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One day, someone will write about how ancient the Web looked back in 2013 and marvel at how backwards we were .

Were you online in 1997? Do you have any other interesting old websites to share? Leave a comment and let us know.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/time-10-big-websites-looked-15-years/

The White House

The White House didn’t have a shiny website back then – the website’s front page was the “White House Virtual Library.” It offered the ability to browse and search a variety of documents. No splashy front page with the latest news and high-resolution images of the president here, just a glorified search engine with a background that made the content harder to read.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image34.png

AltaVista

If you weren’t using Yahoo, there’s a good chance you were using AltaVista. AltaVista now just redirects to Yahoo’s search results, and Yahoo is just a frontend to Microsoft’s Bing.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image33.png

The New York Times

The New York Times shows us what a newspaper website used to be like. The website attempts to bring the familiar newspaper-style layout to a browser – luckily, newspaper websites have advanced since then. It’s also amusing to see that the early versions of Internet Explorer were considered “complex” in their time.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image32.png

GeoCities

If you were around in the ‘90s, I’m sure you remember GeoCities. Instead of creating blogs, people created their own personal websites – and they usually looked horrible. GeoCities was shut down in 2009, but it faded away and died many years before.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image31.png

AOL

AOL’s website really is a blast from the past. The front page advertises the beta release of AOL Instant Messenger, which ultimately became very popular. It even offers a free AOL trial, which brought many people online for the first time.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image30.png

Amazon

I’m going to cheat again because the Wayback Machine doesn’t have any snapshots of Amazon.com from 1997, so here’s a screenshot from 1999. The old Amazon actually looks surprisingly modern. Of course, a big part of this is because Amazon’s website had changed so little until the recent redesign.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image29.png

Microsoft

Microsoft was working on Windows 98 at the time, and their “Where do you want to go today?” slogan featured prominently on their website. The top headline – “Internet Explorer 4.0 Debuts to Critics’ Applause” – seems hilarious in retrospect, with Internet Explorer ultimately becoming a drag on the Internet. At the time, Microsoft was actually trying – and they would keep developing IE until they released version 6, after which they stopped development, leaving the Web to stagnate.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image28.png

Yahoo

1997 was the pre-Google era, so people used other search engines – like Yahoo. Yahoo was a pretty basic search engine and directory back then, nothing like the jam-packed front page it would become. But then, Yahoo just couldn’t be cluttered back then. It would have taken too long to download over those old dial-up modems.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image27.png

Google

Google didn’t even have a website in 1997, so I’m cheating a bit here by showing you the page from 1998. The iconic, minimalistic design is present here. Here’s a little-known fact: the only reason Google started with such a simple design is because they didn’t have a webmaster or anyone that knew HTML.

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image26.png

Apple

Apple, now the most valuable company in the world, was a struggling computer company back in the ‘90s. Apple’s website from 1997 seems like it’s about a completely different company from the Apple we know today. But even back then, Apple was pushing mobile devices – the eMate 300 in this case, which used Apple’s Newton platform. (It was a flop.)

https://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/image25.png

Go Back In Time: How 10 Big Websites Looked 15 Years Ago


The year was 1997. Apple was a struggling computer company, AOL was a booming Internet service provider, Microsoft was on the verge of releasing Windows 98, and the Web was a very different place. Through the magic of the Wayback Machine, we can travel back in time and revisit the past.

Take a walk down memory lane with us as we journey back in time and take a look at what the Web used to be. If you were there at the time, you’ll feel nostalgia – if not, you might be surprised just how far we’ve come. Feel free to follow the links and do your own exploring, even revisit your own old haunts and marvel at how dated they look.

2buff: You're a remarkable chick.
To make it more widely available, you should host it as a project under Google Code.

o.k. i would do just that...

lordZOUGA: nah.. I do not believe javanian is a female. javanian's character on Nairaland suggests that the user is male. I'd bet on it.

We are all entitled to our opinions...

Hello guys i was working on a project that required me to integrate the PAYZA send money API. I visited their official

developers website and they had implementations of the API only in PHP and C#.NET and of course i wanted it in JAVA. So i

did some googling to see if i could find a JAVA implementation and to my surprise i didn't. So i decided to rewrite the

entire C# code in JAVA and put it online so maybe someday it would be of help to someone somewhere who may be in need of

it just like i was.

Check the full code here: http://pastebin.com/V1dBwhrv

I think fayimora hid your post because you guys were derailing the thread, but he saw your reply...

Sorry for derailing the thread, i think i now have what i wanted. Thanks alot @2buff and @fayimora. I have little knowledge of Scala already and i will certainly look into Grails.

@fayimora yot said you can create a blog in 30 mins on Rails?? Thats a good one!...

Thanks @ dualcore and ernest

L.M.A.O

First of all LAGBook acquires Top level domain for $10,000

then few months later...

LAGBook is sold for thesame $10,000

una no sabi lie self

@slyr0x please damn the rules and move this thread to the JOKE section thats where it belongs...

Please continue your explanation on the frameworks, may be i might be able to choose one. Also, i will appreciate it if you can give me some reasons why i should even use a framework because i'm still yet to find one...

@slyrox you are the one allowing this bullshit...if this happened in my section i would have deleted the thread and banned the o.p. at first sight.

Someone did this on my board few days ago and....

https://www.nairaland.com/1172471/mobile-application

@dual core and @gmmail please how do you deposit and withdraw from your payza account??

@fayimora please continue, am interested...

Please what motivated you to create this thread?? Any examples of threads with bad replies??

2buff: Look up grails scaffolding on google. Thats just one of the examples.

i've taken a look at it. Thanks...

Is lucozade boost also bad?

Is lucozade boost also bad?

2buff: A good web framework is something that reduces your low level responsibility

Please what low level responsibilities are we talking about?? Thats what i would like to know...

@2buff please permit me to derial your thread a little. i'm a big fan of java technologies on the web especially using servlets (i don't like jsp's and other scripting languages). But my question is...why should i even use a web framework?? I have basic knowledge of spring, struts, hibernate and the play framework but i rarely use them. Second question, why should i use this grails framework instead of the ones i mentioned above??. Because i see it as Yet Another Framework...

Any one who has a brain an reads this post will know that this is nothing but a bid to advertise your OZEKI SMS GATEWAY.

You created a similar thread this morning with a different username and i deleted it. I can never do business with you because my first impression about you is FRAUDLENT...You seem to forget you are in the Programming Section...The home of logical minds...carry your rubbish publicity stunt to the romance or politics section, you might be successfull there...

This is my last warning. The next time i see any OZEKI SMS BULLSHIT on this board i will ban you for life...