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Much as the business world is rapidly changing, so too does web design, which is something that is only possible through the use of adjustable, adaptable wordpress themes and templates.

These rapid evolutions are designed to make websites that are easily and ideally viewed by everyone, from people scanning on a mobile phone, to power users on ultra-wide monitors and search engine algorithms that can pick out the best content for SEO purposes.

This was obviously not always the case. Until 2021, the Space Jam website served as a breakwater against the passage of time, maintaining its 1996 HTML frames design for 25 years.

However, perhaps the ultimate example of how websites were treated at the very start of the internet age was the home page of Interrupt Technology Corporation, first registered on 18th September 1986.

This does not make it the first web page ever created, but it is the oldest that is still functional, at least in the sense that typing the web page loads it up.

The oldest domain ever registered was symbolics.com (now a parked domain) on 15th March 1985. 

Symbolics was a LISP computer manufacturer that designed machines for the AI market of the early 1980s, ultimately collapsing when both the LISP machine and AI market collapsed in the late 1980s. There is no surviving evidence of the old Symbolics website or even if it was ever used by the original company.

Interrupt Technology Corporation took a unique approach to its website that could be described as “anti-marketing”. As a small software consulting firm based in Claremont, California, Interrupt Technology Corporation did not feel like it needed to market.

As such, they were rather annoyed by the idea that in order to have an email address with the company’s domain name, they also needed a website, so they had perhaps the most rudimentary business website ever created.

Ironically enough, it did generate interest with its counterproductive approach, although given that the company no longer exists as of 2003, it probably did not capitalise.

In 2024, it is essentially unthinkable for any legal professional to not have a website. It is as vital as a telephone number and an office for any legal firm, and as the shifting sands of social media prove, relying on another platform is not a good alternative.

Instead, having a beautiful website with a theme dedicated to your firm and all of the features you could need to run the business and marketing side of your firm is the better long-term solution, but who was the first legal professional to see the future like this?

There is some debate regarding this, with many claiming that the now-defunct firm Heller Ehrmann had the first website in 1994, along with the first online advert for a law firm on the Global Network Navigator (now AOL).

Whilst the latter claim was confirmed by former CEO Tim O’Reilly, the former has been disputed by other legal professionals who operated in the early World Wide Web.

Most sources that make the claim cite the company themselves, and the Internet Archive only goes back to 1996.

It is very possible that they had a website in 1994, although lawyer and legal technology journalist Bob Ambrogi claimed in 1995 that the answer was Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti. He would later specifically claim a date of 5th March 1994 for the original registration of their domain name.

This is corroborated by an article in the Baltimore Sun from April 1994, which claims a remarkable level of sophistication at the time, with a website that has not only text but also graphics and formatting. The article even references Cello, an early lawyer-focused web browser that predates Internet Explorer.

Two full decades later, law professionals rely on the internet in ways that were not even conceivable at the time, with not only contact information and case summaries available online but actual court sessions being run through video conferencing.

WordPress is a pivotal part of the internet as we know it, due to its versatility, ease of use and ease of customisation with themes to suit every type of business need from legal portfolio to complex eCommerce storefronts.

The potential for WordPress to enable every user to create an effective, functional website transformed the internet completely and led to the development of the blog as we know it today.

However, there is a dispute at the heart of WordPress that has the potential to affect millions of websites in the process.

It started with a blog by founder Matt Mullenweg, which criticised WP Engine, a popular hosting platform for WordPress websites, for marketing that has proven to be confusing to customers, something that Mr Mullenweg argues was deliberate.

WordPress itself is open source, meaning that anyone can use the software under the terms of the General Public License, with the associated company Automattic in charge of WordPress’ commercial endeavours.

However, there are certain conditions attached to that use, and Mr Mullenweg argued that WP Engine had not followed them, calling for a boycott due to their ties to private equity firms. 

This led to WP Engine sending a cease and desist order, alleging that he had defamed and attempted to extort them out to tens of millions of dollars.

Automattic then sent their own cease and desist, ordering WP Engine to stop using the WP Engine name due to it causing confusion in the marketplace.

The WordPress Foundation then banned WP Engine from accessing plug-ins and themes held on the main WordPress website, breaking a lot of websites in the process, and stopping them from updating and editing their themes, causing a huge security risk in the process.

The ban was lifted to allow WP Engine to set up a mirror page to access existing resources, but the bitter dispute has split opinion and caused a degree of uncertainty. 

Exactly what will happen next will depend on a court case between WP Engine and Automattic, where the former accused the latter of abusing his power.

The chaos appears to have subsided for the time being, but this is a seismic event that could change so much about how we use the internet.