> I'm not sure anyone could ever accuse anything related to the internet of being 'designed'. Even being standardised is a stretch.
I think you are talking about the ecosystem surrounding JavaScript, which was created in 10 days for incoherent marketing reasons, not the Internet, which was designed via a rigorous standardisation process. The Internet protocol suite is a beautiful and lasting design that dates back to the 1970s, and it's proved flexible enough for everything from the dial-up era to modern wireless video streaming.
I suppose I could have been fairer. HTML/CSS/Javascript does not grow in a controlled way and the standardisation tends to be reactive rather than proactive.
Most of the components that aren't presenting data to the user are quite well designed. That being said, the internet is very much a sum of parts and is more reminiscent of a naturally forming compost heap than of anything is planned out. And the TCP protocol is a very interesting study from a design perspective and an unusual example in my book of excellent engineering; middling design. The original protocol was not good enough (eg, congestion collapse) but its evolution was quite something.
I think you are talking about the ecosystem surrounding JavaScript, which was created in 10 days for incoherent marketing reasons, not the Internet, which was designed via a rigorous standardisation process. The Internet protocol suite is a beautiful and lasting design that dates back to the 1970s, and it's proved flexible enough for everything from the dial-up era to modern wireless video streaming.