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2786,174,2563],"tags":[4,2238,3523,1190,3524],"class_list":["post-22886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple-blog","category-blog","category-tidbits","tag-apple","tag-layout","tag-minimalism","tag-web-design","tag-white-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22887,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22886\/revisions\/22887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}