9 ms·

Stucked in time: http://www.excite.com/ http://www.excite.com/

by ethana 10y ago

t_prakash 10y ago
and yet it has a ranking of 8,689 with huge traffic uptick since Jan 17 as per Alexa today .... does that mean people still use it regularly?
- Endy 10y ago
  Very much so. In a world where Google is watching everyone and Yahoo is getting relentlessly attacked, why not go back to the old standby?
- zhte415 10y ago
  Check the ' Top Concert Tickets' section and performers. Seems mainly for people wanting to stay in a former era, which is not bad as they get something they find useful. Also a fair bit about Home Security, Medical and Nursing, Online Schools and Criminal Justice. I think they have an audience.
ocdtrekkie 10y ago
Wow. This page is actually strangely appealing. It loads fast. I don't have to click off to another page to get the news headlines. Ads are restrained to just a couple square boxes.
- mc32 10y ago
  It's almost like a knock off of a Japanese "portal" except its not but rather its sort of a fossilized 1999, except it has SSL. And to think they had the opportunity to buy Google for 750K after Vinod talked Page and Brin down from 1MM
- laurentdc 10y ago
  Amazing. It even renders more or less decently on mobile. I'm going to start a new trend in web design. I'll call it 56k design.
  - kristopolous 10y ago
    Well as long as you still transpile 10MB of es7 to show a paragraph of text and an image, we're all good.
  - buro9 10y ago
    > I'm going to start a new trend in web design. I'll call it 56k design. That was pretty much my criteria when I was making forum software: https://www.lfgss.com/ https://www.lfgss.com/ It's still too heavy and slow, and there's still some things I could do better. But that's nitpicking, it's pretty good and when I finish re-structuring all of the code it will be a single binary install for those who want to use it, or a split-binary Web-UI + API for those who want to only do certain parts (i.e. customise and host the front-end and not care about the back-end, or to scale the background for heavy mobile use without that being serving front-end traffic). My goals for that software in the next few months: 1. Same-origin everything 2. Eradicate as much JavaScript as possible (graceful degradation to the extreme) 3. What JavaScript cannot be eradicated, do natively (not using jQuery, etc) 4. Single codebase, single binary install from a single `go install` command
    - poooogles 10y ago
      Oh hey, I love the lfgss site design. It just gets shit done and looks decent on everything I own.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - glebm 10y ago
      We've built the Thredded forums engine (https://thredded.org https://thredded.org) with the same goals in mind. The entire CSS is 10KiB, JavaScript loads asynchronously and is optional.
      - buro9 10y ago
        That's delightfully nice to use. Damn good job.
- cube00 10y ago
  It may be a couple of boxes but that link spam is something else, thought I was a domain parked page for a second there.
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    But that like half a page of link spam loads faster than a single banner ad on most sites.
kristopolous 10y ago
look at the source. Something makes me think this will work in Netscape 4. edit: nope. http://imgur.com/a/Jt38q http://imgur.com/a/Jt38q not really. edit 2: Here's a HP B-series PA-RISC from my closet running actual vintage NS-4, also no, http://i.imgur.com/tt7AYqj.png http://i.imgur.com/tt7AYqj.png (the top window is a search for the term "cat") Google however, almost still works http://i.imgur.com/kdTd1AU.png http://i.imgur.com/kdTd1AU.png ... I give them an A. hn and kernel.org get a security algorithm error, reddit gets an i/o error as does craigslist and yahoo. wiki.c2.com has a perpetual spinner. netbsd here makes me sad to be such a fanboy: http://i.imgur.com/RxedDF6.png http://i.imgur.com/RxedDF6.png http://gnu.org http://gnu.org is totally acceptable, even in Netscape 3! http://i.imgur.com/RImHQjM.png http://i.imgur.com/RImHQjM.png http://fsf.org http://fsf.org errors at an appropriate place: http://i.imgur.com/g8TF8Uc.png http://i.imgur.com/g8TF8Uc.png but after that is usable. http://berkshirehathaway.com http://berkshirehathaway.com loads perfectly and looks the same.
