Websites Back in 1998

58 Constructive Comments

1. Dan (September 17th, 2008 at 1:47 am)

   I’d say yahoo has improved the most. Apple was the best back then, it might even be a challenge for novices like me to match now as my site probably says clearly enough.
2. Osama (September 17th, 2008 at 2:32 am)

   Haha! Lauren Hill on the cover of Times Favorite artist EVER!

   Osamas last blog post..Finally Fully Ubuntu!
3. Roume (September 17th, 2008 at 3:29 am)

   This is so cool!
   the difference in hotmail is drastic…Google was always more or less simplistic, and amazon doesnt appear to have changed much…..
   how did you get these old screenshots!
   truly amazing!http://www.skidzopedia.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif
4. Tholaris (September 17th, 2008 at 4:06 am)

   Funny, but Amazon.com seems to have a worse layout now if you ask me. The tabs were so handy! Why’d they ever get rid of them?
5. Mikeachim (September 17th, 2008 at 6:14 am)

   It’s fascinating seeing how *little* Amazon’s front-end look has changed. Their ‘if it ain’t broke’ philosophy does them credit.
6. Geoserv (September 17th, 2008 at 6:28 am)

   STUMBLED!

   I dont remember Hotmail looking like that.

   Good post.

   Geoservs last blog post..Free Pligg v9.9.5 Template – Pliggario
7. Tanya (September 17th, 2008 at 6:49 am)

   I hate to say it, but these don’t look that different
8. Kashif (September 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am)

   Interesting posts mate . . I have noticed that you removed top commentator’s widget . Any good reasons for that ?

   Kashifs last blog post..Protect your email IDs from spam bots and automatic email extractors !
9. nick (September 17th, 2008 at 8:34 am)

   I like how Amazon has changed very little. They found the formula that worked and kept it. They didn’t waste millions of $ on rebuilding the wheel. Sorry, marketing “gurus” bug me…
10. Sam (September 19th, 2008 at 4:14 am)

    I say Yahoo improved the most, while Amazon improved very little.
11. Emily (September 20th, 2008 at 1:09 am)

    Hey, this is neat! I remember when Hotmail looked like that, it was my first email address!
12. saucyJack (September 20th, 2008 at 1:42 am)

    Anyone notice that the largest windows in each of the new websites are filled with ads? Consumerism bums me out.
13. Simon (September 20th, 2008 at 2:06 am)

    I think Amazon improved greatly: look at that line below the word “Amazon”.. it used to look like a frown.. but they’ve changed it to look like a smile.. very smart

    Cheers
14. McCow (September 20th, 2008 at 7:53 am)

    I got my Hotmail e-mail in ’98………how time flies..
15. VeritasBlue (September 20th, 2008 at 8:55 am)

    You should show a comparison of The Drudge Report from then and now, just to show a website that hasn’t changed.
16. Reptile Pets (September 20th, 2008 at 8:14 am)

    This is very cool. I think the apple site has always looked pretty good. Google has changed and is still the search engine for me after all these years.
17. jenni (September 20th, 2008 at 9:35 am)

    id actually say apple improved. amazon didnt really do much.
18. Skrzzy (September 20th, 2008 at 4:03 pm)

    True, the tabs to amazon were nice, but it’s interesting how their layout really hasn’t changed that much. They always seemed to be on top of the internet game.
    Anyways, it’s nice going down memory lane. I remember all these sites and it’s pretty funny to see how they’ve changed….damn I feel old now…
19. Robert Augustin (September 20th, 2008 at 10:16 pm)

    It’s interesting to see that Sun already had rounded corners back in 1998. Way ahead indeed!
20. tommy (September 21st, 2008 at 4:07 am)

    Nice trip down memory lane….
    Thanks for researching and posting.
    
21. kurt (September 21st, 2008 at 5:22 am)

    yahoo still looks terrible
22. Daniel Hopkins (September 21st, 2008 at 6:15 am)

    For those who asked how you can see old websites, You can use the internet archive’s wayback machine.
23. leo (September 21st, 2008 at 10:39 am)

    reason google was like that back then was because the 2 guys that started google didn’t know html very well so they kept it simple and basic…

    the only thing i don’t understand is, after all this time they still keep the homepage basic and empty looking. they have enough dough to pay other people that know how to design and develop nice looking sites, but they choose not to for some reason.
24. thenetguruz (September 21st, 2008 at 5:24 pm)

    Nostalgic Apple website was so ugly
25. Tony Bruno (September 22nd, 2008 at 1:14 am)

    Google’s design is minimalistic for a reason, they are not trying to keep page load times to a minimum. If I want to see the news, I go to Yahoo, if I need to find something fast I go to Google. They also have iGoogle if you want a content rich home page.
26. Julian @ Technology Current (September 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 am)

    Lol Amazon sure has come a long way in ten years….
27. john (September 22nd, 2008 at 3:06 am)

    To see everyone’s previous websites go to this page.
    http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

    You can spend hours on this site!

