4 ms·

Show HN: Startup Timelines

111 points by bakztfuture 11y ago

tolas 11y ago
This is awesome. I'd love to see more. Also a slider ability so we can progress/rewind the changes at our own pace. Really insightful visualization.
- bakztfuture 11y ago
  Happy to hear! I would love to include that level of control in future builds. It is on github, so feel free to jump in ;) If you'd like to get notified when new timelines are added, enter your email here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPegISAvGOGtwb2IG2I/viewform?fbzx=1613441065772899799 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPe...
nedwin 11y ago
This is great. Here is a list of 20 (now) huge sites from when they launched. Apple and Twitter are particularly amusing. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-websites-looked-when-they-launched.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular...
- sharkweek 11y ago
  Oh Drudge... never change, quite literally
- mcintyre1994 11y ago
  Was Youtube a dating site?
  - benpink 11y ago
    Sort of - YouTube started out as a Hot or Not with video. "Chad and Steve agree that Karim deserves credit for the early idea that became, in Steve's words, "the original goal that we were working toward in the very beginning": a video version of HOTorNOT.com" http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570795-5,00.html http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570795...
michaelmcmillan 11y ago
I think it would be pretty interesting to see something similar for Facebook's newsfeed.
Yadi 11y ago
This is rad! Yeah I've used http://archive.org/web/ http://archive.org/web/ few times for recovering epic embarrassing ol' landing pages haha :)!
suyash 11y ago
Great idea and execution, Internet Archive rocks!
- bakztfuture 11y ago
  Thank you, I couldn't agree more, I have always felt the Internet Archive is a highly underrated resource!
dean 11y ago
Great idea. However, from an implementation perspective, it's a little hard to tell what's going on with all the flashing images. Maybe show the first image by default, then wait for a mouseover or something to activate the animated gif.
- codingdave 11y ago
  Agreed - if the author was trying to highlight the kinds of things available on archive.org, it didn't quite work for me. Instead it just was a jumbled pile of images... Maybe slower images with a link back to archive.org and let people navigate the timeline directly would be more appropriate.
  - bakztfuture 11y ago
    Hi guys, thanks for the feedback. I haven't actually done any guerilla UI testing, I just shipped the code earlier today and went to bed haha. I really want people to get "hooked" right off the bat on the homepage, so, I will try to come up with a better solution later tomorrow. I was initially gonna do mouseovers like above, but didn't feel that would work on mobile.
  - caseysoftware 11y ago
    Click through one of the images, it's way cooler and more useful to see the changes over time.
- pzaich 11y ago
  I had the same initial reaction until I realized that you can click through on the gifs and reach a scrollable list. Here's AirBnB's for example: http://bakztfuture.github.io/startuptimelines/airbnb/index.html#sthash.Bxk4z10P.dpbs http://bakztfuture.github.io/startuptimelines/airbnb/index.h...
crisnoble 11y ago
This is why I have started to integrate a screenshot step at the end of my build processes.
- suyash 11y ago
  Good idea, it's also useful to catch UI/UX bugs much early.
- bakztfuture 11y ago
  My friend also has his webcam take a selfie everytime he ships! haha it's so funny seeing him run through the images of his different facial expressions while working on a project
seanwessmith 11y ago
I really like how when you click "how it works" on AirBNB's home page it scrolls up. https://www.airbnb.com/ https://www.airbnb.com/
vigile_ 11y ago
Then you feel less complexed with outing a first version of your website! ;-)
tropchan 11y ago
Great concept, love seeing the timelapse!
bakztfuture 11y ago
Hey guys, thanks for all your feedback. Great to hear all the interest! haha Again, please consider donating to the Internet Archive here: http://archive.org/donate/ http://archive.org/donate/ Enter your email here to get notified when new Startup Timelines are posted: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPegISAvGOGtwb2IG2I/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPe... I wanted to include it somewhere on the homepage, but didn't want it to get too crammed. I also thought it'd be a good idea to open source the background research I used here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ri8JZtBPNyofw91eL1EshGMz-j9DzjaJ7BWPA9Kj00M/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ri8JZtBPNyofw91eL1Es... I'm here now if you guys have any further questions!
gxespino 11y ago
This is great work Bakz!
- bakztfuture 11y ago
  Thank you Glenn!
awwstn 11y ago
For those who found this interesting, here's a similar blog post I wrote a few weeks ago with some more examples: https://medium.com/making-things-people-want/the-ghosts-of-products-past-e2bf4d229622 https://medium.com/making-things-people-want/the-ghosts-of-p...
fxx2 11y ago
Really motivating, thanks! Also makes me miss the layout practices circa 2008 — a simple ~800px centered container, plain & simple. No responsive Bootstrap-style voodoo, no fancy & bloated javascript extras.