- micaksica 10y ago
  I'm not sure this entire stack has been updated since the early 2000s. No SSL/TLS, and check the HTTP headers.
- subinsebastien 10y ago
  Wow, that was a thorough testing.
- i336_ 10y ago
  c2 recently became obsessed with "federated wikis" apparently due to some unimpressed person threatening to batch-delete the entire site. Unfortunately JavaScript-based solutions became interesting. I'm mildly curious what would happen if you tried to build NetSurf on that thing. It compiles for AmigaOS and RISC OS...
  - kristopolous 10y ago
    First let me apologize to the HPUX wizard that will very likely read this for being such a bumbling amateur. Anyway, here I go: H3:54/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ gmake --version GNU Make 3.80 H3:55/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ /usr/local/bin/gcc --version gcc (GCC) 3.3.1 H3:55/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ gmake BUILD_CC=/usr/local/bin/gcc CC=/usr/local/bin/gcc ... gmake[1]: Entering directory `/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/libwapcaplet' /raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/inst-gtk/share/netsurf-buildsystem /makefiles/Makefile.tools:403: /Makefile.gcc: No such file or directory /raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/inst-gtk/share/netsurf-buildsystem /makefiles/Makefile.tools:460: /Makefile.pkgconfig: No such file or directory Makefile:40: /Makefile.top: No such file or directory gmake[1]: * No rule to make target `/Makefile.top'. Stop. gmake[1]: Leaving directory `/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/libwapcaplet' gmake: * [/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/inst-gtk/build-stamp] Error 2 H3:55/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ Looks like some serious effort. To put things in context, I can't do remote X to a modern machine as in $ DISPLAY=desktop:0 xterm& This gives a protocol error. So instead I'm running it all through a vncserver, which uses a more legacy protocol. I've tried things like $ Xnest -query hp :1 but I get the classic CDE hour glass, a black screen, and nothing more. It's honestly nice to pull this thing out of the closet just to remember how unfriendly things used to be. You type a command and realize "well gee, this thing doesn't have that. Alright, here's a more painful way..." You don't even get things like arrow keys and backspace for free. Gotta stty them.
abraae 10y ago
Crikey, I just saw a DeLorean fly by.
zanza999 10y ago
My login/password still works and custom theme is there !
- Endy 10y ago
  Mine too, as I found out two weeks ago. Excite is back to my primary webmail.
smilespray 10y ago
Holy crap, I worked on parts of the UI on that site. No idea it was still online.
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  Really? What years? I guess it'll stay up as long as it generates revenue via ads. Its still someone's homepage I suspect. The elderly still using AOL perhaps?
  - froindt 10y ago
    I've never wanted to see a revenue graph more than that of Excite. I would suspect there would be a strong correlation with AOL dial-up subscription rates (perhaps causation too).
rfrey 10y ago
And if that's not good enough... they have a LITE VERSION. http://lite.excite.com/ http://lite.excite.com/
- kristopolous 10y ago
  Simply making a version of X that loads on dialup is itself a market segment. Clone some popular websites but sacrafice everything. Also I've long wanted an HTTP caching mechanism that permits cross origin caching, so people aren't redownloading the same dependencies. Essentially the server responds with a digest and if the browser has a match from any domain, it forgoes the download. Is there a hard to trigger collision attack possible? Sure but I don't care.
- Endy 10y ago
  Yes, but Excite Lite no longer supports the webmail.
bbcbasic 10y ago
Looks like there are doing some 1990's SEO too: Home Security Systems Arizona Home Security Systems Atlanta Home Security Systems Augusta Home Security Systems Austin Home Security Systems California Home Security Systems Cleveland Ohio Home Security Systems Columbus Ohio Home Security Systems Dallas...

