Make Any Webpage Look Like It Was Made By A 13 Year-Old In 1996(wonder-tonic.com)
wonder-tonic.com
Make Any Webpage Look Like It Was Made By A 13 Year-Old In 1996
http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/
77 comments
You know, this is a really interesting point to make. I always loved Facebook because it cut back on the bullshit and emphasized data over everything. I wanted to use these services keep in touch with people, not to see them try and express themselves. But when you see too much data fly by it all starts to blur and look the same. It's easy to get cynical about people when all you see is the surface data they express about themselves – by default the least interesting things they could possibly share.
The legendary architect Christopher Alexander has a theory on how life flourishes: at its core is this idea that the world consists of overlapping "centers" – basically places where living things gather. Centers can overlap, so on Facebook your feed and your profile are each centers. By connecting centers, you encourage movement between them and a newer, greater center exists.
I feel that Facebook and Twitter are excellent at encouraging this movement between centers of data. But they're not good at making that data matter. MySpace and Geocities were awful at communication (remember MySpace bulletins?), but they were always about creating something unique for yourself, not about connecting you to anybody else.
Is there a way to do both at once? I'm not sure, but this is something I've been thinking about for a few years now. In high school I did some work for http://zoints.com, which was trying to create a network of connected forums to allow for both personal expression and information density, but their tool was way too cerebral for anybody else to catch on. The closest I think I've seen any site come to this is Tumblr, because it both allows for uniquely designed blogs and a central aggregator, but Tumblr is so bad at conversation that it makes holding lengthy conversations ugly and frustrating.
The theoretical solution to this would be to let users define their own centers: give them controls for looking at information in a unique way of their choosing. In a sense, this solution is the Internet, and things like email and RSS are how we connect disparate online entities, but those are very crude tools. The subtler interactions you allow for, the more you'll let people express themselves without getting in each others' ways – but it's hard to define just what these interactions ought to be.
Looking back I'd say the pinnacle (for me) was Facebook's Graffiti Wall app, back when apps were just starting to be a thing. People interacting through pictures and illustrations lent to much more creative back-and-forth than text ever did. But that wasn't ideal either. I love capturing and organizing information, but I agree with you that something's been lost. Reclaiming it without sacrificing the new will be an enormous challenge.
The legendary architect Christopher Alexander has a theory on how life flourishes: at its core is this idea that the world consists of overlapping "centers" – basically places where living things gather. Centers can overlap, so on Facebook your feed and your profile are each centers. By connecting centers, you encourage movement between them and a newer, greater center exists.
I feel that Facebook and Twitter are excellent at encouraging this movement between centers of data. But they're not good at making that data matter. MySpace and Geocities were awful at communication (remember MySpace bulletins?), but they were always about creating something unique for yourself, not about connecting you to anybody else.
Is there a way to do both at once? I'm not sure, but this is something I've been thinking about for a few years now. In high school I did some work for http://zoints.com, which was trying to create a network of connected forums to allow for both personal expression and information density, but their tool was way too cerebral for anybody else to catch on. The closest I think I've seen any site come to this is Tumblr, because it both allows for uniquely designed blogs and a central aggregator, but Tumblr is so bad at conversation that it makes holding lengthy conversations ugly and frustrating.
The theoretical solution to this would be to let users define their own centers: give them controls for looking at information in a unique way of their choosing. In a sense, this solution is the Internet, and things like email and RSS are how we connect disparate online entities, but those are very crude tools. The subtler interactions you allow for, the more you'll let people express themselves without getting in each others' ways – but it's hard to define just what these interactions ought to be.
Looking back I'd say the pinnacle (for me) was Facebook's Graffiti Wall app, back when apps were just starting to be a thing. People interacting through pictures and illustrations lent to much more creative back-and-forth than text ever did. But that wasn't ideal either. I love capturing and organizing information, but I agree with you that something's been lost. Reclaiming it without sacrificing the new will be an enormous challenge.
See also Venkatesh Rao's piece on 'plazas vs. warrens':
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/10/27/warrens-plazas-and-the-...
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/10/27/warrens-plazas-and-the-...
+1 for Christopher Alexander!
