Hands up who remembers the internet back in the day? And I mean a long time ago… I’ve been online since, what, 1995? Pretty early, although I’m sure there are plenty of people reading this who could top that.
A lot has changed since then – not only is that beyond doubt, but it’s also perhaps an early contender for understatement of the year. But it’s not only technology which has moved on so much; the Internet’s design is almost unrecognizable as well.
This (and, proving newspapers get their stories from the same media agencies, this) is a fascinating insight into what the Internet landscape looked like, back when all this (or most of this, I suppose) was fields. Check out what sites like Amazon, Google, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube used to look like back then! Bizarre, especially when paired with what they look like today.
It’s amazing how something can age so much so quickly, but perhaps not all that surprising given the speed of new developments in the digital world. Another example – cars. Design styles come and go, like the boxes on wheels of the 1980s to the curves of the 1990s to the sleek aerodynamics of the 2000s.
Has that been mirrored online? Surely the biggest trend in recent years has been towards websites and apps with simple, chic, sleek looks.
And how quick things change. Even the original 2006 homepage of Twitter – or should that be twttr –looks dated now. So what will we be laughing at in five years time? “Oh I can’t believe how dated that 2012 Silicon Allee looks…” Well, hopefully not that!
Perhaps we can just look at the roads to get an idea of what’s going to happen online…