The StyleSheet - For businesses that use the internet

Roundtable Discussion: The World Wide Web in 1999

Posted October 19, 2009 By Janis Gonser |

The year is 1999. The Denver Broncos win the Super Bowl for the second time in a row, Apple Computer releases the iBook, SpongeBob SquarePants airs for the first time, Napster debuts, the Euro is established, Lance Armstrong wins his first Tour de France, and in Austin, Texas, TradeMark Media opens its doors for business to take on cyberspace (a.k.a. the Internet). We asked our TradeMark Team:

How do you remember the Web ten years ago?

Developer Janis Gonser

I clearly recall the magic of hyperlinks, writing HTML in Notepad, testing my sites in Netscape Navigator 4.x, and the never-ending sound of my modem repeatedly trying to connect to the university’s server. Hotwired.com was the place to go for tech news and the “skip flash intro” button was on its way to becoming the most clicked item on the Web. To learn more about the Web from the past visit: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php.

President and Strategy Director Nick Weynand

The Web as a visual medium came into being around 1995 with the release of Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser. Ten years ago, in 1999, the Web as we know it was barely getting started.

When I made my first Web site in college (probably around 1998), I used Macromedia Fireworks to create a layout made up of graphical “slices” and added Flash elements here and there for some animation. Much of the Web followed the same pattern. I remember:

• Table-based layouts
• 30-second Flash introductions (with no “skip” option)
• Animated GIFs (especially with the word “HOT” and flames)
• Under construction pages with traffic cones and hard-hats
• Really small fonts (There was a design trend a while back to get fonts as small as possible. Today, the opposite is the trend.)
• Lots of drop shadows (even Google’s logo ten years ago had a massive drop shadow)

The Web has grown up a bit (though I’d still call it an adolescent) and Web sites are much different now. In my opinion, they are better – we’ve had a decade of usability testing and the refining of design trends. I’m excited to do another article just like this, ten years from now, when I look back and say “Gosh, those Web sites of 2009 were terrible!”

Programmer Manoj Thomas

Ten years ago I was a junior in high school building my first Web sites using GeoCities and sending email with Lycos. Animated GIFs littered the Web and buzzwords like “accessibility” were an afterthought at best. I remember spending what felt like hours waiting for AOL to successfully connect, and although kicking my desktop didn’t make things run faster, it sure did help pass the time.

Business Development Director Jean Conover

I was a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999, and I distinctly remember going to the computer lab on campus to send email and use the Internet. I went to class and took notes in my notebook (spiral with paper) and still used the library to do research. There was no one using personal laptops in the classroom or dorms. The computer lab was the place to see and be seen! That was the first year I heard about Google. I remember thinking it was a funny word that didn’t make much sense.

Designer Kyle Greenan

Ten years ago I was using a Pentium 2 350mHz Gateway Computer! Remember those with the cow spotted box?! Ever since I saw the movie Hackers, I wanted to learn more about computer security. Ten years ago there was not much you could do to protect yourself from intruders. Personal firewalls were still in their infancy and many ISPs did not block ports like they do now to circumvent certain attacks. I personally, during that time, was playing with Trojan horses and NetBIOS, as well as furthering my knowledge of computers through IRC.

User Experience Director Caroling Lee

Ten years ago, I was working at Discovery Channel. I remember using Lotus Notes for email and AOL Instant Messenger for chatting with my friends in other departments. That must have been before firewalls. I had a laptop at home (probably a 486) and I think I was struggling to get DSL. Not long after that I was at Discovery Health Channel as they were trying to launch their first ‘converged’ network – one with an online and TV presence. That didn’t take off at the time, but it was one of the first initiatives like its kind in TV.

Technology Director Mike Wisian

To illustrate the state of the Web ten years ago, allow me to create an analogy. Imagine if the latest fashion trend is to wear the most dazzling, sequined tracksuit complete with nearly every color in the spectrum and lined with flashing LED lights. The track top may only have one armhole, the pants are so stiff you can barely walk in them, and the entire suit cannot be washed or dry-cleaned. But man – that is one eye-catching tracksuit!

Account Manager Sarah Buser

The most significant parts of the Web ten years ago for me were probably AOL Instant Messenger and Napster. I was a sophomore in high school and hated the phone, so AIM was one of the primary ways I talked to friends after school. I also was starting to develop my tastes in music, so between the Yahoo! Groups I subscribed to and Napster, I was able to discover bands like the Pixies, whom I’m not sure how I would have found otherwise. I may have also had a GeoCities Web site devoted to bassists, but there’s no proof…

« Return to current issue

Let's get the discussion going. Please comment on this article.

Leave a Comment

Name (required)

E-mail Address (will not be published) (required)

Website