The Way Back Machine

Have you heard of the Way Back Machine? It’s the only way I’ve found to go back in time without an actual time machine i.e. Back to the Future (but if you know something I don’t, fill a girl in).

Nikki’s room, 2004

The Way Back Machine is a website that holds a virtual catalog of other websites long gone and much changed, dating back to the 90s. It’s fun to check out popular sites and see how far we’ve come with web design:

If you’ve been online for a while, working on websites especially, you may remember how clunky it all was when the internet took off.

Apple.com in 1996

Granted, I’m not THAT old, I’m talking late 90s and early 2000s here from my own perspective. But I remember dial-up, and chat rooms, and pissing off my Dad because I was always on AIM chatting with friends and my boyfriend (now husband). I’m a full-fledged Millennial here.

That said, I didn’t get into web design and content strategy until the 2010s. I worked for a tech company at the time, and I got a quick and dirty training on how websites work. We did an entire web redesign while I was on the creative team, and we hit a few rough patches. A lot of long days, a lot of arguing, a lot of confusion.

That’s also where I was introduced to the Way Back Machine. And WYSIWYG editors.  

What’s that? What You See Is What You Get. They make it possible for non-coders, like me, to get into web design by allowing you to “drag and drop” elements onto your website project without writing any code.  

My favorite WYSIWYG? Squarespace.

Squarespace is an all-in-one service where you can make a website, host your content, register your own custom domain name, sell products, track your sites analytics, and much more.

I love Squarespace because it’s easy to use for me and my clients. It’s versatile. I can start with a template or start from scratch and transform the site however I need.  

Sometimes, when I’m having a particularly tough creative-block-kind-of-day when designing a Squarespace site, I use the Way Back Machine to remind myself how far we’ve come.

There is always something new to learn when it comes to web design. If you’re looking to redesign your website or even start from scratch, we can help!  

In the meantime, have fun: https://archive.org/web/