The History of the Web

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The Winding Tale of Neopets

Published: November 15, 1999

Neopets was a massively successful and inclusive digital world, but I think people focus far too much on its advertising […]

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Writing About the Web… On the Web

Published: April 18, 1998

People thought a magazine about the web would never work. People thought a magazine about the web on the web would never work. They both did.

Features

GoTo: The Forgotten Search Engine

Published: February 19, 1998

I’ve been digging into the history of search engines and centralized platforms lately. Mostly my goal has been to uncover […]

Features

Why You’d Click on ChickClick

Published: February 1, 1998

When two sisters hit the web with their new idea, it was unlike anything anyone had seen. That one site, ChickClick, inspired so many more and crafted a foundational network of the early web.

Features

A Love Letter to Net.Art

Published: May 21, 1996

In an interview for her book Internet Art in 2004, writer Rachel Greene had this to say about why she felt […]

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The Online World of High Taste and Rock Music

Published: December 2, 1995

This is a small chunk of history of rock music on the web. It begins in Santa Cruz. Michael Goldberg […]

Features

eBay, API’s, and the Connected Web

Published: September 3, 1995

There’s this story about Ebay and Pez that used to go around. It goes something like this: Pierre Omidyar, the […]

Features

A Sense of Community: From Newgrounds to MLKSHK

Published: July 6, 1995

Communities on the web often formed around common interests and niches. As they grew, their utility began to shift to more mainstream elements

Features

Discovering the True Meaning of the Web

Published: April 29, 1995

In the late 1980’s, Aliza Sherman moved to New York City and took a job in the music business, helping […]

Features

Salon, Slate, and a History of the Tricky Business of Publishing Online

Published: April 18, 1995

In the first few years of the web’s spread to ubiquity, traditional news publishers moved online. But a new kind of publisher was also born, one that was native to the web, with a whole new set of rules.

Features

The Books That Shaped How We Learn About the Web

Published: March 2, 1995

It might seem strange to talk about books on the web, but when designers first turned to books for a way to learn about the web, Lynda Weinman and Jennifer Robbins showed them the way.

Features

An Ode to Geocities

Published: November 1, 1994

Geocities is likely a site you’ve heard of. It may even have been a site that you used. It’s origin, and the movement it later inspired, is an incredible story of self-expression and serendipity.

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The History of the Web is a project by Jay Hoffmann. Get in touch.