As the web turns 25, it's easy to forget just how some of our favourite websites looked back in their early incarnations. Rhiannon Williams unearths the best
The web turns a quarter of a century old today - in which time the Berlin Wall
has come down, we've witnessed one of the worst financial crisis ever and a
British man has finally won Wimbledon. Following on from our previous
list, here are some of the moments you might not remember - the
homepages of famous websites.
1. google.com - launched in 1996
Founded in 1996 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin were PhD students at Standford
University, California, Google
has grown to be the biggest search engine in the world. This demo is
believed to be one of the earliest examples of Google as we know it.
2. facebook.com - launched in 2004
Eight years later Facebook was also founded at a university - Harvard to be precise, and by Mark Zuckerberg. Known as TheFacebook, it was initially only available to fellow Harvard students to rate each other's photographs, before being rolled out to selected high schools. Today, Facebook boasts over 1.23 billion users worldwide.
3. myspace.com - launched in 2003
Before there was Facebook, there was MySpace. The social network of choice for tortured teens in the mid 2000s, Rupert Murdoch bought the site back in 2005 for $580 million. Following years of members flocking to alternatives such as Facebook, Murdoch sold it in 2011 for a rumoured $35 million, calling the purchase a "huge mistake".
4. yahoo.com - launched in 1994
Webportal Yahoo originally began life as David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web, when created by electrical engineering students David Filo and Jerry Yang in 1994. The term Yahoo actually stands for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.
5. youtube.com - launched in 2005
YouTube was born out of the difficulty one of its three founders, Jawed Karim, had in finding videos of Janet Jackson's accidental nipple exposure at the 2004 Super Bowl. This spartan example of the home page is a fry cry from how the site looks today.
6. wikipedia.org - launched in 2001
The comprehensive online encyclopedia, Wikipedia has altered forever how entire generations access information. While it hasn't changed dramatically since its inception in 2001 in terms of appearance, the site now hosts over 30 million articles.
7. msn.com - launched in 1995
The Microsoft Network, as it was known then, was launched in 1995 to provide an internet service provider and portal for the masses. It now corroborates original content and news with video, stocks and polls.
8. apple.com - launched in 1997
Enticing internet users with the offer of a free CD-ROM, Apple.com is a world away from its current incarnation, but already demonstrates the company's dedication to the colour white. The Apple eMate 300 advertised on the right of the page was a shortlived digital assistant from 1997 to 1998.
9. tumblr.com - launched in 2007
Microblogging platform Tumblr started life as a basic social network and mini-blog site. From its humble beginnings it now hosts over 170.2 million blogs and more than 68.6 billion posts.
10. telegraph.co.uk - launched in 1994
The very website you're reading launched in 1994. We were the first UK national newspaper to have its own website, then called Electronic Telegraph. Although the design may have changed somewhat, our dedication to the news remains the same.
11. news.bbc.co.uk - launched in 1996
Pictured here in 1998, the original form of the BBC website was then known as www.bbcnc.org.uk, with the nc representing 'networking club'. Users wishing to access the site paid a joining fee of £25, alongside a monthly payment of £12, and could hold conversations on an early bulletin board. bbc.co.uk was introduced in 1996.
12. CNN OJ Simpson murder trial - 1996
Amazingly CNN has never updated or removed its page dedicated to the murder trial of OJ Simpson, and is still accessible through the above link.
13. twitter.com - launched in 2006
Virtually unrecognisable now, Twitter was created in March 2006. It is now one of the world's ten most visited websites, and one of the most successful start-ups of all time in terms of market capitalisation.
14. eBay.com - then known as AuctionWeb - founded in 1995
This attractive-looking grey homepage grew into the world's largest auction site, connecting the world through the commerce of buying and selling. Founder Pierre Omidyar actually wanted to call it echobay.com, but as the domain was already registered to a gold mining company, he shortened it to eBay.
15. LinkedIn.com - launched in 2003
Touted as the professional social network, LinkedIn was launched in 2003 by Reid Hoffman. In the United States alone it boasts over 93 million users, some 29.9 per cent of the population, and displayed a surprisingly sophisticated homepage from the very start.
16. flickr.com - launched in 2004
Image and video hosting site Flickr is one of the most popular in the world, despite displaying a spartan home page back in 1994. Around 3.5 million images are uplaoded to the site every single day.
17. blogger.com - launched in 1999
One of the very earliest blog-publishing services, Blogger is generally credited with helping to popularise the rise of blogging across the internet.
18. whitehouse.gov - launched in 1994
In what looks like a thoroughly unreliable website, the White House first made its online presence felt 20 years ago. For every new president, the website is completely redesigned, meaning the URL and site structure is largely inconsistent.
19. warnerbros.com Space Jam - launched in 1996
In another piece of internet history, the Space Jam subsite of warnerbros.com has not been updated or removed since its launch in 1996. Ahead of its time.
20. nytimes.com - launched in 1995
In the days before its paywall, the New York Times created its own website in 1995, a year behind the Telegraph. Pictured here in 1996, the site is now considered one of the best sources for online news in the world.
21. amazon.com - launched in 1995
Envisaged as an online bookstore, Amazon sports the name it does as founder Jeff Bezos wanted a name beginning to A which would appear early in alphabetical rankings, and settled on Amazon as it was "exotic and different". Its functional early hompage is not so different from its appearance today.
22. craigslist.org - launched in 1995
The US equivalent of Gumtree, Craigslist was originally an email distribution list focused on local events in San Francisco before becoming a website in 1996.
23. dell.com - launched in 1996
After Dell was founded as a company in 1984, the firm launched its website 12 years later.
24. friendsreunited.co.uk - launched in 2000
UK social network Friends Reunited was born from co-founder Julie Pankhurst's desire to know what her old school friends were up to in the style of US equivalent Classmates.com. Needless to say the homepage is a bit more sophisticated these days.
