Thursday, October 18, 2007

Surfin' the 'Net: The Wayback Machine

This website is genius. It lets you see what a webpage looked like at almost any point in time since the invention of the internet. And let me tell you, 1996-99 were great years for web design. Sailing through cyberspace ca.1996 was like navigating a sleek and seamless metropolis, with two-toned, enormously-pixelated icons at every corner.
Here's a good place to start:
www.whitehouse.gov of 1998
Well good morning to you too, internet white house, and what a fine morning it is! Your wedding invitation font reminds me that American democracy likes to keep things classy. And do my eyes deceive me or are those two images of flags...FLUTTERING IN THE CYBER-BREEZE?!?!
Remember how, in the days when the whitehouse's website looked the same as an 11-year-old cat lover's personal homepage, it seemed like that was just the fixed aesthetic of the internet? Who could have predicted the changes in store... [Answer: Almost Everybody]

3 comments:

Lesley said...

you know what's crazy? i def. remember looking at that white house page when i was in middle school maybe and doing a report on the declaration of independence. we had to summarize each amendment. it had the waving flags and everything! but where are the flying toasters???

Lizzie said...

oh my god, yes. i love this site so much. check out old-tymey columbia university!

http://web.archive.org/web/19961227123507/http://www.columbia.edu/

oh wait, it looks the same. literally.

Nick said...

made me realize how meaningful that dancing baby was. Set piece-city in the internet narrative.