15 ms·

I'm 17; was the internet ever actually this bad? That spinning "HOT" gif next to "Buttons" is giving me cancer.

by brandonhsiao 14y ago

eurleif 14y ago
>was the internet ever actually this bad? Yes.
- FuzzyDunlop 14y ago
  The 90s were truly the golden age of the internet.
  - eddieroger 14y ago
    There was nothing like the anticipation of the modem dialing, wondering what speed you'd get based on the handshake, or my personal favorite, picking up the phone and getting your younger brother kicked off, just because. Prodigy user TMDW48C checking in.
  - moreentropy 14y ago
    this. There was so much more excitement all around. The technology was arcane compared to what's possible today, but most of the bad stuff was missing. People were looking for ways to use, not abuse the internet. There were barely any lawyers, marketers or managers who felt the need to interfere. Things were driven by sysadmins and their curiosity, just governed by gentlemen's agreements and common sense. You could go on irc (with mIRC) and talk to strangers who where thrilled about talking to people around the globe. Like chatroulette or whatever but without the dicks and trolling.
    - parennoob 14y ago
      Absolutely. It was so....innocent. I remember discussing scientific stuff, Harry Potter, and the new online games with people on Yahoo chatrooms and IRC. I took a look at Yahoo chatrooms some time recently (well, in the last five years anyway.) It was horrible; spambots all over the place trying to get you to click on links. I suppose all the real people moved to Facething.
rnicholson 14y ago
Oh yeah. Low points (for me) were when it seemed like every site had <bgsound>.
StavrosK 14y ago
Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes. However, it was only (mostly?) like that for personal/very-low-budget pages. It's not like all designers back then had suddenly lost their sense of aesthetic. It's not very different from the MySpace profiles of a few years ago.
nilkn 14y ago
The original website for Space Jam (the movie with Michael Jordan) is still up: http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm Not quite as bad as the OP's link, but still--that was a high-profile professionally designed site in 1996.
- thomasfl 14y ago
  This is a real gem! It can't be that much pages left from the ugly-age. I started out making web sites a bit like this myself i 1995, and it makes me sad all pages are gone except a few pages left in the internet archive.
- Wilya 14y ago
  On the plus side, it now loads much faster than the rest of the web.
adimitrov 14y ago
This was once the Microsoft home page: http://www.microsoft.com/misc/features/features_flshbk_hp1.htm http://www.microsoft.com/misc/features/features_flshbk_hp1.h... Then there's the official Space Jam site (the movie with Michael Jordan, you might want to ask IMDB) which is still up (Kudos to WB:) http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm Click around there to see some spinning buttons and other "nice" stuff.
codesuela 14y ago
How is this bad?! On a side note: I really miss styling scrollbars and running marquee text through the website title and status bars
rscale 14y ago
Yes. This is incredibly accurate. The spinning "HOT" gif might actually be executed a little too well for the 90s. The professional web was bad back then, but usually in slightly different ways. For instance, there were a few years where it was incredibly common to have a splash page that did nothing but show a logo (and take 45 seconds to load). Splash pages became a bit of a trend in part because there was an influential (but terrible) web design book that recommended making your user see a completely useless page before letting them get to actual content. It was like any new technology. People played with it and used it in stupid ways while they figured out how to use it. Some people learned faster than others.
- mjhagen 14y ago
  Do you remember which book this was in?
  - rscale 14y ago
    Sadly, no. I got rid of my copy long ago, and I didn't buy it on Amazon. I want to say the title used the word 'Awesome', but I'm not even sure about that.
alanfalcon 14y ago
When I was 15 or so I made this mess: http://web.archive.org/web/19991022005707/http://members.aol.com/alanfalcon/konnection/contents.html http://web.archive.org/web/19991022005707/http://members.aol... It's a shame that half the ugliness goes away since images aren't all cached. You also have to view it on a 800x600 display for the real experience.

I'm 17; was the internet ever actually this bad? That spinning "HOT" gif next to "Buttons" is giving me cancer.

eurleif 14y ago

>was the internet ever actually this bad? Yes.

FuzzyDunlop 14y ago
The 90s were truly the golden age of the internet.
- eddieroger 14y ago
  There was nothing like the anticipation of the modem dialing, wondering what speed you'd get based on the handshake, or my personal favorite, picking up the phone and getting your younger brother kicked off, just because. Prodigy user TMDW48C checking in.
- moreentropy 14y ago
  this. There was so much more excitement all around. The technology was arcane compared to what's possible today, but most of the bad stuff was missing. People were looking for ways to use, not abuse the internet. There were barely any lawyers, marketers or managers who felt the need to interfere. Things were driven by sysadmins and their curiosity, just governed by gentlemen's agreements and common sense. You could go on irc (with mIRC) and talk to strangers who where thrilled about talking to people around the globe. Like chatroulette or whatever but without the dicks and trolling.
  - parennoob 14y ago
    Absolutely. It was so....innocent. I remember discussing scientific stuff, Harry Potter, and the new online games with people on Yahoo chatrooms and IRC. I took a look at Yahoo chatrooms some time recently (well, in the last five years anyway.) It was horrible; spambots all over the place trying to get you to click on links. I suppose all the real people moved to Facething.

rnicholson 14y ago

Oh yeah. Low points (for me) were when it seemed like every site had <bgsound>.

StavrosK 14y ago

Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes. However, it was only (mostly?) like that for personal/very-low-budget pages. It's not like all designers back then had suddenly lost their sense of aesthetic. It's not very different from the MySpace profiles of a few years ago.

nilkn 14y ago

The original website for Space Jam (the movie with Michael Jordan) is still up: http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm Not quite as bad as the OP's link, but still--that was a high-profile professionally designed site in 1996.

thomasfl 14y ago
This is a real gem! It can't be that much pages left from the ugly-age. I started out making web sites a bit like this myself i 1995, and it makes me sad all pages are gone except a few pages left in the internet archive.
Wilya 14y ago
On the plus side, it now loads much faster than the rest of the web.

adimitrov 14y ago

This was once the Microsoft home page: http://www.microsoft.com/misc/features/features_flshbk_hp1.htm http://www.microsoft.com/misc/features/features_flshbk_hp1.h... Then there's the official Space Jam site (the movie with Michael Jordan, you might want to ask IMDB) which is still up (Kudos to WB:) http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm Click around there to see some spinning buttons and other "nice" stuff.

codesuela 14y ago

How is this bad?! On a side note: I really miss styling scrollbars and running marquee text through the website title and status bars

rscale 14y ago

Yes. This is incredibly accurate. The spinning "HOT" gif might actually be executed a little too well for the 90s. The professional web was bad back then, but usually in slightly different ways. For instance, there were a few years where it was incredibly common to have a splash page that did nothing but show a logo (and take 45 seconds to load). Splash pages became a bit of a trend in part because there was an influential (but terrible) web design book that recommended making your user see a completely useless page before letting them get to actual content. It was like any new technology. People played with it and used it in stupid ways while they figured out how to use it. Some people learned faster than others.

mjhagen 14y ago
Do you remember which book this was in?
- rscale 14y ago
  Sadly, no. I got rid of my copy long ago, and I didn't buy it on Amazon. I want to say the title used the word 'Awesome', but I'm not even sure about that.

alanfalcon 14y ago

When I was 15 or so I made this mess: http://web.archive.org/web/19991022005707/http://members.aol.com/alanfalcon/konnection/contents.html http://web.archive.org/web/19991022005707/http://members.aol... It's a shame that half the ugliness goes away since images aren't all cached. You also have to view it on a 800x600 display for the real experience.