Stucked in time: http://www.excite.com/ http://www.excite.com/

by ethana 10y ago

Stucked in time: http://www.excite.com/ http://www.excite.com/

and yet it has a ranking of 8,689 with huge traffic uptick since Jan 17 as per Alexa today .... does that mean people still use it regularly?

Endy 10y ago
Very much so. In a world where Google is watching everyone and Yahoo is getting relentlessly attacked, why not go back to the old standby?
zhte415 10y ago
Check the ' Top Concert Tickets' section and performers. Seems mainly for people wanting to stay in a former era, which is not bad as they get something they find useful. Also a fair bit about Home Security, Medical and Nursing, Online Schools and Criminal Justice. I think they have an audience.

ocdtrekkie 10y ago

Wow. This page is actually strangely appealing. It loads fast. I don't have to click off to another page to get the news headlines. Ads are restrained to just a couple square boxes.

mc32 10y ago
It's almost like a knock off of a Japanese "portal" except its not but rather its sort of a fossilized 1999, except it has SSL. And to think they had the opportunity to buy Google for 750K after Vinod talked Page and Brin down from 1MM
laurentdc 10y ago
Amazing. It even renders more or less decently on mobile. I'm going to start a new trend in web design. I'll call it 56k design.
- kristopolous 10y ago
  Well as long as you still transpile 10MB of es7 to show a paragraph of text and an image, we're all good.
- buro9 10y ago
  > I'm going to start a new trend in web design. I'll call it 56k design. That was pretty much my criteria when I was making forum software: https://www.lfgss.com/ https://www.lfgss.com/ It's still too heavy and slow, and there's still some things I could do better. But that's nitpicking, it's pretty good and when I finish re-structuring all of the code it will be a single binary install for those who want to use it, or a split-binary Web-UI + API for those who want to only do certain parts (i.e. customise and host the front-end and not care about the back-end, or to scale the background for heavy mobile use without that being serving front-end traffic). My goals for that software in the next few months: 1. Same-origin everything 2. Eradicate as much JavaScript as possible (graceful degradation to the extreme) 3. What JavaScript cannot be eradicated, do natively (not using jQuery, etc) 4. Single codebase, single binary install from a single `go install` command
  - poooogles 10y ago
    Oh hey, I love the lfgss site design. It just gets shit done and looks decent on everything I own.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - glebm 10y ago
    We've built the Thredded forums engine (https://thredded.org https://thredded.org) with the same goals in mind. The entire CSS is 10KiB, JavaScript loads asynchronously and is optional.
    - buro9 10y ago
      That's delightfully nice to use. Damn good job.
cube00 10y ago
It may be a couple of boxes but that link spam is something else, thought I was a domain parked page for a second there.
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  But that like half a page of link spam loads faster than a single banner ad on most sites.

kristopolous 10y ago

look at the source. Something makes me think this will work in Netscape 4. edit: nope. http://imgur.com/a/Jt38q http://imgur.com/a/Jt38q not really. edit 2: Here's a HP B-series PA-RISC from my closet running actual vintage NS-4, also no, http://i.imgur.com/tt7AYqj.png http://i.imgur.com/tt7AYqj.png (the top window is a search for the term "cat") Google however, almost still works http://i.imgur.com/kdTd1AU.png http://i.imgur.com/kdTd1AU.png ... I give them an A. hn and kernel.org get a security algorithm error, reddit gets an i/o error as does craigslist and yahoo. wiki.c2.com has a perpetual spinner. netbsd here makes me sad to be such a fanboy: http://i.imgur.com/RxedDF6.png http://i.imgur.com/RxedDF6.png http://gnu.org http://gnu.org is totally acceptable, even in Netscape 3! http://i.imgur.com/RImHQjM.png http://i.imgur.com/RImHQjM.png http://fsf.org http://fsf.org errors at an appropriate place: http://i.imgur.com/g8TF8Uc.png http://i.imgur.com/g8TF8Uc.png but after that is usable. http://berkshirehathaway.com http://berkshirehathaway.com loads perfectly and looks the same.