I was at a SXSW panel discussion about user customizable interfaces a few years ago. Some of the panel participants said the expected things about UI difficulties and affordances and how amazed they were at the ingenuity of some of their customers who did things with their products they didn't even know were possible. An Apple guy was on the panel, and his take was different: "Apple has standards and a brand image to protect." He pulled up the black and red vampire-themed MySpace page of some chubby goth guy and proudly mocked him, saying, "Apple will never allow anyone to do this with any of our products." He spent a few moments scrolling through the page and pointing out the most embarrassing aspects of the design, really rubbing in what a tacky mess this poor guy made out of his MySpace page.
Who are the winners, the high-value brands? Apple and Facebook, who maintained control. Apple and Facebook can't stop their users from doing tacky things with their products (not yet, thank God) but they do make sure the carefully designed brand context is always visible and easily distinguishable from the user-generated content inside. Who are the losers, the low-value brands? MySpace and other companies who didn't maintain a strict distinction between their product and what users did with it.
Who are the winners, the high-value brands? Apple and Facebook, who maintained control. Apple and Facebook can't stop their users from doing tacky things with their products (not yet, thank God) but they do make sure the carefully designed brand context is always visible and easily distinguishable from the user-generated content inside. Who are the losers, the low-value brands? MySpace and other companies who didn't maintain a strict distinction between their product and what users did with it.
Apple's being unintentionally ironic here. Their second attempt at an online service was eWorld, which was based around a modified AOL client talking to a modified AOL server. They took our client software, which looked like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CukACmTPP8Q/TxxdPO_B8HI/AAAAAAAADd...
and, using our existing UI tools, made it look like this:
http://www.ilenesmachine.com/eworld/images_eworld/eworldone....
We had no idea that was possible.
Lesson: You do want your users customizing the interface.. but only the right users.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CukACmTPP8Q/TxxdPO_B8HI/AAAAAAAADd...
and, using our existing UI tools, made it look like this:
http://www.ilenesmachine.com/eworld/images_eworld/eworldone....
We had no idea that was possible.
Lesson: You do want your users customizing the interface.. but only the right users.
I recall someone explaining what Facebook was when it first launched. I was told "it's like MySpace but not obnoxious".
This reminds me of my favorite episode of the show with zefrank. http://www.zefrank.com/thewiki/the_show:_07-14-06
A small price to pay for good taste. After all we have to represent ourselves to future generations not to mention aliens that accidentally bump into our internet.
http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=1...
Applied to itself 4 times. So meta, that we have to go deeper.
Applied to itself 4 times. So meta, that we have to go deeper.
That is what Steve Jobs saw on acid.
As someone who was 13 in 1996, I wonder if in 2030 they'll have funny tools to "Make any webpage look like it was made by a 28 year-old in 2012"
I think it actually made http://yvettesbridalformal.com/ look better.
Hard to believe that not too long ago, frames and table-based layouts actually were improvements over the status quo.
Hard to believe that not too long ago, frames and table-based layouts actually were improvements over the status quo.
Hey, I was 13 years old in 1996! That made me nostalgic for a website I designed around 1998 and I was surprised to find it was still online...
http://homepage.eircom.net/~nopatec/
Dreamweaver special :)
still can't find the geocities site I had in 1997 though...damn
http://homepage.eircom.net/~nopatec/
Dreamweaver special :)
still can't find the geocities site I had in 1997 though...damn
3) SuckingDiesel WebJex - 20 MB Space, 5 POP accounts. FTP access, cgi-bin.
I like this quote... :-)
I like this quote... :-)
Ah memories :) Does anyone remember the javascript meme where you'd get people to click a form button and then it would pretend to format your C:\ drive?? My 1996/7 site had that :D
And web rings! I miss the old internet :'(
And web rings! I miss the old internet :'(
Oh web rings!! And the format c:\ meme...what great memories!
Do you remember the "Through an incredible amount of programming, I wrote a script that will show you what time my VCR is set to"? meme? The user would click a link to a page that contained:
<blink>12:00</blink>
The good old days....
Do you remember the "Through an incredible amount of programming, I wrote a script that will show you what time my VCR is set to"? meme? The user would click a link to a page that contained:
<blink>12:00</blink>
The good old days....
One of my favorites:
"I found this collection of files posted on a cybercrime website. Check and see if any of them are yours..."
Then there was a link that went to file://c:\ so the user would be browsing their own hard drive...
"I found this collection of files posted on a cybercrime website. Check and see if any of them are yours..."
Then there was a link that went to file://c:\ so the user would be browsing their own hard drive...
Ha I don't remember that one but lol!
Everything was much more fun and innocent back then. It's definitely that that I miss the most from the early days of the web.