111 points by bakztfuture 11y ago

tolas 11y ago

This is awesome. I'd love to see more. Also a slider ability so we can progress/rewind the changes at our own pace. Really insightful visualization.

bakztfuture 11y ago
Happy to hear! I would love to include that level of control in future builds. It is on github, so feel free to jump in ;) If you'd like to get notified when new timelines are added, enter your email here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPegISAvGOGtwb2IG2I/viewform?fbzx=1613441065772899799 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPe...

nedwin 11y ago

This is great. Here is a list of 20 (now) huge sites from when they launched. Apple and Twitter are particularly amusing. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-websites-looked-when-they-launched.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular...

sharkweek 11y ago
Oh Drudge... never change, quite literally
mcintyre1994 11y ago
Was Youtube a dating site?
- benpink 11y ago
  Sort of - YouTube started out as a Hot or Not with video. "Chad and Steve agree that Karim deserves credit for the early idea that became, in Steve's words, "the original goal that we were working toward in the very beginning": a video version of HOTorNOT.com" http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570795-5,00.html http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570795...

michaelmcmillan 11y ago

I think it would be pretty interesting to see something similar for Facebook's newsfeed.

Yadi 11y ago

This is rad! Yeah I've used http://archive.org/web/ http://archive.org/web/ few times for recovering epic embarrassing ol' landing pages haha :)!

suyash 11y ago

Great idea and execution, Internet Archive rocks!

bakztfuture 11y ago
Thank you, I couldn't agree more, I have always felt the Internet Archive is a highly underrated resource!

dean 11y ago

Great idea. However, from an implementation perspective, it's a little hard to tell what's going on with all the flashing images. Maybe show the first image by default, then wait for a mouseover or something to activate the animated gif.

codingdave 11y ago
Agreed - if the author was trying to highlight the kinds of things available on archive.org, it didn't quite work for me. Instead it just was a jumbled pile of images... Maybe slower images with a link back to archive.org and let people navigate the timeline directly would be more appropriate.
- bakztfuture 11y ago
  Hi guys, thanks for the feedback. I haven't actually done any guerilla UI testing, I just shipped the code earlier today and went to bed haha. I really want people to get "hooked" right off the bat on the homepage, so, I will try to come up with a better solution later tomorrow. I was initially gonna do mouseovers like above, but didn't feel that would work on mobile.
- caseysoftware 11y ago
  Click through one of the images, it's way cooler and more useful to see the changes over time.
pzaich 11y ago
I had the same initial reaction until I realized that you can click through on the gifs and reach a scrollable list. Here's AirBnB's for example: http://bakztfuture.github.io/startuptimelines/airbnb/index.html#sthash.Bxk4z10P.dpbs http://bakztfuture.github.io/startuptimelines/airbnb/index.h...

crisnoble 11y ago

This is why I have started to integrate a screenshot step at the end of my build processes.

suyash 11y ago
Good idea, it's also useful to catch UI/UX bugs much early.
bakztfuture 11y ago
My friend also has his webcam take a selfie everytime he ships! haha it's so funny seeing him run through the images of his different facial expressions while working on a project

seanwessmith 11y ago

I really like how when you click "how it works" on AirBNB's home page it scrolls up. https://www.airbnb.com/ https://www.airbnb.com/

vigile_ 11y ago

Then you feel less complexed with outing a first version of your website! ;-)

tropchan 11y ago

Great concept, love seeing the timelapse!

bakztfuture 11y ago

Hey guys, thanks for all your feedback. Great to hear all the interest! haha Again, please consider donating to the Internet Archive here: http://archive.org/donate/ http://archive.org/donate/ Enter your email here to get notified when new Startup Timelines are posted: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPegISAvGOGtwb2IG2I/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12gf3IJkzIal7qUT8Ts7Peuu4HPe... I wanted to include it somewhere on the homepage, but didn't want it to get too crammed. I also thought it'd be a good idea to open source the background research I used here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ri8JZtBPNyofw91eL1EshGMz-j9DzjaJ7BWPA9Kj00M/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ri8JZtBPNyofw91eL1Es... I'm here now if you guys have any further questions!

gxespino 11y ago

This is great work Bakz!

bakztfuture 11y ago
Thank you Glenn!

awwstn 11y ago

For those who found this interesting, here's a similar blog post I wrote a few weeks ago with some more examples: https://medium.com/making-things-people-want/the-ghosts-of-products-past-e2bf4d229622 https://medium.com/making-things-people-want/the-ghosts-of-p...

fxx2 11y ago

Really motivating, thanks! Also makes me miss the layout practices circa 2008 — a simple ~800px centered container, plain & simple. No responsive Bootstrap-style voodoo, no fancy & bloated javascript extras.