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This is not strictly Pizza Hut's first website. Pizza Hut's first website was built in 1994 [1]. This webpage has Javascript (1995) [2] running Google Tag Mana

• tgtweak 7y ago
  Amusingly, the date on this article and the fact it still loads today. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-25-fi-31168-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-25-fi-31168-...
  • jeffwass 7y ago
    Wow, very prescient amazing article! Quote near beginning to put things in context of where we were back in 1994 : “ To participate in the pilot, hungry Santa Cruzers need computers with Internet access and a version of an Internet interface program called Mosaic.” But other interesting predictions: “Instead of simply letting people order a pizza, why not let them design it as well? Instead of showing an ordinary menu with a list of toppings, show a picture of a pizza with the toppings clustered on the side.” And then : “Why not customized T-shirts? Log on to the Internet and browse through assorted logos and designs. Mix, match and modify them to suit your interest. Then superimpose them onto the virtual T-shirt on the screen. Hit the right key and within 48 hours your new shirt is Fed-Exed to the desired address. Of course, this network designability concept easily extends to bouquets of flowers, boxes of chocolates, fruit baskets and the $6.85-billion annual market in mail-order clothes shopping. It would be perfect for all kinds of gift giving.”
    • CamperBob2 7y ago
      “Instead of simply letting people order a pizza, why not let them design it as well? Instead of showing an ordinary menu with a list of toppings, show a picture of a pizza with the toppings clustered on the side.” Whoever does this for Mongolian BBQ delivery will be the next Bill Gates.
    • XJ6 7y ago
      And yet it gets it so wrong too, far more value is in delivering standard pizzas and standard T-shirts than custom pizzas and t-shirts. It thinks that just offering a cart is a waste of the internet's potential rather than worth the billions that it is.
      • psetq 7y ago
        You may be correct in that the bulk of the market is in standard pizza & t-shirts, but the internet/computers didn't create that market. The article was pointing out what ordering over the internet with computers can potentially add to the ordering experience. Using the "web" in the same way one might have used a fax machine isn't particularly interesting then or now.
    • excalibur 7y ago
      Fun fact: Googling "mosaic" today returns a page full of results about art. Even if you search for "mosaic software", you get a bunch of software for creating mosaics. If you want to read about Mosaic today, you need to already know that it's a browser.
      • pm215 7y ago
        You can also find it if you know its full name, "NCSA Mosaic".
      • rchaud 7y ago
        My first Internet browsing experience was on Netscape Navigator in 1996. Even back then I wouldn't have known about Mosaic, which pretty much was Netscape.
  • jasonlfunk 7y ago
    "It’s the Geek Chic way to nosh."
  • codeulike 7y ago
    It's interesting that the article suggests that making a phone call would be preferable to ordering online. There's been quite a culture change since then; I'll do anything to avoid having to make a phone call.
    • everyone 7y ago
      Preferences aside, a phone call is much more practical. Via web.. * Ordering could easily fuck up somehow. Eg. Send multiple identical pizzas cus you pressed the button multiple times, cus the 1st time u pressed it nothing happened. I read about this actually happening recently. * You dont get confirmation from a human. * You cant ask questions and get answers from a human. * You could only order what the app allows and nothing else. * You'll probably need to register / login, forget your password, reset it, etc. etc. It will take a lot longer. The big problem with customer service nowadays is thats it's impossible to get hold of a human you can tell your problem to, and who will hopefully deal with it (eg. google)
      • codeulike 7y ago
        Otoh spelling out my name and address and phone number and card details over the phone and making sure there's no mistakes takes minutes whereas I can type it all in and make sure it's correct in 30 seconds
        • torstenvl 7y ago
          Or save your card information. Or your past orders! Ordering pizza online takes me less than a minute. If I called I'd still be on hold
      • wycy 7y ago
        > * Ordering could easily fuck up somehow. Eg. Send multiple identical pizzas cus you pressed the button multiple times, cus the 1st time u pressed it nothing happened. I read about this actually happening recently. I don't think I've ever had an online order experience any of those problems. On the other hand, I've had countless phone/human interactions that have led to order screwups, usually misspellings of my name/email/phone number despite my spelling it out for the person.
  • OJFord 7y ago
    > Amusingly, the date on this article and the fact it still loads today. I expect it was more recently put online from the archives, but retaining its date of authorship (as it should) rather than being originally published online in 1994 and remaining there since.
  • Japhy_Ryder 7y ago
    Amazing. I love that the article mentions Snow Crash too.
    • Rebelgecko 7y ago
      Me too, although it bugs me that he says Snow Crash "describes a future where Americans excel at only two things: writing software and delivering pizza in less than 30 minutes". The book clearly states that Americans excel at four things: music movies microcode (software) high-speed pizza delivery
  • dsimms 7y ago
    great article! It's not mentioned there, but I think the "conventional phone lines" meant fax, which was a pretty common gateway from the internet at the time. One of the McCools (can't remember if it was Rob or Mike) had a new-fangled CGI script that enabled a HTML form to order Jimmy Johns sandwich and it used UIUCs email-to-fax gateway to fax the local shop. Good times.