By Lisa Moore and Sarah Morgan
When celebrating a milestone such as 35 years in business, it gets you looking back at how far you've come, marveling at the technological rollercoaster you've survived, and chuckling at the days when a dial-up tone was music to your ears.
That’s what comes to our minds when we consider our journey in web development. When we first dipped our toes into this world back in the 90s, it was a vastly different landscape. The journey from then to now has been marked by incredible technological advancements, and we've done our best to be at the forefront every step of the way.
The Early Days: Simple Sites and Outsourced Programming
“Web development is just a fad that will blow over soon.” Well, that didn’t age well.
Our CEO Heather Isch recalls this statement someone made back in the early 2000s when companies started developing their own websites.
When LKF first began exploring web development, it was like an episode of "Friends." We knew some ‘pivoting’ had to be done if we were going to be experts in this new realm and provide websites as an official service to our clients.
We had one designer who knew something about building sites, but most of the coding was outsourced. The tools were simple, and the websites were even simpler—often just a few pages. Our early projects, like the City of Kalamazoo and Greater Kalamazoo Association of Realtors (GKAR), were groundbreaking for us.
Working with GKAR introduced us to integrating websites with external systems, such as real estate MLS databases. This was a game-changer. Meanwhile, the City of Kalamazoo project taught us how to design comprehensive, multi-page websites for different departments, leading to the creation of an ambassador program. This initiative might have been one of the earliest forms of content marketing, where we created and managed a content calendar and engaged directly with the community to keep the website updated.
Challenges and Innovations
One of our most challenging projects was for a caster manufacturer who had distributors across the country. We envisioned and created a website that pushed even the tax company into unchartered waters, where we had to ensure accurate tax calculations across different states for distributors and the distributor was chosen by the backend based on the user’s location. These kinds of projects pushed us to innovate and refine our web development skills continuously.
Then came the advent of smartphones. By 2016, we noticed significant changes—like Lisa ditching her computer for her phone to shop online and tackle work tasks. This shift forced us to reconsider our approach to web development, leading us to attend numerous UX conferences and adopt browser testing tools like BrowserStack to ensure optimal user experiences across devices.
Evolving Technologies and Practices
Launching a site used to be a dramatic event, but over time we’ve managed to streamline the process through developing things like tech audits and go-live checklists.
Using SSL certificates for security before they were required and hosting our own websites were steps we took early on to stay ahead of the curve. We even developed our own Content Management System (CMS) since we weren’t happy with the limitations of DreamWeaver, eventually leading to the creation of our very own trademarked WordPress theme, McConimore™.
Striving to stay on the cutting edge led us to specialize in areas like usability and SEO. We dove headfirst into these fields, which is why Sarah is now LKF’s go-to expert in accessibility and Lisa is our resident SEO guru.
Trends and Transformations
We've seen many trends come and go, from Flash to responsive sites, full-width designs, 3D vs. flat aesthetics, scrolling banners (ah, the horror!), and large fonts with hero areas. Our ability to watch and leverage new trends has allowed us to develop tools and services that provide insights and guide the future of our clients' sites. These tools allow us to better serve our clients through a greater understanding of their audiences and utilization of the website.
Regulatory Changes and Browser Wars
The rise and fall of various web browsers (RIP Internet Explorer) and the implementation of regulations like GDPR and CCPA have also shaped the web development landscape. We've navigated these changes, ensuring clients' websites are compliant and secure.
Looking Ahead
We’re both proud and a bit nostalgic when it comes to our journey in web development. A few things we know for sure are that: 1) Web development was never a fad, and it’s never going to be, and 2) Adapting to change is essential. (Did someone say, A.I.?)
Our commitment to innovation has kept us ahead of the curve, and we're excited to continue pushing boundaries and delivering top-notch solutions for our clients. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the past 35 years and isn’t going to happen any time soon.