Everything was much more fun and innocent back then. It's definitely that that I miss the most from the early days of the web.
I saw this title and thought somebody must have found my posting on oDesk looking for UI work.
Nope, I don't believe it. There aren't any Under Construction signs anywhere.
http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=8...
^^ gave me an under construction page :)
^^ gave me an under construction page :)
Change the theme id to 5 :)
I actually found myself quite liking the MIDI files....
Yeah, I got to hear a really sweet Alanis Morissette tune.
:)
:/
:(
I got some Sheryl Crow action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1OfNKorIKA
And here's to thinking that the media companies were scared of MIDI files 'sounding' like the copyrighted tunes they have.
Even better, take a look at this post.
http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2...
http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2...
This is pretty fantastic, I now need to find a way to sneak some of those animated gifs past our design team.
I was not impressed with the conversion - until I scrolled down and saw Billzebub.
http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2...
http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2...
Hey isn't that my website?! (Joke)
Well, mine had #0F0 for the background color and some copy/pasted javascripts (i.e. clock moving with the cursor). But yeah, pretty much the same style :) Must say that I did improve over the years.
Well, mine had #0F0 for the background color and some copy/pasted javascripts (i.e. clock moving with the cursor). But yeah, pretty much the same style :) Must say that I did improve over the years.
Oh man, this is like seeing dusty old family pictures. So nostalgic!
The wonder tonic guy gives great Internet. I love his shady URL redirection service: http://www.shadyurl.com/
Just seeing the footer, with the browser buttons and counter, gave me one of the craziest "chills up spine" nostalgia-flashbacks I've had in years.
That alone was worth the click.
That alone was worth the click.
Hm, i was 13 in 1996, now i am a fulltime web developer ;)
I was also 13 in 1996 and am now a front-end web developer.
This brings back fond memories.
This brings back fond memories.
Me too! How strange. Sadly, SouthBeach/Breakers/3015 is no longer around.
Well, mine had falling snowflakes even when it was summer.
Title is redundant. If anyone other than 13 year olds were designing websites in 1996 there certainly wasn't any evidence of it back then.
This thread made me want to look for the website I made in 1996 as a 14 year old in the Wayback machine. Sadly, it was not available.
I did find my website made as a 16 year old. Unfortunately all of the images were missing. From what I remember, it was actually a pretty nice design. I think I'd still be proud of it if I had built it today.
I did find my website made as a 16 year old. Unfortunately all of the images were missing. From what I remember, it was actually a pretty nice design. I think I'd still be proud of it if I had built it today.
I don't know that it takes anything special to make nytimes.com look like it's from yesteryear. The only thing it's missing really is some <blink> elements and that dancing baby.
Seriously though if they're going to stick with that column layout, they should look at how pinterest is presenting information.
Seriously though if they're going to stick with that column layout, they should look at how pinterest is presenting information.
A better title would be: Make Any Webpage Look Like It Was Made In 1996
I thought it would come out the same.
A while ago I made this bookmarklet to easily geocitize a webpage:
https://gist.github.com/2141034
The code is quite dumb but it works rather well.
https://gist.github.com/2141034
The code is quite dumb but it works rather well.
I tried it on a website, but it did not change much...
The other way round would be a lot better: Make any Webpage from 1996 look like it was made in 2012! :)
Why is it when I type in drudgereport.com it looks the same.
is someone going to be making this in ten years to show what websites looked like in 2012???
also - comic sans is classic. i predict a comeback.
also - comic sans is classic. i predict a comeback.
Comic Sans didn't disappear. It's just been hanging out at Microsoft Research.
best badge: "made with notepad, the right way!"
the Chip background acts as a 3d stereograms which was a good reminder of the 90s.
No <blink> tag?
Oh the nostalgia.
Sad but true.
that was an awesome time :D
indecent :D
While it might sound funny, people out there really do design their pages like this only:
http://govindtiwari.blogspot.in/
Yeah, even today! [edited]
http://govindtiwari.blogspot.in/
Yeah, even today! [edited]
Haha.. there's this gem as well. . . http://yvettesbridalformal.com/
i really love Reposts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2805452
MySpace tapped into this also , allowing people to change their page background, have autoplaying music etc.
The facebook/Twitter came along and spoiled it by prioritizing usability. Now basically everyone has an online presence that looks identical to the point of being sterile. Hell even 90% of wordpress sites look exactly the same.