I’m not sure if this is a tour through web design history or of a budding designer’s development. Either way I took 15 minutes tonight to make some examples of buttons you might find around the internet:

• a) Web 2.0 – Our first experience with gradients and buttons that can look like physical objects. Best avoided today except out of irony.
• b) Grunge/Worn – As soon as everyone began to see the glossy web 2.0 buttons as tired, the resulting movement was to go as far the other way as possible: destroy the website a bit around the edges. Like Abercrombie and Fitch.
• c) Letter Press – Many designers come from a traditional arts background and have somewhat of a fetish for letterpress (and rightly so). This is an attempt to add subtle realism and a bit of an “ooh” factor. I’d say we’re in the midst of this here in 2010.
• d) Startup Page – A startup’s success is often determined by early user acquisition and user retention, with a good product a distant third. In an effort to get visitors to convert to users, sites are A|B tested and examined by psychologists until you can’t help but give them your email address and contact information. This huge bright button can be seen on almost any site featured in Hacker News.