The Internet seems so commonplace and familiar it is easy to forget that is still very new. On November 13th the first web site was launched at CERN in Switzerland. Here is a link to the oldest web page in existence: http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Link.html , last changed Tue, 13 Nov 1990 15:17:00 GMT (though the URI changed.)
The world wide web had a slow start. Here is a link to the world wide web project page from Nov 3, 1992 (two years later). It lists the 30 odd servers that constituted the web http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
In November, the world wide web will be eighteen years old! If only there were a way to go back in time and visit old pages and sites and see this history. But of course, someone already thought if this and it exists: "The Way Back Machine"! Go to http://www.archive.org type in a web address and hit the 'Take Me Back' button. This site has a saved version of the entire Internet going back to 1998.
I tried it with http://www.spacedatabase.com and found all the old website designs that I was so proud of. Here is an old version from 1997:
For our photos we took pictures with a film camera and had them scanned onto a 'CD' This was before digital cameras were widely available. We made desktop software at the time - one of the features was that "Drawings can be faxed or modemed directly from your system." -- 'modemed'?
In 2000, I came up with a snazzy new design for the website. It had an embossed effect and the buttons lit up with a scroll-over effect which was advanced at the time:
On this site we also had our 'Online' application. Users could log in and use our application online! Wow-wee!:
In 2003, we decided that it was time to update our corporate image and develop a new brand identity. We worked with Jump Communications and came up with this elegant new look:
We kept this framework for several years - slightly updating with some more graphics.
We have continued to use these basic design elements in the latest iteration. You can see the connections in our current site (as of August 2007)
I am sure this page will look quaint a year from now!
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