Thanks to Jason Kottke kottke.org for assembling these ‘before they were famous’ screenshots.
First off, here’s The Facebook (as everyone surely knows by now, it started off with a ‘the’ before the name). Amazing that the current site still nods in the direction of the original design.
Next is the original Twittr before the name change. Little resemblance to what it has morphed into these days.
And finally, the original 1997 Google homepage boasting an amazing 25 million pages – but soon to be much bigger! Well it does contain a few more pages now, but still eminently recognisable…
If you look at the post on Jason’s site and click on the Yahoo one it’s less of a screenshot and more of a live page which makes me wonder if it’s a spoof. But what the hell, a fascinating insight into web history and a reminder of how fast things change.
Better get on with a redesign for this site soon.