    - John
28. DG (September 22nd, 2008 at 3:07 am)

    I think Yahoo has definitely changed for the best! Biggest visual change.
29. Daniel (September 22nd, 2008 at 5:55 am)

    Personally I think Google’s is by far the best in 2008. Other companies got taken over by advertisers and various new add-ons to the site, notice how all the hundreds of things Google has aren’t all listed on the front page, they only list the top 5 most popular ones then have the rest on a separate link. Plus because its so simple it doesn’t take long to load. On my 15 m/bit connection yahoo takes about 5 times longer to load than Google.

    Long story short, the Google page in 2008 is much better than every other website listed here.
    But when it comes to the most improved, Apple.com takes the cake.
30. Dwayne Charrington (September 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 am)

    Wow. Apple really picked up the game with their website design. The old design was probably revolutionary and considered a “great look” for the era it was from.
31. KushMoney (September 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 am)

    Thanks for showing me how sites looked when I didn’t have a computer. I stumbled it.
32. Red (September 22nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm)

    nice touch…though you do miss the tackiness of even just informational pages of those days (bad colors, animated gifs everywhere!)…. Or how about how 1 in 5 people had an email address….now it’s 1 in 5 people don’t have an email address….if even!
33. roadie28 (September 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm)

    I remember when Hotmail looked like that, and I miss it. That silly red globe would spin. I still have the same hotmail email addy I had back then, yay for me.
34. Cory (September 24th, 2008 at 9:59 am)

    Ha! Yahoo looked like a directory you come across doing SEO…
    And hotmail…those were the days.

    Corys last blog post..Religion and Unconditional Love
35. marketlive (September 24th, 2008 at 11:02 am)

    G8 improvements in all of the businesses.

    Google is the most, providing g8 options to users, more apps, more user friendly……

    Regards
    marketlive.in
36. vineetgupta (September 24th, 2008 at 11:15 am)

    Ahh… the internet back when I was a total noob… Happy days…
37. eric (September 25th, 2008 at 11:21 pm)

    Ha… I remember yahoo looking like that. I harley remember google at that time. It was more about the yahoo and altavista
38. web (September 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am)

    Turn the clock backwards to know how the leaders of web looks like in the past….
39. Chris Estes (September 26th, 2008 at 11:35 am)

    Imagine what will be said about the internet in 2018?
40. sydney (September 26th, 2008 at 8:56 pm)

    i liked the old versions better.
    retro
41. freemoneypayments (September 29th, 2008 at 10:43 pm)

    Google keeps it simple indeed!
42. Google (September 30th, 2008 at 4:43 am)

    The 1998 Google looks very similar to the way it looks today, however, they’ve come a long way in developing/advancing their search technology since then.

    Yahoo has also advanced tremendously since 1998.
43. RyanG (October 5th, 2008 at 11:55 pm)

    Not a great deal of change at Amazon.
44. Kevin (October 6th, 2008 at 5:26 am)

    Anyone can view AND SURF (to some extent) their favorite websites of the past: http://www.archive.org

    I’m guessing that’s where these screen shots are from.

    Some websites, like Yahoo! and AOL are archived from as early as 1996. Try something less popular and obscure, you might be surprised to find it’s actually on there. Pretty cool.
45. Eneza (October 6th, 2008 at 6:45 am)

    Amazon seems the same!
46. funkymonky (October 6th, 2008 at 8:25 am)

    thats some improvements right there
47. khf (October 6th, 2008 at 8:46 am)

    Yahoo has not improved, it’s the shitty same.
48. Tomaz (October 7th, 2008 at 1:35 am)

    Personally I prefer the original Yahoo instead of all the clutter of the new layout.
49. Goji Juice (October 9th, 2008 at 7:26 pm)

    Nice and informative article…
50. Tasha Bollingh (October 11th, 2008 at 3:14 am)

    I really like the Apple site now; nice and smooth design. Amazon has quite stayed the same, but it’s good just the way it is. I love the simplicity of google, you just type what you’re looking for, click, and that’s it, that’s also the main reason I DON’T like Yahoo; there’s just ‘too much stuff’.
51. Jeff Paul (October 17th, 2008 at 10:02 am)

    This blog Is very informative , I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog . It helped me with ocean of knowledge so I really belive you will do much better in the future . Good job web master .
52. A. (March 28th, 2009 at 3:22 am)

    I prefer the old Hotmail to the new garbled mess of an e-mail service.
53. Mohit (April 25th, 2009 at 7:39 am)

    I have seen that in wayback machine.
54. Jono (May 14th, 2009 at 12:14 pm)

    1998 websites from Wayback Machine:
    Google
    Yahoo
    Hotmail
    Microsoft
    Apple
    Sun Microsystems
    Amazon
    Time

    There is a real look for you guys, hope you like it.
55. DR (June 16th, 2009 at 11:41 pm)

    Google if for men,
    Yahoo is for pussies.
56. webmasterdubai (June 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm)

    wowow really amazing, technology has gone really far between 11 years. lots of changes.
57. Musab Zain (June 22nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm)

    It sure has!
58. Michael (August 26th, 2010 at 1:33 am)

    I cant wait till holographic web pages!

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