25. Instagram.com - launched in 2010
Instagram began life as Burbn as a form of mobile photography check in, similar to FourSquare today. It has since grown into one of the world's most successful photo sharing platforms, and was bought by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.
Eight years later Facebook was also founded at a university - Harvard to be precise, and by Mark Zuckerberg. Known as TheFacebook, it was initially only available to fellow Harvard students to rate each other's photographs, before being rolled out to selected high schools. Today, Facebook boasts over 1.23 billion users worldwide.
3. myspace.com - launched in 2003
Before there was Facebook, there was MySpace. The social network of choice for tortured teens in the mid 2000s, Rupert Murdoch bought the site back in 2005 for $580 million. Following years of members flocking to alternatives such as Facebook, Murdoch sold it in 2011 for a rumoured $35 million, calling the purchase a "huge mistake".
4. yahoo.com - launched in 1994
Webportal Yahoo originally began life as David and Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web, when created by electrical engineering students David Filo and Jerry Yang in 1994. The term Yahoo actually stands for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.
5. youtube.com - launched in 2005
YouTube was born out of the difficulty one of its three founders, Jawed Karim, had in finding videos of Janet Jackson's accidental nipple exposure at the 2004 Super Bowl. This spartan example of the home page is a fry cry from how the site looks today.
6. wikipedia.org - launched in 2001
The comprehensive online encyclopedia, Wikipedia has altered forever how entire generations access information. While it hasn't changed dramatically since its inception in 2001 in terms of appearance, the site now hosts over 30 million articles.
7. msn.com - launched in 1995
The Microsoft Network, as it was known then, was launched in 1995 to provide an internet service provider and portal for the masses. It now corroborates original content and news with video, stocks and polls.
8. apple.com - launched in 1997
Enticing internet users with the offer of a free CD-ROM, Apple.com is a world away from its current incarnation, but already demonstrates the company's dedication to the colour white. The Apple eMate 300 advertised on the right of the page was a shortlived digital assistant from 1997 to 1998.
9. tumblr.com - launched in 2007
Microblogging platform Tumblr started life as a basic social network and mini-blog site. From its humble beginnings it now hosts over 170.2 million blogs and more than 68.6 billion posts.
10. telegraph.co.uk - launched in 1994
The very website you're reading launched in 1994. We were the first UK national newspaper to have its own website, then called Electronic Telegraph. Although the design may have changed somewhat, our dedication to the news remains the same.
11. news.bbc.co.uk - launched in 1996
Pictured here in 1998, the original form of the BBC website was then known as www.bbcnc.org.uk, with the nc representing 'networking club'. Users wishing to access the site paid a joining fee of £25, alongside a monthly payment of £12, and could hold conversations on an early bulletin board. bbc.co.uk was introduced in 1996.
12. CNN OJ Simpson murder trial - 1996
Amazingly CNN has never updated or removed its page dedicated to the murder trial of OJ Simpson, and is still accessible through the above link.
13. twitter.com - launched in 2006
Virtually unrecognisable now, Twitter was created in March 2006. It is now one of the world's ten most visited websites, and one of the most successful start-ups of all time in terms of market capitalisation.
14. eBay.com - then known as AuctionWeb - founded in 1995
This attractive-looking grey homepage grew into the world's largest auction site, connecting the world through the commerce of buying and selling. Founder Pierre Omidyar actually wanted to call it echobay.com, but as the domain was already registered to a gold mining company, he shortened it to eBay.
15. LinkedIn.com - launched in 2003
Touted as the professional social network, LinkedIn was launched in 2003 by Reid Hoffman. In the United States alone it boasts over 93 million users, some 29.9 per cent of the population, and displayed a surprisingly sophisticated homepage from the very start.
16. flickr.com - launched in 2004
Image and video hosting site Flickr is one of the most popular in the world, despite displaying a spartan home page back in 1994. Around 3.5 million images are uplaoded to the site every single day.
17. blogger.com - launched in 1999
One of the very earliest blog-publishing services, Blogger is generally credited with helping to popularise the rise of blogging across the internet.
18. whitehouse.gov - launched in 1994
In what looks like a thoroughly unreliable website, the White House first made its online presence felt 20 years ago. For every new president, the website is completely redesigned, meaning the URL and site structure is largely inconsistent.
19. warnerbros.com Space Jam - launched in 1996
In another piece of internet history, the Space Jam subsite of warnerbros.com has not been updated or removed since its launch in 1996. Ahead of its time.
20. nytimes.com - launched in 1995
In the days before its paywall, the New York Times created its own website in 1995, a year behind the Telegraph. Pictured here in 1996, the site is now considered one of the best sources for online news in the world.
21. amazon.com - launched in 1995
Envisaged as an online bookstore, Amazon sports the name it does as founder Jeff Bezos wanted a name beginning to A which would appear early in alphabetical rankings, and settled on Amazon as it was "exotic and different". Its functional early hompage is not so different from its appearance today.
22. craigslist.org - launched in 1995
The US equivalent of Gumtree, Craigslist was originally an email distribution list focused on local events in San Francisco before becoming a website in 1996.
23. dell.com - launched in 1996
After Dell was founded as a company in 1984, the firm launched its website 12 years later.
24. friendsreunited.co.uk - launched in 2000
UK social network Friends Reunited was born from co-founder Julie Pankhurst's desire to know what her old school friends were up to in the style of US equivalent Classmates.com. Needless to say the homepage is a bit more sophisticated these days.
25. Instagram.com - launched in 2010
Instagram began life as Burbn as a form of mobile photography check in, similar to FourSquare today. It has since grown into one of the world's most successful photo sharing platforms, and was bought by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.
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