In the past, fantastic web design was a simple business. All you had to do was ensure that the design looked good in Internet Explorer or Netscape, and your job was pretty much done. Some designers even took it upon themselves to mandate which browser the user should be operating. And for many designers, the visual design was not only a primary concern, but theonly concern.
That approach created a terrible legacy which is still sometimes experienced today, where the site content often is given secondary importance to eye candy and window dressing.