Early Web Sites 1993 - 1999

On the 5th October 1993 I sent this message announcing the launch of my first website. There were less than 250 other websites in the world (see Pingdom) and maybe 50 in the UK.

I'm now building an archive of my early website work from between 1993 and 1999. These sites were created whilst I was working at Loughborough and Derby Universities and then Headland Multimedia in Nottingham. Where possible I'm archiving complete sites. Otherwise I'm creating functional home pages using materials from the Internet Archive and other sources. I've also included some arts and music sites that I hosted for other people at the time. If you need a more detailed credit or link-back let me know.

I'm trying to use only the original HTML code, with the minimum of alterations and modern technologies. Together with my collection of Internet Magazines that I wrote for between 1994 and 1996, and various Internet books, CD-ROMs and computers from the era I think I am building quite an interesting archive of early (pre-2000) web design and Internet usage.

For an authentic early web experience the sites are best viewed using an early version of Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer on a 640 by 480 pixel screen using a 14.4K modem. You can get an idea of how the sites were intended to look via my simulator.

Early Browser Simulator

Early web sites often made use of frames and tables for layout. This can result in unexpected layout issues on modern web browsers. Some of these sites also make use of the Shockwave plug-in.