micaksica 10y ago
I'm not sure this entire stack has been updated since the early 2000s. No SSL/TLS, and check the HTTP headers.
subinsebastien 10y ago
Wow, that was a thorough testing.
i336_ 10y ago
c2 recently became obsessed with "federated wikis" apparently due to some unimpressed person threatening to batch-delete the entire site. Unfortunately JavaScript-based solutions became interesting. I'm mildly curious what would happen if you tried to build NetSurf on that thing. It compiles for AmigaOS and RISC OS...
- kristopolous 10y ago
  First let me apologize to the HPUX wizard that will very likely read this for being such a bumbling amateur. Anyway, here I go: H3:54/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ gmake --version GNU Make 3.80 H3:55/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ /usr/local/bin/gcc --version gcc (GCC) 3.3.1 H3:55/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ gmake BUILD_CC=/usr/local/bin/gcc CC=/usr/local/bin/gcc ... gmake[1]: Entering directory `/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/libwapcaplet' /raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/inst-gtk/share/netsurf-buildsystem /makefiles/Makefile.tools:403: /Makefile.gcc: No such file or directory /raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/inst-gtk/share/netsurf-buildsystem /makefiles/Makefile.tools:460: /Makefile.pkgconfig: No such file or directory Makefile:40: /Makefile.top: No such file or directory gmake[1]: * No rule to make target `/Makefile.top'. Stop. gmake[1]: Leaving directory `/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/libwapcaplet' gmake: * [/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6/inst-gtk/build-stamp] Error 2 H3:55/raid/hp/netsurf-all-3.6$ Looks like some serious effort. To put things in context, I can't do remote X to a modern machine as in $ DISPLAY=desktop:0 xterm& This gives a protocol error. So instead I'm running it all through a vncserver, which uses a more legacy protocol. I've tried things like $ Xnest -query hp :1 but I get the classic CDE hour glass, a black screen, and nothing more. It's honestly nice to pull this thing out of the closet just to remember how unfriendly things used to be. You type a command and realize "well gee, this thing doesn't have that. Alright, here's a more painful way..." You don't even get things like arrow keys and backspace for free. Gotta stty them.

abraae 10y ago

Crikey, I just saw a DeLorean fly by.

zanza999 10y ago

My login/password still works and custom theme is there !

Endy 10y ago
Mine too, as I found out two weeks ago. Excite is back to my primary webmail.

smilespray 10y ago

Holy crap, I worked on parts of the UI on that site. No idea it was still online.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago
Really? What years? I guess it'll stay up as long as it generates revenue via ads. Its still someone's homepage I suspect. The elderly still using AOL perhaps?
- froindt 10y ago
  I've never wanted to see a revenue graph more than that of Excite. I would suspect there would be a strong correlation with AOL dial-up subscription rates (perhaps causation too).

rfrey 10y ago

And if that's not good enough... they have a LITE VERSION. http://lite.excite.com/ http://lite.excite.com/

kristopolous 10y ago
Simply making a version of X that loads on dialup is itself a market segment. Clone some popular websites but sacrafice everything. Also I've long wanted an HTTP caching mechanism that permits cross origin caching, so people aren't redownloading the same dependencies. Essentially the server responds with a digest and if the browser has a match from any domain, it forgoes the download. Is there a hard to trigger collision attack possible? Sure but I don't care.
Endy 10y ago
Yes, but Excite Lite no longer supports the webmail.

bbcbasic 10y ago

Looks like there are doing some 1990's SEO too: Home Security Systems Arizona Home Security Systems Atlanta Home Security Systems Augusta Home Security Systems Austin Home Security Systems California Home Security Systems Cleveland Ohio Home Security Systems Columbus Ohio Home Security Systems Dallas...