The internet was a much smaller place back in 1993. There was less than 1% of the world's population online at the time, and the World Wide Web itself consisted of less than 200 websites.

Believe it or not, though, a few of these early websites are actually still online. Back in the early days of the web, one of the most popular sites was the "What's New" page hosted by NCSA. It was essitially like an early "front page" for the internet, cataloging new websites as they popped around the country. Yes, there were so few websites back in 1993 that it was actually a big deal whenever a new one went online! :o

Surprisingly, the early "What's New" pages from 1993 and 1994 are still online almost 25 years later, and can be seen today just as they appeared during the early Clinton years. Below is a link to the November 1993 "What's New" page. Most, if not all, of the links on the page are obviously broken, but it's still an amazing look at an artifact from the web in it's infancy.

http://www.desy.de/web/mosaic/old-whats-new/whats-new-1193.html

Wow! Do you ever check out the internet archive? I love it!https://archive.org/web/

Is this chronicling every new website or server that gets established?  :o Fascinating. The Internet was still a small world back then.

Who would have thought that a little thing, known as the internet, would one day be used by billions of people each day and literally transform the way in which we live our lives!  :o It's amazing to think really.

It's ancient! It's so dusty and crusty! I can't unsee it!  8-P  8-P  8-P  :D

The internet was a much smaller place back in 1993. There was less than 1% of the world's population online at the time, and the World Wide Web itself consisted of less than 200 websites.

Believe it or not, though, a few of these early websites are actually still online. Back in the early days of the web, one of the most popular sites was the "What's New" page hosted by NCSA. It was essitially like an early "front page" for the internet, cataloging new websites as they popped around the country. Yes, there were so few websites back in 1993 that it was actually a big deal whenever a new one went online! :o

Surprisingly, the early "What's New" pages from 1993 and 1994 are still online almost 25 years later, and can be seen today just as they appeared during the early Clinton years. Below is a link to the November 1993 "What's New" page. Most, if not all, of the links on the page are obviously broken, but it's still an amazing look at an artifact from the web in it's infancy.

http://www.desy.de/web/mosaic/old-whats-new/whats-new-1193.html


That's quite fascinating.

I couldn't see it, all I got was a white page that says "Forbidden".

Wow! Do you ever check out the internet archive? I love it!https://archive.org/web/


Oh, yes. I'm a huge Internet Archive fan. It' really cool to be able to go back and revisit what websites looked like during my early days on the web in the late '90s. The thing is, the IA only goes back to 1996, so finding sites like this from 1995 and before is super rare.


Is this chronicling every new website or server that gets established?  :o Fascinating. The Internet was still a small world back then.


That was the point of the site, I believe. Now, I'm sure that they were not able to catch every new server/website as it popped up, but the web was small enough at the time that it was at least feasibly possible.


I couldn't see it, all I got was a white page that says "Forbidden".


Hmm, that's odd. Perhaps it was down at that particular time? Have you tried it again?

Also, just for fun, here's a screenshot of what Microsoft.com looked life shortly after going online for the first time in 1994.

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/53e40ec6eab8ea2c5a61c868/image.jpg?_ga=1.85176153.1705907047.1489167355

Here's a few more screenshots I came across.

Pizza Hut (1994)

https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/pizza1.jpg

It would actually let you order a pizza off the internet, provided you lived in Santa Cruz, California that is. ;D

Yahoo! (1994)

http://static3.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=4a6519c4796c7aec005a31ed

Let's just say it's gotten a little more advanced since then.

Things were so much different. But oh man, I would love to go back and reexperience it. Pre-highspeed/WiFi is and all lol

Here's a few more screenshots I came across.

Pizza Hut (1994)

https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/pizza1.jpg

It would actually let you order a pizza off the internet, provided you lived in Santa Cruz, California that is. ;D

Yahoo! (1994)

http://static3.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=4a6519c4796c7aec005a31ed

Let's just say it's gotten a little more advanced since then.


Those pages are quite amazing compared to now.  :o

Those pages are quite amazing compared to now.  :o

More like primitive... I mean, back then all the webpages looked similar, with basic text and stuff.

Here's a few more screenshots I came across.

Pizza Hut (1994)

https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/pizza1.jpg

It would actually let you order a pizza off the internet, provided you lived in Santa Cruz, California that is. ;D

Yahoo! (1994)

http://static3.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=4a6519c4796c7aec005a31ed

Let's just say it's gotten a little more advanced since then.


I like how Yahoo could potentially chronicle almost the entire Internet like that without need for a search engine.

Here's a few more screenshots I came across.

Pizza Hut (1994)

https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/pizza1.jpg

It would actually let you order a pizza off the internet, provided you lived in Santa Cruz, California that is. ;D

Yahoo! (1994)

http://static3.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=4a6519c4796c7aec005a31ed

Let's just say it's gotten a little more advanced since then.


I was only in Preschool and Kindergarten that year.  :)

I like how Yahoo could potentially chronicle almost the entire Internet like that without need for a search engine.


It was possible. I believe I read somewhere a little while back that there were about 50,000 websites by early 1995, and that screenshot clearly shows that Yahoo had 31,897 in their database around that time. That accounted for almost 65% of the entire internet. :o


I was only in Preschool and Kindergarten that year.  :)


I was in 1st and 2nd grade. We didn't have a computer at that time, but that wasn't a big deal because the only website I would've been interested in visiting back in 1994 was powerrangers.com, and that didn't exist yet. ;D

Who would have thought that a little thing, known as the internet, would one day be used by billions of people each day and literally transform the way in which we live our lives!  :o It's amazing to think really.


In the early mid '90s there was a lot of fear of the Internet.  The 1995 movie The Net exemplified this and even amplified it.  In that late '90s and early '00s, that slowly began to subside and the Internet went mainstream.