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16 Sep, 2008
Websites Back in 1998
The end of twentieth Century brought a boom in the usage of Internet, while many sites began to emerge on the web, which now are at their peak of popularity and success. Its pretty amazing and interesting to know what these sites would have appeared if we would have visited them back in 1998.
Since technology and web designing was in its embryonic stages and was developing slowing by leaps and bounds, we could easily imagine how they would have looked like; where an animated GIF created such an incredible visual impact!
Here is a list of 8 websites as they appeared in 1998 compared with how they look in the present days.
Google 1998
Google 2008
Yahoo 1998
Yahoo 2008
Hotmail 1998
Hotmail 2008
Microsoft 1998
Microsoft 2008
Apple 1998
Apple 2008
Sun Microsystems 1998
Sun Microsystems 2008
Amazon 1998
Amazon 2008
Times 1998
Times 2008
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.
Haha! Lauren Hill on the cover of Times
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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
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?
It’s fascinating seeing how *little* Amazon’s front-end look has changed. Their ‘if it ain’t broke’ philosophy does them credit.
STUMBLED!
I dont remember Hotmail looking like that.
Good post.
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I hate to say it, but these don’t look that different
Interesting posts mate . . I have noticed that you removed top commentator’s widget . Any good reasons for that
?
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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…
I say Yahoo improved the most, while Amazon improved very little.
Hey, this is neat! I remember when Hotmail looked like that, it was my first email address!
Anyone notice that the largest windows in each of the new websites are filled with ads? Consumerism bums me out.
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
I got my Hotmail e-mail in ‘98………how time flies..
You should show a comparison of The Drudge Report from then and now, just to show a website that hasn’t changed.
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.
id actually say apple improved. amazon didnt really do much.
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…
It’s interesting to see that Sun already had rounded corners back in 1998. Way ahead indeed!
Nice trip down memory lane….
Thanks for researching and posting.
yahoo still looks terrible
For those who asked how you can see old websites, You can use the internet archive’s wayback machine.
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.
[...] is a list of 8 websites as they appeared in 1998 compared with how they look in the present days.read more | digg story Bookmark It Hide [...]
[...] Websites back in 1998 (here) [...]
Nostalgic
Apple website was so ugly 
[...] is a list of 8 websites as they appeared in 1998 compared with how they look in the present days.read more | digg [...]
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.
Lol Amazon sure has come a long way in ten years….
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
I think Yahoo has definitely changed for the best! Biggest visual change.
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.
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.
Thanks for showing me how sites looked when I didn’t have a computer. I stumbled it.
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!
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.
Ha! Yahoo looked like a directory you come across doing SEO…
And hotmail…those were the days.
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G8 improvements in all of the businesses.
Google is the most, providing g8 options to users, more apps, more user friendly……
Regards
marketlive.in
Ahh… the internet back when I was a total noob… Happy days…
Ha… I remember yahoo looking like that. I harley remember google at that time. It was more about the yahoo and altavista
Turn the clock backwards to know how the leaders of web looks like in the past….
Imagine what will be said about the internet in 2018?
i liked the old versions better.
retro
Google keeps it simple indeed!
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.
[...] Websites Back in 1998 | Skidzopedia (tags: websites webdesign history) [...]
Not a great deal of change at Amazon.
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.
Amazon seems the same!
Yahoo has not improved, it’s the shitty same.
Personally I prefer the original Yahoo instead of all the clutter of the new layout.
Nice and informative article…
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’.
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 .
I prefer the old Hotmail to the new garbled mess of an e-mail service.
I have seen that in wayback machine.
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.
Google if for men,
Yahoo is for pussies.
wowow really amazing, technology has gone really far between 11 years. lots of changes.
It sure has!